PRINTEG - Advanced manufacturing for low-cost Thermo-electric device fabrication

For an automotive combustion engine only 35% of the energy produced is harnessed for motive power, with 65% of the
energy being effectively 'lost' to the environment - 25% of that lost energy is transferred into the exhaust gases. For a
typical 100hp (75kW) engine, the waste heat energy is up to 50kW. As a result, automotive OEMS are looking to increase
fuel efficiency through waste exhaust heat power recovery - one very attractive approach for this is the use of Thermo-
Electric Generators (TEGs). To date these approaches have been too expensive due to labour intensive material
consolidation,machining and hand assembly. As the market for these TEGs grows, it is becoming clear that unless
automated, cost-effective manufacturing technologies are developed then mass production will be exported to low-cost
economies. The PRINTEG project will directly address this by developing advance automated technologies for: TE powder
handling and consolidation; Surface mounted pick and place and interconnect deposition and laser sintering. This will
enable cost-effective manufacture in the UK to produce TEGs at a sales price of £490/kW. By achieving this, our
consortium of research capable partners will not only safeguard TEG manufacture in the UK but will also commercialise the
results of our existing Thermo-electric research activities that are already producing globally competitive materials and processes.

The current market for thermoelectric devices is ~£360 million p.a. Thermoelectric generators constitute approximately 40%
of this market (£144 million). This market is predicted to grow rapidly as the cost per Watt of power output falls below
1euro/W. Eneco forecast that the global market for thermoelectric technology will reach 56 billion euros by 2025, 7.5 billion euros for transportation waste heat recovery. The automotive sector manufactured 53 million cars globally in 2009, with
17.5 million within the EU. Voice of customer work with OEM automotive manufacturers suggests that a TEG module price
of between 0.20-1.40euro/W would be favourable. However, whilst the upper value may be acceptable for a market entry
product for the premium executive saloons, the automotive market is characterised by price competition and economies of
scale will need to be identified. Automotive OEMs are driven by cost efficiencies and employ highly automated
manufacturing processes to achieve these. In addition, increasing fuel costs and concerns about the environment are
driving OEMs to invest in low carbon and green technologies such as waste exhaust heat energy recovery. We have
conservatively estimated a market penetration within the automotive sector of 1.5% by 2018, leading to total sales of
automotive TEG's of 262,000 units per annum. With an indicative target sales price of £490/ 1kW TEG module, the
PRINTEG project will generate in excess of £128 million of sales per year in 5 years and generate a ROI of 1:265
(£875k:£232 million cumulative sales).
However, the current methods of manufacture will not allow this to be achieved cost effectively, where manufacture in the
UK for large-scale production could invariably be lost to the Far East. Therefore UK PLC runs the risk that much of the
intellectual capital we have invested in the development of these technologies will be lost. By achieving enhanced
manufacturing technologies that can achieve high volume, low-cost and high quality, the PRINTEG consortium will enable
competitive manufacture of these technologies in the UK.
The PRINTEG project will exploit their intellectual capital relating to thermo-electric materials, production methods and
applications and accelerate the commercialisation step. This will allow our consortium and supply chain partners to further
develop and commercialise knowledge-based technologies, increasing turn-over and increasing (skilled) employment
opportunities. The PRINTEG technologies will ensure the future manufacture of TEG's will be undertaken within the UK.
The technology will provide the consortium partners with cost effective manufacturing solutions to enable market
penetration and will offer Jaguar a differentiator in terms of automotive performance. Outside of the consortium, PRINTEG
will reduce the cost of transportation and motoring, manufacturing costs and reduce the commercialisation time,
maximising the benefits that can be achieved by application of the thermo-electric technologies to multiple applications for
transport (e.g. automotive, marine and aerospace) as well as for renewable energy applications. Application to each of
these sectors will reduce energy usage, cost and emissions as well as reducing reliance of fossil based fuel imports. These
benefits are fully in-line with UK and EU legislation and policies. The total growth in European GDP as a direct result of our
project is estimated to be £128 m p.a. after 5 years post project by direct sales alone. Based on an average turnover per
employee of £130,000 per annum, this will equate to creating/saving up to 98 jobs mainly within the SME partners.