Theoretical and Experimental Analysis on Thermoelectric Cooling Devices

The prediction of the performance of Peltier cells as cooling devices is complex inasmuch as it consists of several quite different processes simultaneously present and deeply interrelated (Seebeck and Joule heating effects and conductive and convective heat transfer ). However, there are great expectations for these devices for mass production,mainly as airconditioning units for e xed orvehiclesonboard application.Theadvantageswith respect to the conventional solutions appear to beeven more important. Amodel that predictsthe performanceof a Peltier module for cooling applications is presented. An experimental activity demonstrates the validity of the model and its capability as a design tool. Nomenclature A = cross-sectional area a0;1;2 = coefe cients I = current k = thermal conductivity L = semiconductor length N = total number Q = heat e ux R = electric resistance T = temperature t = time V = voltage x = abscissa ® = Seebeck coefe cient Ω = electric resistivity Subscripts