A comparison study of heat dissipation module between the consolidated and unconsolidated porous structures for thermoelectric cooler

Abstract

The heat dissipation of a thermoelectric cooler plays an important role in its cooling performance. Herein, a comparison study on heat dissipation modules between the consolidated and unconsolidated porous structures for single phase and solid–liquid phase change is done numerically. The governing equations for analyzing the heat transfer behavior and performance of thermoelectric cooling are written and solved. The effects of porosity and the number of cells or blocks on the cooling performance and cold surface temperature are investigated. The enthalpy method is applied to solve the problem of solid–liquid phase change. The obtained results clearly demonstrated that the phase change material can significantly reduce the cold surface temperature and enhance the transient COP of a thermoelectric cooler. The maximum increases in transient COP for the consolidated structure reach 35.5 % and 43.6 % for porosities of 0.75 and 0.95, while these values are 55.8 % and 54.8 % for the unconsolidated structure. The maximum reduction in the cold surface temperature nearly is 17.9 K. The findings can provide a theoretical basis for the optimization of the heat dissipation module of a thermoelectric cooler by using phase change material.