熱電發電器是一種將廢熱轉換成電能之設備，其具有很大之前景性，熱電系統具有相對較低之能源轉換效率，為解決此問題，有研究者投入尋找更佳之熱電材料；另一方面，有學者為推廣綠色能源，使用廢熱回收作為熱電系統之熱源。本研究針對熱電發電系統，分為兩個部分：第一部分為使用田口方法優化熱電系統及第二部分為初步探討振盪邊界條件對熱電發電器的影響之研究。
第一部分的研究中，首先，為提高熱電發電系統之效率，使用田口方法對六個因子進行有限元素法數值模擬分析。六個因子包含熱沉的長度和寬度、鰭片的高度和厚度、熱側表面的溫度以及外部負載電阻，考慮五個水準之內範圍，將條件排列成L25 （65） 直交表。結果顯示，對於熱電發電系統輸出功率及效率，最重要之影響因子為熱側表面溫度，而熱沉寬度對其影響則是微乎其微，熱沉通過分析方法將其近似於有效熱對流係數，並使用田口方法L9 （43） 直交表進行模擬分析。結果顯示，熱沉的長度對有效熱對流係數之影響最大。使用兩階段優化熱電發電系統之性能，利用田口方法達到第一級優化，第二級優化功率-電流曲線，熱電發電系統之輸出功率可進一步提高6%。
第二部分的研究中，藉由振盪邊界週期性對熱電發電器之影響進行初步探討，分別在熱側表面及冷側表面溫度使用正弦波型週期性溫度邊界條件，針對振盪週期及振盪振幅兩種因子模擬分析，熱側表面或冷側表面為正弦波型溫度且另一側表面溫度為固定溫度，與兩側表面為固定溫度進行比較。結果顯示，振盪週期對熱電發電器之性能沒有影響，振盪振幅越大導致性能越好，熱電發電器兩側表面溫度差會直接影響熱電性能，改變熱側表面溫度為振盪邊界相較改變冷側表面溫度影響更顯著，使用振盪邊界之熱電發電器輸出功率最高可提高18%（振盪週期及振幅分別為30min及75K）。

SUMMARY
The thermoelectric generator (TEG) is a promising device to convert waste heat into electricity. This study is divided into two parts to numerically simulate the performance of a TEG system. In the first part, a TEG system in which a TEG module and heat sinks are considered. The heat transfer rate of the heat sinks is approximated by an analytical method. To maximize the efficiency of the system, the Taguchi method is employed. Six factors, including the length and width of heat sink, the height and thickness of fins, hot side temperature, and external load resistance, along with five levels are taken into account. The orthogonal array employed in the Taguchi method is able to significantly reduce the time for seeking the optimum operation. The analysis suggests that the hot side temperature is the most important factor in determining the output power and efficiency of the TEG system, whereas the heat sink width almost plays no role on them. The influences of the four geometric parameters on the heat transfer rate of heat sinks are also evaluated by the Taguchi method. The results indicate that the heat sink length has the largest effect on the heat transfer rate. Two-stage optimization for the performance of the TEG system is developed. The first-stage optimum operation is obtained from the Taguchi approach, and the second-stage optimization is performed from the power-current curve. After undergoing the second-stage optimization, the output power of the system in the first stage can be further improved by around 6%. In the second part, the effect of oscillating boundary conditions on the performance of a TEG system is analyzed. The temperature of hot side surface or cold side surface is approximated by sinusoidal oscillating boundary conditions. Three important factors, including oscillation period, oscillation amplitude, and external load resistance are taken into account. The results indicate that the period of oscillation has no effect on the TEG performance, but the amplitude does. Temperature difference between both the hot side and cold side surfaces will affect the performance of the TEG. The oscillating boundary conditions imposed on the hot side surface are better than on the cold side surface. Output power of thermoelectric generator can be increased by 18% using the oscillation boundary conditions.

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