Numerical Analysis and Experimental Study on the Thermoelectric Characteristics of the Al–Si Alloy Used for Building Energy Storage Tile

This paper aims to explore the feasibility of the silicon aluminum (Al-Si) alloy for usage as a thermoelectric tile on building roofs. Through the simulation of the heat conduction characteristics and temperature field distri-bution of the step-shaped Al-Si alloy sample, the effects of the thickness, material, and shape of the Al-Si alloy sample on its thermal conversion efficiency and temperature field distribution characteristics of continuous solar irradiation were studied. The energy conversion characteristics of the Al-Si alloy sample combined with a thermoelectric generator (TEG) were investigated by numerical analysis and experiment. The results show that the Al-Si alloy sample with a thickness of 10 mm had a good heat storage efficiency. Also, the Al-Si alloy tile with a plane shaped solar irradiation surface and the back-sun surface with a certain number of bosses has a better heat transfer efficiency. Through experiment and calculation demonstrate that an Al-Si alloy tile with 500 mm x 500 mm area could generate 1.64 W electric power.