A Model to Evaluate the Device-Level Performance of Thermoelectric Cooler with Thomson Effect Considered

In this paper, a one-dimensional thermodynamic model was developed to evaluate the device-level performance of thermoelectric cooler (TEC) with the Thomson effect, contact resistance, gap heat leakage, heat sink, and heat load taken into account. The model was generalized and simplified by introducing dimensionless parameters. Experimental measurements showed good agreement with analytical results. The parametric analysis indicated that the influence of the Thomson effect on cooling capacity continued to expand with increasing current, while the effect on COP hardly changed with current. Low thermal contact resistance was beneficial to obtain lower hot-junction temperature, which can even reduce 2 K compared with the electrical contact resistance in the case study. The gap heat leakage was a negative factor affecting the cooling performance. When the thermal resistance of the heat sink was small, the negative effect of heat leakage on performance would be further enlarged. The enhancement of heat load temperature would increase the cooling power of the TEC. For example, an increase of 5 K in heat load can increase the cooling capacity by about 4%. However, once the current exceeded the optimum value, the raising effect on the cooling power would be weakened. The research can provide an analytical approach for the designer to perform trade studies to optimize the TEC system.