Thermal Model for Harvesting Waste Heat From Microprocessor using Shunt Configuration

Microprocessor energy consumption has been growing especially in datacenter environment. However, there is a lack of investigation on using the thermal heat generated by the microprocessor as an alternative energy source. This study focused on the thermal profiling of the microprocessor integrated with an Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) using shunt configuration. A 2D thermal model is developed to estimate the heat transfer of a complex geometry system. MATLAB simulation based on the thermal model is presented with two types of heat spreader material, copper and pyrolytic graphite. The advantages and their shortfalls with respect to the microprocessor heat dissipation and the effectiveness to generate a temperature gradient at the MEMS TEG are discussed.