The use of the Ettingshausen effect in refrigeration is considered. The phenomenological similarity of this cooling effect with the cooling by a cascade of Peltier couples is treated. Theoretical expressions are derived for the maximum cooling that is possible with the Ettingshausen effect, and it is shown that the optimum shape of the cooling element is an exponential of a given form. Preliminary experiments with bismuth alloys have given a cooling of about 0.25°C.
The cooling of a single thermoelectric junction is limited to a certain temperature difference by the inherent properties of the elements used. Altenkirch gave a theoretical treatment of the single couple and showed a way to overcome the limitation on cooling by using a number of thermocouples in thermal cascade. Such an arrangement was constructed by Turrettini and shown to work. A simplified form of Altenkirch's theory is presented and a form of cascade which is simpler and more efficient than that of Turettini is described and experimental results are given. A two-stage cascade of elements limited to 11°C cooling as a single couple reached 15°C cooling while rather heavily loaded by lack of adequate thermal insulation. A good agreement with theory is obtained for the behavior of this cascade. It is shown that such a cascade is in theory more efficient than a single couple under all circumstances.
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