Annals of the Assembly for International Heat Transfer Conference 13

ISBN 1-56700-225-0 / CD 1-56700-226-9

Year 2006

M. Hodes
Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, USA

Sizing the height and cross-sectional area of the thermocouples within a thermoelectric module (TEM) operating in generation mode is necessary to maximize performance or efficiency. Here a heat conduction analysis is undertaken to determine the rate of work done on a (electrically) resistive load by a TEM and its thermodynamic efficiency as a function of the load resistance, temperature difference across the TEM, footprint of the TEM, thermocouple packing density and the geometry of the thermocouples inside it. In order to elucidate the relevant physics the thermoelectric properties of the pellets making up the thermocouples inside the TEM are assumed to be constant. It is shown, for example, that the maximum work output by the TEM is independent of the cross sectional area of the pellets, but larger-cross sectional area pellets are better matched to lower electrical resistance loads.

EXP-21 pages DOI: 10.1615/IHTC13.p21.210 Download article

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