Generalizations in physics of thermoelectric energy conversion and new trends of thermoelectricity development

Generalizations of electromagnetic induction phenomena in case of nonisothermal conducting media have been considered. Such a physical approach enables description of thermoelectric energy conversion in a new general context. Generality of current excitation physical phenomena of an electromagnetic nature and thermoelectric currents has been shown. A generalized model of thermoelectric energy conversion has been studied. On its basis techniques of new types of thermoelements have been developed. Variants of new types of thermoelements with unique properties found against such procedure have been demonstrated. It was shown that existing thermoelements have limitations in thermoelectric energy conversion. Possibilities to improve the thermoelectric conversion efficiency by involving new physical factors in the process of thermoelectric energy conversion have been analyzed. All versions of thermoelectric energy conversion have been classified. New approaches of thermoelectricity development resulting from them have been analyzed. Results of energy conversion investigations based on superposition of current induction of electromagnetic and thermoelectric nature have been presented. The conversion efficiency has been determined on the basis of a local approach that gave a generalized material figure of merit, parameters included pyroelectric and piezoelectric effects in particular. Based on these data new possibilities of thermoelectric energy conversion and promising approaches of thermoelectricity development have been analyzed.