III.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A. Materials
The specifications and descriptions of the materials that are used in this design project are thermal paste,
aluminum sheet, aluminum heatsink, screws, wires, shrinkable tube, cotton wick, used cooking oil, glass jar, lead, and
Thermoelectric Generator (SP1848-27145).
The tools that are used in this design project are pliers, soldering iron, cutter, wire stripper, rotary tools,
screwdriver, multimeter, thermal gun and thermal scanner.
B. Methods
Design and Construction of the Device
The device has two lamps on its sides, this was made to provide more heat for the Thermoelectric Generator
(TEG) and brighter light for the surroundings. The fuel used for the lamps are used cooking oil for accessible and
environment friendly fuel supply. The body of the device was made up of glass to effectively illuminate the
environment with the light coming from the lamps and the base was made up of aluminum for light and strong
foundation. On the middle part of the device, a heatsink was submerged in water to absorb the heat coming off the
cold side of the TEG. The heat from the hot side of TEG flows to the cold side until it approaches thermal equilibrium,
the water prolongs the time by absorbing the heat from the heatsink at cold side. The water may be replenished when
it becomes warm to provide greater temperature difference to produce greater power. Thermal paste was applied on
the hot and cold side of the TEG for better thermal conduction with the heatsinks. The summary of the flow of energy
on the device is shown on block diagram below.
Design and Construction of the Circuit
The four TEGs are connected in series together with a 0.9-5V DC to 5V DC converter or booster circuit. The
schematic diagram for the booster circuit is shown below. The input voltage (VCC-IN) needs to be between 0.9 V to
5 V for the booster to work and prevent damaging the components. It is connected in parallel with the 1K resistor
(R1) that is in series with a red LED (D1), and with the 0.1 uF capacitor (C1). The LED serves as an indicator if there
is enough voltage for the circuit to work, the resistor absorbs the excess voltage to prevent damaging the LED. The
capacitor charges up with the input voltage and maintain it, making the voltage stable. These parallel circuits are
connected in series with the 47 uH inductor (L1) that is connected on pin 3 of the CE8301 (U1) IC. CE8301 is a
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Pulse Frequency Modulator (CMOS PFM) controller that mainly
consists of reference voltage source, an oscillator, and a comparator. The block diagram of the internal circuit of the
IC can be seen below. This IC controls the frequency of shorting the ground and inductor to form a closed circuit that
has the inductor as a load. When current flows through the inductor, it induces magnetic field. The IC will open the
circuit and the current will flow through the SS14 (D2), a Schottky diode that serves as reverse polarity protection,
and to the parallel 100 uF capacitor (C2). The induced magnetic field from the inductor will have an induced voltage
therefore the input voltage will increase by adding the voltage induced to the inductor. This will have 5V that is parallel
with the capacitor (C2) that will charge up and stabilize the voltage. The pin LX will protect the IC when the input
voltage exceeded 5 V. The capacitor (C2) that charged up 5V is parallel to the output (VCC-OUT). The VCC-OUT is
connected in parallel to a USB port to charge a smartphone with the use of a USB type A adapter cable.
 Figure 1:Block Diagram of the Device

Figure 2: Schematic Diagram of the TEG Connected to Booster Circuit

Figure 3:Block Diagram of CE8301 Internal Circuit