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The energy crisis and related environmental issues due to the increasing power demand are the primary concerns in today's evolving globe. Modern energy conversion systems need dependability and scalability to overcome obstacles. This manuscript systematically examines recent research on high-performance thermoelectric materials, including novel alloys, nanostructured composites, and flexible materials designed to enhance energy conversion efficiency and adaptability across diverse environments. The literature selection spans peer-reviewed articles, patents, and emerging studies, emphasizing innovations in material properties, manufacturing methods, and design adaptations for transportation-specific challenges. In addition, this paper is organized to provide a dual perspective on both material innovation and practical integration in transportation systems, highlighting recent advancements in manufacturing processes and design. The unique structure of this review illuminates current limitations and prospective research pathways, offering insights for enhancing TEG performance and fostering sustainable, energy-efficient transportation technologies.

In the medical field, refrigeration systems are used to store and transport vaccines, blood, and other medical supplies that require specific temperature ranges to remain effective. As technology continues to advance, the demand for more efficient and sustainable refrigeration systems is also increasing. The freezer compartment is typically designed to maintain a temperature of −18°C to −23°C for storing frozen items. Consequently, this work aims to develop a hybrid refrigeration system that combines a thermoelectric cooler system (TEC) and a vapor compression refrigeration cycle (VCC) system to achieve lower temperatures than conventional refrigerators. Also, the performance of the proposed hybrid refrigeration system is experimentally assessed with various operating conditions, including varying the voltage delivered to the system. The experimental results exhibited that the temperature inside the freezer room reached −33°C, while the cold side temperature is −47°C. Also, the maximum coefficient of performance of the VCC system, TEC, and hybrid system is 2.07, 1.06, and 0.37, respectively, at a DC voltage applied of 6 V. Moreover, the results revealed that the hybrid system combining a TEC and a VCC system can be a valuable technology for specific applications with low temperatures and limited capacity requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simulation of energy conversion in the branches of a thermoelectric cooler is carried out. The influence of various distributions of the active impurity along the branch of the thermoelement on its efficiency in the mode of maximum temperature drop is considered. The calculation is carried out within the framework of a two-band standard model of the band structure of a semiconductor for non-degenerate charge carriers. The Thomson effect was not taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermoelectric (TE) technology is promising for reducing thermal discomfort of workers during their routine professional activities. In this manuscript, a preliminary evaluation of a newly developed personal cooling system (PCS) with flexible TE modules is presented based on an analysis of cooling efficiency and power consumption. For this purpose, tests with human participation were performed involving the monitoring of local skin temperature changes and electrical parameters of the controller. Thanks to TE cooling, a significant reduction of local skin temperature was observed at the beginning of the experiment, reaching as much as 6 °C. However, the observed effect systematically became weaker with time, with the temperature difference decreasing to about 3 °C. Cooling efficiency stayed at the same level over the ambient temperature range from 25 °C to 35 °C. The obtained results showed that a proper fitting of the PCS to the human body is a crucial factor influencing the PCS cooling efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compressor is the most power-consuming component in a refrigeration system, and energy scarcity in the form of electricity has become a grave challenge in today's world. Replacing the compressor with solar-powered clean energy could be an efficient alternative to reduce energy consumption significantly. The system presented comprises a Solar-powered Thermal Refrigeration System based on the Peltier Effect, functioning on a cooling module. Since the system is solar-powered, an automatic solar tracker that incorporates Light Dependent Resistors and a servo motor is integrated to supply maximum power by continuously orienting the panel in the direction of sunlight and thus always keeping it charged. This research aims to analyse the performance of a solar-powered thermoelectric refrigeration system. The model developed is a promising alternative for domestic refrigerators, accounting for a 44–63% drop in power consumption to cool a commensurate capacity refrigerator of 2.6L. From definitive experimentation, the lowest temperature of 15.15°C was achieved within the refrigeration chamber after powering the circuit for 136 seconds. Initially, the air inside the refrigeration chamber at 22.48°C (ambient temperature) was dropped by 7.33°C. A high COP of 0.54 is achieved on experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric motors and generators underpin life in today's world. They are numerous and widespread and consume approximately 45% of the