Improving the efficiency of the liquid heater in the pre-start preparation of the internal combustion engine

Introduction. In this article the study subject is the power supply system of the pre-start heater. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the possibility of using a thermoelectric generator to power the liquid preheater with optimization of the flow section of the thermoelectric generator heat exchanger. Materials and Methods. It is proposed to use a thermoelectric generator as an additional energy source to reduce electric power consumption by a pre-start heater. In the course of the study, various structures of the flow section of the thermoelectric generator heat exchanger have been modeled. The thermal and hydrodynamic analyses were carried out in the software environment ANSYS Workbench, Solidworks Flow Simulation to develop the most effective design for the flow section of the thermoelectric generator heat exchanger. Results. An experimental installation was assembled and the dependence of the temperature modes of the pre-start heater on the output parameters of the thermoelectric generator was determined. Discussion and Conclusion. It has been proved the possibility of reducing the power consumption of the vehicle battery during thermal preparation of the internal combustion engine by using a thermoelectric generator adapted to the power supply system of the liquid pre-start heater.