Investigation of potential power generation from laptop waste heat / Dhiyauddin Asyraf Laili

Increasing uses of fossil fuels exacerbates its contribution towards waste and pollution, resulting in a response in the demand for cleaner and more renewable energy production. An often neglected energy waste is found in the form of waste heat, primarily those generated by ubiquitous everyday objects, namely electronics. This energy source is abundant, everywhere, but ignored. This project seeks to investigate the potential of the energy harvesting mechanisms of thermoelectric cells (TEG) and heat pipe energy transfer, from a laptop waste heat source. A mathematical model was established, from which the potential generated power from the thermoelectric cells was estimated. The laptop generated heat will be simulated by an external heating unit, while the thermoelectric cell cooling will be handled by a customized heat sink rig. Said thermoelectric cell will be sandwiched between the heat source and the heat sink. The heat sink operates via heat convection, and thus two operating scenarios are explored in this experiment, namely natural convection and forced convection. Current and voltage generated by the thermoelectric cell was observed for multiple iterations of resistance via an electronic load unit. The results of which were recorded and plotted onto graphs for observation of trends and averages. The power generated by the system was calculated from the results, and compared against the estimated values.