Fabrication and testing of unileg oxide thermoelectric device

A prototype of oxide thermoelectric unileg device was fabricated. This device was based on only n-legs made of La doped calcium manganate. The powder was synthesized, characterised and consolidated in rectangular thermoelements. A 3×3 device was fabricated by fitting 9 rectangular bars in alumina housing and connected by silver strips. The device has been tested under large temperature difference (ΔT=480°C) using an indegenous system. An open circuit voltage of 468 mV was obtained for a nine leg ‘unileg’ device. The device exhibits a internal resistance of ∼1Ω. The maximum power output for this nine leg device reached upto 50 mW in these working condition.