TY - JOUR
T1 - General approach for composite thermoelectric systems with thermal coupling
T2 - The case of a dual thermoelectric cooler
AU - Flores-Niño, Cuautli Yanehowi
AU - Olivares-Robles, Miguel Angel
AU - Loboda, Igor
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the authors.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - In this work, we show a general approach for inhomogeneous composite thermoelectric systems, and as an illustrative case, we consider a dual thermoelectric cooler. This composite cooler consists of two thermoelectric modules (TEMs) connected thermally in parallel and electrically in series. Each TEM has different thermoelectric (TE) properties, namely thermal conductance, electrical resistance and the Seebeck coefficient. The system is coupled by thermal conductances to heat reservoirs. The proposed approach consists of derivation of the dimensionless thermoelectric properties for the whole system. Thus, we obtain an equivalent figure of merit whose impact and meaning is discussed. We make use of dimensionless equations to study the impact of the thermal conductance matching on the cooling capacity and the coefficient of the performance of the system. The equivalent thermoelectric properties derived with our formalism include the external conductances and all intrinsic thermoelectric properties of each component of the system. Our proposed approach permits us changing the thermoelectric parameters of the TEMs and the working conditions of the composite system. Furthermore, our analysis shows the effect of the number of thermocouples on the system. These considerations are very useful for the design of thermoelectric composite systems. We reproduce the qualitative behavior of a commercial composite TEM connected electrically in series.
AB - In this work, we show a general approach for inhomogeneous composite thermoelectric systems, and as an illustrative case, we consider a dual thermoelectric cooler. This composite cooler consists of two thermoelectric modules (TEMs) connected thermally in parallel and electrically in series. Each TEM has different thermoelectric (TE) properties, namely thermal conductance, electrical resistance and the Seebeck coefficient. The system is coupled by thermal conductances to heat reservoirs. The proposed approach consists of derivation of the dimensionless thermoelectric properties for the whole system. Thus, we obtain an equivalent figure of merit whose impact and meaning is discussed. We make use of dimensionless equations to study the impact of the thermal conductance matching on the cooling capacity and the coefficient of the performance of the system. The equivalent thermoelectric properties derived with our formalism include the external conductances and all intrinsic thermoelectric properties of each component of the system. Our proposed approach permits us changing the thermoelectric parameters of the TEMs and the working conditions of the composite system. Furthermore, our analysis shows the effect of the number of thermocouples on the system. These considerations are very useful for the design of thermoelectric composite systems. We reproduce the qualitative behavior of a commercial composite TEM connected electrically in series.
KW - Coefficient of performance
KW - Cooling capacity
KW - Peltier effect
KW - Thermal coupling
KW - Thermoelectric cooler
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84934293881&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/e17063787
DO - 10.3390/e17063787
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1099-4300
VL - 17
SP - 3787
EP - 3805
JO - Entropy
JF - Entropy
IS - 6
ER -