Analysis of Thermoelectric Coolers by a Spice-Compatible Equivalent-Circuit Model

Abstract

Abstract-The objective of this work was to develop a PSPICE-compatible equivalent circuit of a thermoelectric cooler (TEC). Equivalent circuits are convenient tools for power electronics engineers since they help in presenting a problem in electronic circuit terms and can assist in the design of power stages and the control circuitry and algorithms. A methodology is developed for extracting the parameters of the proposed model from manufacturers' data of TECs. The present model is compatible with PSPICE or other electronic circuit simulators. An important feature of the model is its ability to generate small-signal transfer functions that can be used to design feedback networks for temperature-control applications. Several examples of successful utilization of the model are presented. Data of many different manufacturers were examined and the model parameters were extracted. In all cases, the model was found to reproduce accurately the performance of commercial TECs. The accuracy of the model was also verified by experiments.

A thin film thermoelectric cooler for Chip-on-Board assembly

“…An accurate but simple SPICE model is very beneficial for precise temperature control of TEC. The SPICE model consists of the electrical part reflecting Seebeck effects where thermally generated voltage (V α ) is proportional to Seebeck coefficient (α m ) and temperature difference between hot and cold side of TEC, and the thermal part circuit considering electrical analogy of thermal behavior [5]. Model parameters of the equivalent circuit were extracted using the experimental method to determine thermoelectric module parameters [6].…”

“…Model parameters of the equivalent circuit were extracted using the experimental method to determine thermoelectric module parameters [6]. In the thermal model, node voltage represents absolute temperature in Kelvin and current source means heat in watt [5]. In the equivalent circuit, R m is internal electrical resistance, and current source P = I 2 R m + α m (T h − T C )I and P x = −0.5I 2 R m + α m T C I represent electric power and cooling power of TEC, respectively.…”

Experimenting and Simulating Thermoelectric Cooling of an LED Module

“…The principles how to form an electrically equivalent circuit for TEC have been presented in several papers [10][11][12][13][14][15]. The analogy between thermal and electrical parameters is PAPER EXPERIMENTING AND SIMULATING THERMOELECTRIC COOLING OF AN LED MODULE the following: Thermal flow/heat powers are presented as electric currents, temperatures are voltages, thermal resistances are ohmic resistances and heat capacities are electrical capacitances.…”

Modeling and Simulation of Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Processes

“…Lack of dedicated tools covering complex simulations of thermoelectric devices in both thermal and electrical domains prompted many research teams into developing of original models of Peltier elements facilitating analysis and design of thermoelectric coolers (Lineykin & Ben-Yaakov, 2005), (Dziurdzia & Kos, 1999), (Wey, 2006) as well as thermoegenerators (Chen et al, 2009), (Freunek et al, 2009). …”