Automotive Waste Heat Recovery
BSST began developing high efficiency Thermoelectric Waste Energy Recovery Systems for passenger vehicle applications in November 2004 under a contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy Freedom Car Office.
The goal of the effort is to reduce fuel consumption by converting exhaust gasses into electricity using a Thermoelectric Generator Module (TGM). The electric power that is harvested from the waste heat would replace a significant portion of the electric power that is produced by a vehicle's alternator. BSST's TGM design and development are supported by contributions from BMW and Visteon in the areas of system simulation and subsystem hardware development.
In 2005 (Phase 1), the team created a system architecture and established subsystem designs that were modeled in a bumper-to-bumper performance simulation that showed up to 12% fuel economy improvement.
In Phase 2, completed in January 2007, key subsystem components; including a Primary Heat Exchanger, Thermoelectric Generator Module, and Power Control System, were built and tested. Additionally, a more refined vehicle system model was developed by BMW.
In Phase 3, the subsystems will be integrated and operated on a test bench, using a simulated source of hot gas, as a final developmental step preceding engine integration.