Komatsu is currently participating in the NEDO project "The
Development for Advanced Thermoelectric Conversion System", which
started in September 2002 and is supervised by Prof. Kajikawa. The
project’s mid-term target is 12% conversion efficiency in the
temperature region between 30 and 580 °C until end of 2004. Finally
it is aimed to achieve 15% by end of March 2007. The final structure
will be 2-stage stacked modules using Bi-Te and silicide materials.
Beside the module's efficiency one of the major concerns is of course
their lifetime and endurance. So relief of thermal induced stress as
well as the suppression of diffusion is an indispensable subject in
terms of the actual operation. Another very important topic is the
reliable characterization of the modules, such as maximum output
power and conversion efficiency1). The presentation will be focused
on the module's performance, heat cycling tests combined with Finite
Element Analysis and the used characterization techniques.

1. L.Rauscher et al, New approach for highly efficiency determination of
thermoelectric generator modules, in Proc. 22nd Int. Conf. on
Thermoelectrics, La Grande-Motte, France, 2002, pp. 508-511.