Increasing the efficiency of innovative static energy conversion devices for electricity and heat/cold generation

Projects are expected to develop further the harvesting of renewable energy in areas/conditions where other conversion systems are less efficient, less convenient or not possible.

The results are expected to contribute to at least three of the outcomes in A and B:

A. Increased potential for wider application of electricity and heat/cold static generators due to increased efficiency of energy conversion devices using physical effects such as:

• Thermoelectric -> Thermoelectric Generators (TEG)
• Thermovoltaic -> Thermovoltaic Generators (TVG)
• Thermionic -> Thermionic Generators (TIG)
• Pyroelectric-> Pyroelectric Generator (PEG)
• Electrocaloric -> Electrocaloric Generator

B. Optimised construction and application of the above-mentioned devices for:

• heat recovery applications with electricity generation;
• heat/cold generation from electricity;
• applications in areas such as industrial, automotive, solar, geothermal, data centres, buildings applications, etc.

Projects are expected to implement both the activities in (1) and the validation/demonstration in (2) for the technologies listed above addressed individually and/or as combination of them or with other generation technologies (e.g., Thermionic Photovoltaic TIPV) as described below:

1. Development of at least three of the above-mentioned technologies involving the activities listed below. These can be complemented among them and/or with others pertinent to the topic.

• Simulation, analysis, design, test and validation/demonstration of innovative generators such as the ones described above converting directly heat/cold into electricity with applications in energy waste recovery (e.g., industry, geothermal, data centres, buildings, automotive, etc.).
• Simulation, analysis, design, test and validation/demonstration of innovative generators converting electricity directly in heating or coolin systems (e.g., in industrial processes such as metallurgy, semiconductor lithography, etc., to cool or heat control elements, to cool Li-Ion-Batteries of electric cars, temperature control in data centres, etc.).
• The development of new materials to overcome the drawbacks of the above-mentioned technologies such as of their interdependent electrical and thermal properties, etc.
• Innovative designs of the above-mentioned types of generators that allow better integration into energy conversion systems, from the point of view of efficiency and environmental impact.
• Potential use of nanotechnology for the development of the above-mentioned innovative energy conversion technologies.

2. Validation/demonstration of the activities developed in (1) with at least one pilot for each technology in different EU Member States/Associated Countries.

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5-6 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.