world's energy. Any improvements in efficiency or reductions in their whole-of-life costs are actively and continually being sought. While designs accommodate the removal of heat caused by internal losses because of inefficiencies, temperature variations due to load changes and environmental temperature fluctuations, and system harmonic content still stresses electrical insulation systems. This causes the fretting of insulation, combined with moisture ingress, which leads to leakage currents and, consequently, the early failure of the electrical insulation. This paper explores the addition of thermoelectric coolers/heaters (TECs) or Peltier effect devices. We show that these solid-state devices can actively support the thermal management of a motor by keeping its internals hot, reducing moisture ingress when off, and assisting in heat removal when under load, resulting in a more thermally stable internal environment. A thermally stable environment inside the electrical machine reduces the mechanical stresses on the electrical insulation, resulting in a longer operational life and reducing the whole-of-life costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermoelectric coolers (TEC) are devices that conversion of electrical power into a temperature gradient. TEC modules have the benefits of high dependability, small dimensions, lightweight, absence of mechanical moving parts and working fluid. Thermoelectric cooling systems have experienced significant utilisation in recent years. These technologies have been used in automobiles to cool and maintain the quality of goods during transportation and in portable cooling bags, computers, and medical apparatus. The TEC manufacture datasheet only offers limited data on characteristics and maximum parameters, which is insufficient for studying thermoelectric systems. This paper presents an analytical modelling methodology that provides a direct method for assessing the performance of module parameters and determining the fundamental thermal physical parameters of a TEC. Furthermore, this article outlines the procedure for choosing the appropriate TEC module from a selection of three options to integrate it with a vapour compression refrigeration (VCR) system. The objective is to attain low temperatures while reducing power consumption and improving performance. The findings indicates that The TEC1-12706 module was the most suitable option among three different types of TEC modules for integration with the VCR system to achieve low temperatures. This choice was based on its lower power consumption than the TEC127010 and TEC127015 modules, resulting in 36.5% and 59.3% energy savings, respectively. Additionally, the heat dissipation from the hot side of the TEC12706 is lower than the TEC12710 and TEC12715 modules by 32.2% and 59%, respectively.

Many worldwide scientists have concentrated on using waste heat recovery technology in automotive applications because of increasingly strict fuel consumption. The thermoelectric generator (TEG) has garnered significant interest in the automobile sector as a viable waste heat recovery solution over the past several decades. A short survey of thermoelectric materials and heat exchangers for TEG systems is initially presented in this paper. To overcome the heat exchanger's current shortcomings, some previous studies designed a variety of the heat exchanger geometry of the TEG system. They suggested concentric cylindrical TEG system utilizes an annular thermoelectric module instead of the traditional square-shaped one. It uses the heat pipe's benefits to improve radial heat transmission. A comparison of the water-inside and gas-inside arrangements indicated that the water-inside concentric cylindrical TEG system provided a greater power output in our simulations to test the performance of the proposed system.

In this study, an experimental and numerical approach is used in order to evaluate the thermoelectric cooler (TEC) control performance and efficiency. For this purpose, the refrigeration system is designed by using the semi-conductor material operating under Peltier effect, and Arduino device. The efficiency of the system is investigated through the performance coefficient and temperature span for carrier fluid between the hot and cold exchanger by using the prototype developed recently at Medea University. In addition, the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) is used in order to maintain temperature control and heat transfer of the system TEC in a closed-loop through the driving circuit, which is specially designed for the TEC can conveniently adjust the input current, which passes through the refrigerator so as to fully make use of quick cooling power advantages. The main obtained results including, the maximum coefficient of performance registered is 0.73 to 0.1 with a temperature span about of 51 °C, by inputting current of 5 A within a control temperature range 0–30 °C, while targeting a temperature of 5 °C at room temperature for the proposed control system had a control time of 21 s, with only a discrepancy of ±0.1 °C. The experimental results confirm that during the time interval 0–20 min, the inside temperature of thermoelectric refrigerator has been decreased rate of 1.5 °C/min.It was shown through the different simulation results with PID controller by taking kp = 0.9, ki = 0.15, and kd = 0, that the cooling temperature decreases over time to 5 °C, which means that these systems work in time-dependent conditions. The proposed controller is able to reach an error of 0.1 °C with minimal overshoot under than 20 s.

