A solid-state thermoelectric power generation system for building exterior wall temperature difference and an energy scheduling control method

CN122932477APending Publication Date: 2026-10-16倪正荣
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202611247292.8
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Applications(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2026-08-17
Publication Date
2026-10-16

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

[0004]材料热导率高、ZT 值有限,转换效率低(约 5–9%),且宽温区适应性差;

Benefits of technology

[0013] Low-grade adaptability: The minimum operating temperature difference ΔT≥8℃ can stably generate electricity in scenarios with temperature differences on building exterior walls, such as industrial waste heat and low-temperature solar thermal collectors.

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Abstract

The application discloses a kind of building outer wall temperature difference power generation solid-state thermoelectric power generation system and energy scheduling control method.The system includes: heat capture module (heat pipe uniform temperature plate+flexible heat conduction layer), cascade thermoelectric conversion module (low-temperature section bismuth telluride-based, high-temperature section skutterudite-based p / n thermoelectric pile), heat management module (liquid cooling plate+phase change material), power electronic module (MPPT+inverter), energy storage module, edge control module and cloud platform.The lowest working temperature difference ΔT of the application is greater than or equal to 8 ℃, the conversion efficiency is greater than or equal to 2.1% when ΔT=20 ℃ (Th50 / Tc30), the heat recovery rate is greater than or equal to 85%, and the design life is greater than or equal to 20 years, which is suitable for building outer wall temperature difference and other low-grade heat energy scenes, and the overall energy efficiency is improved through cloud collaboration scheduling.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of building exterior wall temperature difference recovery and solid-state power generation technology, specifically to a building exterior wall temperature difference solid-state thermoelectric power generation system and energy dispatch control method based on cascaded thermopile and heat pipe-liquid cooling composite thermal management, and equipped with cloud-based intelligent scheduling. Background Technology

[0002] There is a temperature difference of 8–30°C between the inside and outside of the building's exterior walls during winter heating and summer sunlight. Traditional curtain walls only serve as enclosure and decoration, and do not convert the temperature difference of the enclosure structure into electrical energy. In addition, the heat gain of the walls in summer increases the air conditioning load.

[0003] Existing semiconductor thermoelectric power generation (TEG) technologies have the following shortcomings:

[0004] The material has high thermal conductivity, limited ZT value, low conversion efficiency (approximately 5–9%), and poor adaptability over a wide temperature range.

[0005] Unstable cold-end temperature control and uneven temperature at the heat source contact surface lead to large temperature fluctuations and unstable output.

[0006] Traditional inverters are inefficient under low voltage and high current conditions and lack system-level energy dispatch and remote operation and maintenance methods.

[0007] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a solid-state thermal power generation system that can operate stably under low-grade, fluctuating heat sources and has modular and intelligent scheduling capabilities. Summary of the Invention

[0008] Purpose of the invention

[0009] This invention aims to break through the dependence of traditional TEG on high temperature difference and provide a building exterior wall temperature difference solid-state thermoelectric power generation system and control method that can generate electricity efficiently and stably under low-grade heat source conditions of 35~75℃ on the sunlit wall surface and 18~26℃ indoor temperature, and can be modularly expanded and uniformly scheduled by a cloud platform.

[0010] Technical solution

[0011] The system of this invention includes: a heat capture module, a cascaded thermoelectric conversion module, a thermal management module, a power electronics module, an energy storage module, an edge control module, and a cloud platform. The modules are connected sequentially according to energy flow and data flow (see claim 1 for details). Figure 1 ).

[0012] Beneficial effects

[0013] Low-grade adaptability: The minimum operating temperature difference ΔT≥8℃ can stably generate electricity in scenarios with temperature differences on building exterior walls, such as industrial waste heat and low-temperature solar thermal collectors.

