PRINTEG -Production Innovation for ThermoElectric Generators

The PrinTEG project builds on the previous development work of a UK-based consortia of SMEs and RTD partners who have developed cutting edge thermo-electric silicide materials and automotive demonstrators that use these materials to generate electrical power from waste exhaust heat. The PrinTEG project aims to take this intellectual property and develop advanced automated manufacture and in-process sensing technologies to enable the low-cost, mass-manufacture of these thermo-electric generators. In so doing the consortium will maximise the chances that the manufacture of these technologies will be undertaken within the UK, rather than being lost to the Far-East, as has been the case with electronics manufacture over the last few decades. PrinTEG is a business-led consortium, with Jaguar Cars acting as the initial route to market for the technology.
The specific developments to be undertaken within the project relate the development of:
- Automated powder handling and mechanical forming technoligies for the creation of nano-structured thermo-electric material.
- Automated sintering technologies for the creation of net-shape thermo-electrics without the need for wasteful cutting and milling.
- Automated Pick + Place technologies for the handling and placement of the thermoelectic legs that are of complex shapes.
- Automated brazing and in-process sensing to optimise speed, quality and yield for the fabrication of thermo-electic generators.