Thermoelectric (TE) technology is promising for reducing thermal discomfort of workers during their routine professional activities. In this manuscript, a preliminary evaluation of a newly developed personal cooling system (PCS) with flexible TE modules is presented based on an analysis of cooling efficiency and power consumption. For this purpose, tests with human participation were performed involving the monitoring of local skin temperature changes and electrical parameters of the controller. Thanks to TE cooling, a significant reduction of local skin temperature was observed at the beginning of the experiment, reaching as much as 6 °C. However, the observed effect systematically became weaker with time, with the temperature difference decreasing to about 3 °C. Cooling efficiency stayed at the same level over the ambient temperature range from 25 °C to 35 °C. The obtained results showed that a proper fitting of the PCS to the human body is a crucial factor influencing the PCS cooling efficiency.

Thermoelectric devices are currently being used in many industrial applications for cooling devices and generating electricity. This paper mainly focuses on using thermoelectric for cooling applications, specifically to cool down computer chips. In this study, experimental tests were conducted using a commercial thermoelectric module to investigate its capabilities for cooling hotspot in chip at different heat rates. Two experimental tests were conducted at steady-state condition to cool down hotspot with two different values of heat rates of 10.8 W and 12.1 W. The former heat rate represents the case of hotspot with low heat flux, whereas the latter represents the case of hotspot with high heat flux. The test results showed that at hotspot heat rate of 10.8 W, using thermoelectric current of 5.5 A has resulted in decreasing the hotspot temperature at open circuit condition (111.4 °C) by 54.0 °C. However, at hotspot heat rate of 12.1 W, using thermoelectric current of 6.0 A has resulted in decreasing the hotspot temperature at open circuit condition (138.8 °C) by 61.1 °C. The test results showed that the optimum electrical current at high heat rate was always greater than that at low heat rate. The results provided in this paper is a part of a research project that consists of a number of phases in which the ultimate goal is to develop a simple tool for designing self-cooling framework to cool down chip hotspot at different operating conditions with minimal increase in the overall power requirements. A case study for self-cooling framework is provided in this paper to demonstrate that the chip hotspot at a given operating condition can successfully be cooled at an acceptable temperature with no need for additional power requirements.

Thermoelectric devices are currently being used in many industrial applications for cooling devices and generating electricity. This paper mainly focuses on using thermoelectric for cooling applications, specifically to cool down computer chips. In this study, experimental tests were conducted using a commercial thermoelectric module to investigate its capabilities for cooling hotspot in chip at different heat rates. Two experimental tests were conducted at steady-state condition to cool down hotspot with two different values of heat rates of 10.8 W and 12.1 W. The former heat rate represents the case of hotspot with low heat flux, whereas the latter represents the case of hotspot with high heat flux. The test results showed that at hotspot heat rate of 10.8 W, using thermoelectric current of 5.5 A has resulted in decreasing the hotspot temperature at open circuit condition (111.4 °C) by 54.0 °C. However, at hotspot heat rate of 12.1 W, using thermoelectric current of 6.0 A has resulted in decreasing the hotspot temperature at open circuit condition (138.8 °C) by 61.1 °C. The test results showed that the optimum electrical current at high heat rate was always greater than that at low heat rate. The results provided in this paper is a part of a research project that consists of a number of phases in which the ultimate goal is to develop a simple tool for designing self-cooling framework to cool down chip hotspot at different operating conditions with minimal increase in the overall power requirements. A case study for self-cooling framework is provided in this paper to demonstrate that the chip hotspot at a given operating condition can successfully be cooled at an acceptable temperature with no need for additional power requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new hybrid vaccine freezer system equipped with thermoelectric is presented. • The hybrid system consists of the freezer and cooler compartment. • The proposed hybrid refrigeration system is experimentally evaluated. • The hybrid system achieved temperatures of −40 °C in the freezer compartment. • The COP of the hybrid vaccine freezer system of 1.05 is achieved. Recently, the demand for refrigeration globally has been increasing in the fields of vaccine storage, medical services, food preservation, and cooling for electronic components. This has resulted in the generation of more electrical power and thus releasing more CO 2 around the world which has led to many climatic changes, such as global warming. The vapour compression refrigeration cycle (VCC) is the most common as it has a high coefficient of performance (COP), although it only operates down to temperatures of around −20 °C. The thermoelectric cooler (TEC) modules offer a featured method for cooling technology, which is not mainly considered by energy efficiency but offers distinctive merits in specific applications. Although the TEC system is not conventionally known for incomparable energy efficiency, it offers a range of exceptional attributes that make it a desirable option for certain scenarios. Therefore, this work aims to assess the performance of the innovative hybrid vaccine freezer system depending on how well the VCC system and the TEC work together. Also, the temperature distribution within the freezer compartment has been investigated under various operating conditions. The newly developed hybrid vaccine refrigerator system consists of four pieces of TEC-12706 modules that function well at low temperatures. The results indicate that the best coefficient of performance (COP) of 1.05 is achieved with a total power consumption of 172.8 W when the TEC is operating at 5.5 V and the fan is running at 12 V. The cooling capacities of the freezer and cooler compartments are 9.2 W and 165 W, respectively. Furthermore, the best distribution and lowest