Homemade Thermoelectric Plate ~(o)~

[THRCNBEONLY1]

Alright Troops

Need some help. Are there any electricians out there, or anyone clued up on circuitry, thermoelectric generators that sort of jazz?

I've been playing about with a homemade thermoelectric generator for a few months now. First few attempts at downsizing it didn't work out. I was using a high temperature silicon sealant but it lacked the pressure required for decent heat conductivity and ultimately it buckled under the heat not long after thermal equilibrium was reached on both sides of the TEG module.

So I gave up on the idea for a while until recently so was hoping to ask for a little help and advice from anyone who is knowledgeable of the subject.

A bit of background:

The aim of the project was to create a generator that was super light with a small footprint. I'm sure some of you will have heard of the PowerPot V. Looks like a great tool, but a lot of money for what is basically a pot with a lot of rules. So I wanted to try make something that did the same but easier.
I don't know about you but power bores me, its a constant restraint, yet we rely so heavily on it. Granted in certain circumstances it will be fairly useless but with today's communications if I can send a message to family to let them know Im okay, then I will. It makes sense. So I need power.

Anyway, so the plan was simple: get some TEGS, join them up, get some metal plates, magnets, and some wire, boom done.

Basically, join up the TEG modues, and place them inside the cake plates. These are the cake tins with a removable base, I got two for £2 in B&Ms.

Once in place, seal the modules over by placing the second cake plate flush side down and secure in place with clips.

I had then toyed with the idea of using heats sinks but decided to just slap some thermal paste on the bottom of the sig bottle and attach it to the cold side for cooling. All in it does a pretty good job at shuttling the heat away from the modules.

To power the hot side, I used a tea candle and the enclosure is the bottom section of my bio stove.

Its difficult to see in the picture but the USB converter (I never mentioned that did I? Its just a small circuit board which converts 0.9-5V to 5V constant) and the power bank are both powered and charging. It only took a short while for the bank to turn green for full charge so Ill discharge it tomorrow and time how long it takes to charge up.

Dark shots and close up

Ill get the volt meter out tomorrow and do some actually tests on what its generating. I have a feeling it might be low on amps but I quickly plugged it into my phone (GS3) and it charged so Im hoping at least an amp. But will know for sure when I get the needles on it.

Plan is, I have some high temperature (1200C) adhesive coming and some high grade samarium cobalt magnets coming in a few days. So Im going to put some of the magnets in between the plates which will provide about 8kg of pressure between the TEG and the plates and seal it all in with some adhesive. Hopefully ending up with a nice pocket sized plate which can be used with loads of things to make power. But at the very least I know a candle and a metal container with water in it (i.e the sig bottle) will do the job.

Before I seal the unit in, I was looking for any advice or suggestions. And if anyone can answer two questions:

Will I be more efficient having the TEGS in series or parallel? There are mixed opinions online but they seem to favor series as they say parallel can cause issues if the modules are exactly alike. So any input would be great.

And, is there a better way of taking the output and using the power more efficiently. I mean, the USB converter is fine, it up-steps and evens out the input but is there a better way of taking the energy from the raw generator connections and delivering it to the battery to be charged. Should I look into a rectifier to make sure i don't ruin the battery?

Sorry for the long post. Ill shut up now. But if anyone can throw me a bone with this stuff it would be much appreciated. Glue and magnets come on Monday so got till then for suggestions. If it works Ill write up a better step by step post.

Thanks in advance.

[Tackleberry]

Very nice setup, electricity is like magic to me, but I think I could have a go at this. All I remember from many years ago is wiring in series increases the voltage, where wiring in parallel keeps the voltage the same, so increases the current, I think....
Where did you get the usb convertor from, I really do fancy building one of these in my shed.