Thermal Performance Enhancement in Thermoelectric Cooling Devices Design and Thermal Management Approach

Abstract

The Peltier effect in the thermoelectric cooler (TEC) can be improved by newlinethe thermal management method and geometrical alterations in the TEC leg. Both newlinetechniques help to reduce the Fourier heat conduction and internal joule heat effect, newlineby reducing this effect improves the Peltier effect in the device. The thermal newlinemanagement technique in TEC was carried out experimentally and different newlinegeometrical alterations were computed using the COMSOL software version 6.1a. newlineThe thermal management of a TEC has a significant impact on its cooling newlineperformance. The heat generated in the hot side of the TEC system reduces the newlineperformance and lifespan. In this study, the performance of TEC is investigated by newlinevarying input voltage, air velocity at the hot side, heat sink configuration, and fill newlinevolume of PCM in the heat sink. A 54W Bismuth Telluride-based TEC was chosen for newlinethis study and OM35 was used as the phase change material (PCM). The three newlineconfigurations of an aluminium heat sink used in this study are square pocket, newlinerectangle pocket, and circular pocket. The input voltage to TEC is varied from 2.5V to newline12.5V. The results show that, both the cold and hot side temperature of TEC increases newlinewhen the input voltage is increased newline