temperatures were obtained, with temperatures in the lateral area of −40 °C compared with −37 °C in the central area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Thermoelectric devices reduce the non-uniformity of chip temperature. • Chip hotspot is cooled by thin thermoelectric in order of tens of micrometers. • Harvested electrical power from chip wasted heat is used for cooling its hotspot. • Chip hotspot is cooled by self-cooling framework with no extra power requirement. Thermoelectric devices are currently being used in the applications of cooling and generating electricity. This study mainly focuses on using these devices for both applications toward cooling down computer chips. An important aspect in designing the cooling system is to minimize the non-uniformity of the temperature distribution in the computer chip so as to reduce the thermal stresses in it. Another aspect in designing the cooling system is to minimize its power requirements. To investigate these two aspects, the temperatures of the cold chip areas can be allowed to increase, but not to exceed a certain temperature threshold, by installing Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs) on these areas that can harvest electrical power from the chip wasted heat. Thereafter, the chip hotspot areas can be cooled down by installing Thermoelectric Coolers (TECs) on these areas that can be powered by the harvested electrical power from the TEGs in order to maintain the temperatures of these hotspots to be less than or equal a certain temperature threshold. This cooling technique is called "sustainable self-cooling framework" for cooling chip hotspots. However, the question is: can the harvested electrical power by the TEGs be enough to power the TECs for cooling chip hotspots? In this study, a 3D model is developed to optimize the performance of both TEGs and TECs. Thereafter, this model is validated against experimental data of TEC and TEG. The results showed that the model predictions were in good agreements with the experimental data to within ±4%. Also, considerations are given in this study to optimize the performance of cascaded and non-cascaded TEGs and TECs for future use them to develop sustainable self-cooling frameworks for cooling chip hotspots at different operating conditions. Finally, a case study is conducted in this paper for a sustainable self-cooling framework in order to address the question above. The results showed that the self-cooling framework can successfully cool down the hotspot at an acceptable temperature with not only no need for additional electrical power requirements but also for reducing the non-uniformity in the chip temperature distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is a solid-state component that utilizes Peltier effect to dissipate the heat of the electronic packaging system. It shows unique advantages over conventional cooling technology by quiet operation, long lifetime, and ease of integration. However, the internal heat accumulation caused by Joule heat exposes the TEC to the risk of thermal-mechanical failure during long-term operation in realistic thermal environment. In this paper, a heat-generating chip was employed to the cold-end of the module to serve as the finite thermal load while the heat sink at the hot-end was modeled by heat transfer coefficient. Based on the thermoelectric (TE) and thermal stress analyses, we developed a three-dimensional numerical model of a compact TEC, which took into account the temperature dependent TE material properties. It was found that the thermal load attached to Peltier junction can cause extreme high levels of thermal stress, which might cause dislocations and cracks of the material layers. The influences of electrical current, leg length, ceramic plate and bonding layers on the thermal stress levels were examined. These results presented an optimized design with predictive thermo-mechanical performance to realize minimum thermal stress levels, which provided a useful guide to achieve high reliability in a compact TEC. Highlights • Finite element simulations with temperature-dependent properties are carried out. • The effect of thermal load on the thermo-mechanical performance is investigated. • The effects of current, leg length, ceramic plate and bonding layers are examined. • An optimized design to realize minimum thermal stress levels is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In thermoelectric coolers (TECs) applied external voltage potential is generated to a temperature difference based on the Peltier effect. Main and basic structure of TECs is in the form of single stage device. Due to the low efficiency, especially low coefficient of performance (COP) of thermoelectric coolers, optimal design of geometrical parameters of such devices is vital. For this purpose, usually optimization algorithms are used. Therefore, in this research, chemical reaction optimization algorithm (CRO) is used in order to optimal design of structure of single stage thermoelectric cooler. CRO algorithm is a novel optimization scheme inspired form chemical reaction mechanisms. The results of the research are compared with previous data obtained using other optimization algorithm. Comparison of the results shows that application of CRO algorithm results in enhancement of COP of the system. Therefore, CRO algorithm proposed in this research could be used for better design of single stage TECs to achieve higher efficiency and coefficient of performance of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, it was examined mechanisms that control internal cooling device (nano-homojunction diode)depending on thermoelectric Peltier effect, resulting in structures that are optimized thermal management. Peltier coefficient for short-length diode is theoretically investigated. It is found that the cooling power is governed by the carrier concentration, current density and the ratio of n-type region width to p-type region width. It has been determined the optimum value of the cooling power at the junction of ZnO in the optimum density at doping symmetrically on a certain value.The cooling power, temperature difference (temperature between the contact and the junction) and dimensionless figure of merit are found in this material for different thicknesses, then comparing between them. It has been simulated the homojunction diode using a MATLAB software with numerically calculated the Peltier coefficient for each layer in these diodes.It has been found that nano-homojunction introduce a significant improvement in the internal cooling performance.

