Investigation of a novel separately-configured micro-thermoelectric cooler to enabling extend application scope

Haowen Liu, Xudong Zhao, Guiqiang Li and Xiaoli Ma

Applied Energy, 2022, vol. 306, issue PB, No S0306261921012514

Abstract: Owing to the physical restriction of the buildings and willingness of seeking a higher temperature difference, the hot and cold sides of a thermoelectric module often require a separation treatment, whilst the soft wire or wireless connections between the hot and cold sides can be implemented. This paper investigated a novel separated micro-thermoelectric cooler (micro-TEC) configuration for cooling, which splits the hot and cold sides of the micro-TECs for a distance, with the copper connecting wire in between. A dedicated mathematic numerical simulation for the micro-TEC was carried out. The results show that for a traditional micro-TEC, the maximum coefficient of power (COP) of the micro-TEC is 1.1923 which occurs at the current of 50 mA and temperature difference of 20 K. For the novel separated micro-TEC with connecting wires, the maximum COPs at the wire lengths of 25 μm, 50 μm, 100 μm, 200 μm are 0.9258, 0.9226, 0.9162 and 0.9035 respectively, during which current of 50 mA and temperature difference of 20 K are applied. Although the maximum COP of the micro-TEC is reduced by about 0.2, the distance between the cold and hot sides has a significant increase. Under the condition of current of 50 mA and temperature difference of 20 K, the cooling capacity of the micro-TEC with connecting wire length of 0 μm, 25 μm, 50 μm, 100 μm and 200 μm are 0.0023943 W, 0.0021351 W, 0.0021292 W, 0.0021173 W and 0.0020937 W respectively. Thus, the reduction of the cooling capacity caused by connecting wire is less than that of the COP loss. Further, the maximum COPs of the micro-TEC under the wire length ratio of 4:1, 3:2, 1:1, 2:3 and 1:4 are 0.87924, 0.8953, 0.9035, 0.91186 and 0.92922, during which current is 50 mA and temperature difference is 20 K. The cooling capacity of the micro-TEC under the length ratio of 4:1, 3:2, 1:1, 2:3 and 1:4 are 0.0020319 W, 0.0020729 W, 0.0020937 W, 0.0021148 W and 0.0021577 W respectively, during which the current of 50 mA and temperature difference of 20 K are implemented.

Keywords: Micro-thermoelectric cooler; Separated configuration; Output performance; Mathematic numerical model; COP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.117941

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