[0014] High efficiency: Conversion efficiency ≥2.1% (laboratory target ≥12%) at ΔT=20℃ (Th50 / Tc30), system heat recovery rate ≥85%;

[0015] High reliability: cold end ≤30℃, temperature difference fluctuation <±2℃, MTBF≥50000h, design life≥20 years;

[0016] Intelligentization: Cloud platform multi-unit collaborative scheduling + edge autonomy improve overall energy efficiency and operation and maintenance efficiency;

[0017] Scenario gain: The phase change thermal storage layer reduces peak loads and can still generate electricity for 3–5 hours at night;

[0018] Scenario benefits: The incremental cost of replacing conventional curtain walls is only 380–600 yuan / m², and the heat gain of the walls decreases by 35% in summer. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Figure 1 This is a block diagram of the system configuration of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional view of a cascaded thermopile module.

[0021] Figure 3 This is a flowchart of a heat pipe-liquid cooling composite thermal management process.

[0022] Figure 4 Flowchart of intelligent energy management and scheduling method;

[0023] Figure 5 The flowchart shows the hybrid MPPT and power optimization algorithm. Detailed Implementation

[0024] Example 1: Materials and Structure

[0025] The thermoelectric conversion module employs a multi-layer cascaded semiconductor thermopile: the low-temperature section is composed of p-type (doped with Sb, Se, 0.5–2wt%) and n-type (doped with I) bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) based materials, while the high-temperature section uses cobaltite (CoSb3) based materials; a gradient doping transition region is set along the temperature difference direction. The thermoelectric leg thickness is ≤1mm, and a high-voltage DC output is formed by connecting copper electrodes in series. A Cu-In flexible metal foil stress buffer layer is set between the chip and the aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramic substrate, and the module surface is coated with an Al2O3 passivation layer. The heat capture end adopts an embedded heat pipe heat spreader + aluminum nitride substrate + flexible thermally conductive silicone / graphene coating, with a hot-end temperature difference fluctuation of <±2℃. This building exterior wall temperature difference embodiment uses a core module TEG-CORE-M1L ×2100 pieces (35 1200×2400 curtain wall units, 60 W / unit).

[0026] Example 2: Thermal Management and Power Electronics

[0027] The cold end employs a microchannel liquid cooling plate with a phase change material (PCM) buffer layer, and the circulating coolant maintains the cold end temperature at ≤30℃; copper-water heat pipes are used for high-temperature applications, and aluminum-acetone heat pipes are used for low-temperature applications. Power electronics utilize synchronous rectification (MOSFETs replacing diodes), multi-port inverters (DC bus adaptive), and ZVS / ZCS soft switching; MPPT employs a hybrid algorithm combining perturbation observation and conductance increment methods, and uses PID control to adjust the coolant flow rate to maintain ΔT stability (algorithm flow is available in [link]). Figure 5 The cold end of the exterior wall temperature difference embodiment of this building adopts the cold end of the indoor side / ventilation cavity cold plate.

[0028] Example 3: Energy Dispatch and Experimental Data

[0029] The edge control module collects telemetry data and sends it to the cloud platform via MQTT over TLS; the cloud platform predicts future ΔT and power generation, and optimizes heat flow distribution, MPPT settings, and energy storage charging and discharging (see process details). Figure 4 A 100 m² unit was deployed on the curtain wall of an office building (the wall surface is about 50°C in sunlight): it outputs 1.0kW when ΔT≈20°C, phase change heat storage supports nighttime power generation, the heat gain of the wall decreases by about 35% in summer, and there is no performance degradation after 1300h·year of continuous operation.