Highlights • A portable thermoelectric refrigerator was manufactured and tested. • Effect of fan power at not only hot side but also cold side of TE module is studied. • Method of determination of optimum operational conditions is described for max. COP. • Better thermal performance at optimum conditions as promising portable refrigerator. Abstract In this study, a portable mini thermoelectric refrigerator driven by a Peltier element is designed, constructed and tested. The Peltier element combined with fans on both sides is mounted onto a refrigerator box. An optimization for the operating conditions of the thermoelectric refrigerator is performed. The operating conditions of the system are the ambient temperature and voltages of the fans and Peltier element. Performance analysis for the optimum conditions obtained is presented. Results show that the optimum voltages of the Peltier element, inner and outer fans maximizing the cooling coefficient of performance of the system (COP) are 12 V, 3 V and 9 V, respectively. The optimum ambient temperature is 293 K. Results also show that the cooling COP of the system decreases from 0.351 to 0.011 while the temperature of the cooled space changes from 293 K to 254.8 K. The proposed thermoelectric refrigerator is used to keep drinks, foods or medicines fresh and cool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As is known to all, a battery pack is significantly important for electric vehicles. However, its performance is easily affected by temperature. In order to address this problem, an enhanced battery thermal management system is proposed, which includes two parts: a modified cooling structure and a control unit. In this paper, more attention has been paid to the structure part. According to the heat generation mechanism of a battery and a thermoelectric chip, a simplified heat generation model for a single cell and a special cooling model were created in ANSYS 17.0. The effects of inlet velocity on the performance of different heat exchanger structures were studied. The results show that the U loop structure is more reasonable and the flow field distribution is the most uniform at the inlet velocity of 1.0 m/s. Then, on the basis of the above heat exchanger and the liquid flow velocity, the cooling effect of the improved battery temperature adjustment structure and the traditional liquid temperature regulating structure were analyzed. It can be seen that the liquid cooling structure combined with thermoelectric cooling demonstrates a better performance. With respect to the control system, the corresponding hardware and software were also developed. In general, the design process for this enhanced battery thermal management system can provide a wealth of guidelines for solving similar problems. The H commutation circuit, matrix switch circuit, temperature measurement circuit, and wireless communication modules were designed in the control system and the temperature control strategy was also developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As is known to all, a battery pack is significantly important for electric vehicles. However, its performance is easily affected by temperature. In order to address this problem, an enhanced battery thermal management system is proposed, which includes two parts: a modified cooling structure and a control unit. In this paper, more attention has been paid to the structure part. According to the heat generation mechanism of a battery and a thermoelectric chip, a simplified heat generation model for a single cell and a special cooling model were created in ANSYS 17.0. The effects of inlet velocity on the performance of different heat exchanger structures were studied. The results show that the U loop structure is more reasonable and the flow field distribution is the most uniform at the inlet velocity of 1.0 m/s. Then, on the basis of the above heat exchanger and the liquid flow velocity, the cooling effect of the improved battery temperature adjustment structure and the traditional liquid temperature regulating structure were analyzed. It can be seen that the liquid cooling structure combined with thermoelectric cooling demonstrates a better performance. With respect to the control system, the corresponding hardware and software were also developed. In general, the design process for this enhanced battery thermal management system can provide a wealth of guidelines for solving similar problems. The H commutation circuit, matrix switch circuit, temperature measurement circuit, and wireless communication modules were designed in the control system and the temperature control strategy was also developed.

