Thin film thermoelectric devices for power conversion and cooling

Abstract

A thermoelectric device having at least one thermoelectric unit including at least one thermoelectric pair of n-type and p-type thermoelements, a first header coupled to one side of the thermoelectric pair, and a second header coupled to a second side of the thermoelectric pair. The thermoelectric pair has a thermal conduction channel area smaller than an area of the first header or the second header such that the thermal conduction area is a fraction of the area of the first header or the second header.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims the benefit of priority as a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 406,100 filed on Apr. 18, 2006 which claims priority as a continuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT / US2004 / 041431 (designating the United States) filed on Dec. 13, 2004, which claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 528,479 filed Dec. 11, 2003. U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 406,100 also claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 672,330 filed Apr. 18, 2005. The present application thus claims the benefit of priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 406,100; International Application No. PCT / US2004 / 041431; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 528,479; and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 672,330. The disclosures of each of the above referenced U.S. Utility, U.S. Provisional, and International PCT Applications are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]Another object of some embodiments of the present invention is to utilize a thermoelectric device structure in which the thermoelectric properties of the device are not contravened by inadvertent heat flux around the active thermoelectric elements in the device.

[0017]Still another object of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a thermoelectric device which can be converted from a power conversion device to a heat pump device should coolant to a heat sink of the thermoelectric device be interrupted.

[0019]Accordingly, one object of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a thermoelectric device in which there is a high internal heat-flux within an individual thermoelectric stage and a low external heat-flux across the entirety of the thermoelectric device.

Problems solved by technology

Accordingly, there is a drawback that thermoelectric conversion efficiency is low as compared with the other direct energy conversion systems such as for example a fuel cell device.

Low efficiencies have also limited the application of thermoelectric devices in cooling and refrigeration applications.

While Chen et al. describe that thermoelectric coolers may be any suitable thermoelectric coolers such as those supplied by Melcor under catalog number CP 2-127-06L, the efficiency of these coolers, like those of the afore-mentioned power conversion thermoelectric devices, are limited.

Today, bulk thermoelectric materials based on p-BixSb2-xTe3 and n-Bi2Te3-xSex do not have a sufficient figure-of-merit (ZT) to allow economical application in many power conversion situations.

Despite the higher ZT of superlattice thin-film materials, thin film thermoelectric devices are presently limited by thermal mismatch and temperature gradient issues and also are practically limited by the high cost of thin-film superlattice materials.

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