Numerical Simulation and Structural Optimization of Multi‐Stage Planar Thermoelectric Coolers

Abstract

How to efficiently dissipate the heat of a large-area hot source is an urgent problem to be solved in the thermal management field of electronic devices. Herein, multi-stage planar thermoelectric coolers (TECs) oriented to the efficient planar heat dissipation for large-area hot source are designed, and a comprehensive numerical analysis focusing on the cooling performance of the coolers for a heat source is performed by the finite-element methods. The effect of input current, thickness of thermoelectric legs, stage numbers in heat transfer area, numbers of p-n pair in each stage, heat resistance between each stage, and contact status between heat sources and coolers are studied. The results show that high cooling performance of the coolers relies on an optimized input current, large thickness of thermoelectric legs, optimized stage number and number of p-n pair, and low heat resistance between each stage and between heat sources and coolers. The optimized multi-stage planar TEC can realize a maximum cooling temperature difference of 8.2 K. This work indicates that the multi-stage planar TECs can have potential application in thermal management of electronic devices.

Excellent Thermoelectric Performance from In Situ Reaction between Co Nanoparticles and BiSbTe Flexible Films

“…The black curve is the test data of Co00, and the red one is the test data of Co02, and the blue dotted line is the room-temperature value (Figure ). With the increase in working current, Δ T c increases first and then decreases ,, because of the synergistic effect from Peltier heat, Joule heat, and Fourier heat. When the working current is 0.04 A, the Δ T c of the single-leg device fabricated by Co02 reaches its maximum value (0.5 K), which is 1.5 times higher than that of the Co00 film (0.2 K).…”

The simulated cooling performance of a thin-film thermoelectric cooler with coupled-thermoelements connected in parallel

“…Nie et al. [ 16 ] designed a multi-stage planar TEC, and performed a comprehensive numerical analysis focusing on the cooling performance of the multi-stage planar TEC. The results showed that the optimized multi-stage planar TEC could realize a ΔT max of 8.2 K. Gross et al.…”

“…However, the electrical devices generated a high heat flux which created a harsh environment for the thin-film TECs. The large temperature gradients and thermal stresses [ 16 ] could results in the failure of the thin-film TEC and this issue should be carefully solved [ 15 , 29 , 30 ]. Some researchers demonstrated ring-shaped thermoelectric modules [ 31 , 32 ], which showed significant superiority in the performance and reliability.…”

“…The optimized TEC achieved the maximum cooling performance and high operation reliability. Nie et al [16] designed a multi-stage planar TEC, and performed a comprehensive numerical analysis focusing on the cooling performance of the multi-stage planar TEC. The results showed that the optimized multi-stage planar TEC could realize a ΔT max of 8.2 K. Gross et al [17] reported the design, fabrication, and testing of both one-and six-stage thin-film TECs, which achieved ΔT max ¼ 22.3 K and ΔT max ¼ 17.9 K, respectively.…”