There has recently been much progress in the development of materials with higher thermoelectric performance, leading to the design of thermoelectric devices for generation of electricity and for heating or cooling. Local heating can be achieved by current flow through an electric resistance, and local heating and cooling can be performed by Peltier heating and cooling. In this study, we developed computer software that can be used to predict the Seebeck and Peltier effects for thermoelectric devices. The temperature, electric potential, heat flow, electric current, and coefficient of performance were determined, with the objective of investigating the Peltier effect in a thermoelectric device. In addition to Peltier heating and cooling, Joule and Thomson heating were quantitatively evaluated for the thermoelectric device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY Thermoelectric devices are solid-state devices. Semiconductor thermoelectric cooling, based on the Peltier effect, has interesting capabilities compared to conventional cooling systems. In this work second law analysis of thermoelectric coolers has been done with the help of exergy destruction. In the first part, performance of single-stage thermoelectric coolers and multi stage thermoelectric coolers has been compared for same number of thermoelectric elements i.e. 50. The performance parameters considered to compare their performance are rate of refrigeration, coefficient of performance, second law efficiency and exergy destruction. In second part, multi stage thermoelectric coolers have been analyzed for three different combinations of number of elements in two stages of thermoelectric coolers. The result of the analysis shows that the performance of a multi stage thermoelectric cooler which has total 50 elements gives best performance when it has 30 elements in hotter side and 20 elements in colder side out of the three cases considered. The comparison of single-stage thermoelectric cooler and multistage thermoelectric cooler shows that for same number of elements rate of refrigeration (ROR) of single-stage thermoelectric cooler is much higher than that of multi stage thermoelectric cooler. The COP remains same for both of them but the peak value of cop is obtained at much lower value of current supplied in multi stage thermoelectric cooler. Exergy destruction has constant values in single stage as well as multi stage thermoelectric cooler when the two stages have equal number of elements but it decreases with increase in x. The result of comparison of multistage thermoelectric cooler for three values of x i.e. 0.5, 1, 1.5 shows that the COP, ROR and second law efficiency improve and exergy destruction degrades with increase in x and the best performance has been obtained for x = 1.5 out of the three values considered. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The 3D compact model of a thermoelectric cooler in the CFD approach is an essential technique for computationally realistic design of many industrial thermal management applications. The first objective of this paper is to develop a “black box”-like model for thermoelectric coolers as well as a method to formulate the effective material properties for the compact model based on the manufactures’ datasheets. Second, a highly detailed and physical thermoelectric cooler model is implemented to carry out virtual experiments when the cooler datasheet is not available. A number of close comparisons validate that the compact model and parameter extraction are accurate enough, and the computation time and size are significantly lower than the physical model. The compact model is also demonstrated to be helpful in evaluating the thermal system components such as an air-cooled heat sink, so that the system-level thermal management optimization is possible without complex, multi-scale computation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A general energy equation of quasi-one-dimensional heat flow in a longitudinal thermoelement (TE) of a curved side that is subjected to an electric field and convection heat transfer on the curved surface is developed. The energy equation is solved for the temperature distribution in two cases; uniform cross-section TE and non-uniform cross-section TE. Analytical solutions for a uniform cross-section TE with uniform electrical and thermophysical properties are obtained, whereas numerical solutions are provided for a non-uniform cross-section TE. Two parameters playing a vital role in the thermal performance of the TE are identified: the heat resistance ratio ( HRR) and the energy growing ratio ( EGR). The HRR represents the ratio of the longitudinal conduction maximum thermal resistance to the lateral convection maximum thermal resistance. The EGR represents the ratio of Joule's electrical heating to Fourier's heat conduction. The effects of varying these two parameters, as well as the TE geometry, have been thoroughly investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study conducts experimental investigation and numerical analysis for one-stage thermoelectric cooler (TEC) considering Thomson effect. Three Seebeck coefficient models are applied to numerically and experimentally study the Thomson effect on TEC. Results show that higher current, higher hot side temperature, or lower heat load can increase the temperature difference between the cold and hot sides. Opposite trends are found for COP. Specific current should be chosen as the upper threshold in thermoelectric cooler design. The cooling performance can improve when the Thomson heat maintains positive. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]