Thermoelectric Power Generation in a Vacuum Cell of Decomposing Liquid Potassium-Ammonia Solutions

Abstract

This paper describes the design of high-efficiency reversible thermoelectric conversion devices for thermoelectric power generation through liquid potassium-ammonia (K-NH3) solutions. The validity and effectiveness of the proposed design is verified by thermoelectric experiments using two kinds of "U"-shaped vacuum cells with a NH3-gas passageway connecting both legs of "U", one of which has a waist in the middle of a liquid flow passage. The experimental results show that the gas passageway provides a stable and reliable reaction by preventing an internal pressure imbalance due to NH3 gasification during solution decomposition; hence, long-term, reversible thermoelectric power can be effectively derived by stably inducing two separate phase transitions in the cell. In addition, the effect of the narrow waist in the cell's middle is verified to cause an increase in thermoelectric conversion efficiency due to improved electric conductivity of liquid in the vacuum cell. Consequently, using these technologies in thermoelectric cell potentially leads to long-time, high-efficiency thermoelectric power generation through liquid K-NH3 solutions.