Student: Gokul Nath Sivakumar
Committee: Dr. Patrick Phelan
Abstract:
The presence of huge amounts of low-grade waste heat and the fact that no product is commercially available to make use of this low-grade waste heat in commercial buildings, makes this an appreciable research topic. In every commercial building with ceiling tiles, there exists a temperature difference between the enclosure above the ceiling tile and the domain below it. We are proposing a ceiling tile prototype that makes use of this temperature difference to generate electricity using the principle of the Seebeck effect, i.e. a thermogalvanic cell. One of the most important problems with a thermogalvanic cell is its inability to maintain the temperature gradient at the electrodes throughout its operation. Previous projects have significantly improved the performance of a thermogalvanic cell by incorporating a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) into the electrolyte, which reduces the thermal conductivity in the electrolyte. A 3D-printed TPMS structure could be of various geometries. Of all the geometries, the Schwarz P printed from Polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF) has been found to have a useful ionic conductivity to thermal conductivity ratio. In this project, we develop a prototype of a ceiling tile with graphite as the electrodes and a combination of Iron(II) and Iron (III) perchlorate salts (Fe(ClO4)2, Cl3FeO12) as electrolyte that uses a Schwarz P TPMS structure made of PVDF. We also analyzed their peak voltage at 4 different imposed temperature differences.
Zoom Room: https://asu.zoom.us/j/89620098988
Presentation Time: 12:00-1:00 PM (Arizona Time)