[0030] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. All equivalent modifications made in accordance with the technical solution of the present invention shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A solid-state thermoelectric power generation system based on building exterior wall temperature difference, characterized in that, include: The system comprises the following modules: a heat capture module, which is attached to the interior and exterior surfaces of the building's exterior walls via a curtain wall sandwich structure to concentrate the temperature difference between the sunlit wall surface (35–75°C) and the interior (18–26°C) to the hot end; a cascaded thermoelectric conversion module, consisting of multiple thermoelectric units arranged along a temperature gradient, using p-type and n-type bismuth telluride-based semiconductor thermoelectric materials in the low-temperature section and cobaltite-based semiconductor thermoelectric materials in the high-temperature section, outputting DC power via the Seebeck effect driven by the hot / cold end temperature difference; a thermal management module, including a cold end and a phase change material buffer layer for the cold plate on the interior side / ventilation cavity, used to maintain the cold end temperature and smooth out hot end fluctuations; a power electronics module, including a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) DC-DC converter unit and an inverter, converting DC power into stable AC power; an energy storage module, connected to the DC bus, used to smooth out output fluctuations; an edge control module, used for local data acquisition, energy dispatch, and communication; and a cloud platform, used for multi-unit collaborative dispatch, monitoring, and forecasting. The heat capture module, cascaded thermoelectric conversion module, thermal management module, power electronics module, energy storage module, edge control module, and cloud platform are connected in the order of energy flow and data flow.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The heat capture module includes an outer selective absorption coated aluminum plate, a phase change heat storage layer (paraffin 42℃, 8 kg / m²) and a TEG sandwich temperature equalization structure, and a high thermal conductivity ceramic substrate with a heat transfer coefficient K≤1.2 W / (m²·K), so that the temperature difference fluctuation at the hot end is less than ±2℃.

3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the bismuth telluride-based semiconductor thermoelectric material, the n-type material is doped with iodine (I), and the p-type material is doped with antimony (Sb) and selenium (Se) elements, with a doping amount of 0.5–2 wt%, so that the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT ≥ 1.2 @ 300 K; a gradient doping transition region is set between the low-temperature section and the high-temperature section.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The liquid cooling plate of the thermal management module has a microchannel structure, which, together with the circulating coolant and the phase change material buffer layer, keeps the cold end temperature ≤30℃; copper-water heat pipes are used in high-temperature scenarios and aluminum-acetone heat pipes are used in low-temperature scenarios.

5. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The power electronic module adopts synchronous rectification technology and replaces freewheeling diodes with MOSFETs to reduce conduction losses; the inverter has a multi-port topology, has the ability to adaptively regulate DC bus voltage, and is compatible with energy storage and grid connection; and adopts zero-voltage / zero-current soft switching to reduce high-frequency switching losses.

6. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The system has a minimum operating temperature difference ΔT ≥ 8℃, a thermoelectric conversion efficiency ≥ 2.1% under the condition of ΔT = 20℃ (Th50 / Tc30), a system heat recovery rate ≥ 85%, a single module power range of 10W–5kW, and a design life of ≥ 20 years.

7. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a stress buffer layer, located between the thermoelectric chip and the ceramic substrate, which is a Cu-In flexible metal foil that absorbs mechanical stress from thermal cycling; and an Al2O3 passivation layer is coated on the module surface to prevent corrosion.

8. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The edge control module communicates with the cloud platform via MQTT over TLS, operates autonomously according to local caching policies when the network is disconnected, and supports secure OTA upgrades.

9. An energy dispatch and control method for low-grade thermal energy cascade recovery power generation, based on the system described in any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S1. Collect telemetry data on heat source temperature, temperature difference ΔT, voltage, current, flow rate, and energy storage SOC; S2. Predict future temperature difference and power generation based on historical and real-time data; S3. Calculate the optimal scheduling target by combining net load demand and energy storage status; S4. Optimize and generate heat flow distribution, MPPT setting, and energy storage charging and discharging commands; S5. Send the commands to the edge control module for local closed-loop control; S6. Collect the execution results for closed-loop feedback and model self-learning.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The MPPT in S4 uses a hybrid algorithm that combines the perturbation and observation method with the incremental conductance method: first, the perturbation and observation method is used to coarsely locate the maximum power point, then the incremental conductance method is used to finely track it, and the PID is used to adjust the coolant flow rate to maintain a stable temperature difference.

11. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The S3 scheduling objective is to maximize net power generation and minimize heat loss and lifespan degradation while satisfying load and grid connection constraints.