Effects of Temperature-Dependent Material Properties on Temperature Variation in a Thermoelement

The dependency of temperature variation in a thermoelement on the temperature-dependent material properties was analyzed under the prescribed temperatures at its two ends. Based on the homotopy perturbation method, an analytical solution of the nonlinear governing equation for thermoelectric heat transport was obtained and then used for the analysis. Four different thermoelectric materials were used in the current work to study temperature variation along the thermoelement. The results calculated by the analytical solution of the nonlinear differential equation showed significant differences in temperature variation from those calculated by the analytical solution of linear differential equation which is based on the constant material property assumption. These differences in temperature distribution affect the accuracy of the predicted power and thus the predicted performance of thermoelectric modules or devices.