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Numerical Simulation and Structural Optimization of Multi‐Stage Planar Thermoelectric Coolers
Author(s) -
Nie Xiaolei,
Jiang Haolan,
Sang Xiahan,
Wei Ping,
Zhu Wanting,
Zhao Wenyu,
Zhang Qingjie
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.202000248
Subject(s) - thermoelectric cooling , planar , thermoelectric effect , materials science , tec , thermal resistance , heat transfer , stage (stratigraphy) , thermal , mechanical engineering , mechanics , thermodynamics , computer science , engineering , physics , paleontology , computer graphics (images) , ionosphere , astronomy , biology
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.