Abstract: The influence of the thermal contact resistance and electric contact resistance of a small thermoelectrical power generator (TEG) is analyzed.Results show that the thermal contact resistance and electrical contact resistance have a noticeable influence on the thermoelectric power generator when the thermal couple length is less than 2mm.The power reaches 4mW/mm2,and the efficiency reaches 3.5% when Tc=283K,Th=383K,Z=0.0024K-1,lc=2mm,r=0.2,and n=0.1.The maximum thermoelectric efficiency is 4.2% without thermal contact resistance or electrical contact resistance.Furthermore,the power output and efficiency increase strongly when the thermal couple length is less than 2mm,but the power output tends to decrease to a constant and the efficiency tends to increase to a constant when the thermal couple length is more than 5mm.It is shown that the influence of thermal contact resistance and electrical contact resistance of the thermoelectric power generator cannot be neglected.

Key words: thermoelectric power generator, contact effect, power output, thermoelectrical efficiency