Accumulated type thermoelectric generator for vehicle

#This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0158125, filed on Dec. 31, 2012, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to a thermoelectric generator for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a thermoelectric generator for a vehicle including a thermoelectric generating unit which is mounted between an exhaust gas inlet pipe through which an exhaust gas flows in and an exhaust gas outlet pipe through which the exhaust gas is discharged, has a coolant inlet formed on one side and a coolant outlet formed on the other side thereof, and is formed by assembling a plurality of unit modules each having thermoelectric elements.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the concept of a thermoelectric module.

#FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a thermoelectric generator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which an exhaust gas inlet and an exhaust gas outlet of the thermoelectric generator according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention are separated.

#It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, combustion, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum).

#Additionally, it is understood that the below modules and units are embodied as hardware that is made up of structural components and should not be interpreted as software for the purposes of this application. Additionally, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

#Hereinafter, a configuration of an accumulated type thermoelectric generator for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the accompanying drawings are provided as examples in order to fully transfer the spirit of the present invention to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the accompanying drawings and may be implemented in various forms.