Abstract
As thermoelectric devices begin to make their way into commercial applications, the emphasis is put on decreasing the thermal conductivity. In this purely theoretical study, finite element analysis is used to determine the effect of a supporting material on the thermal conductivity of a thermoelectric module. The simulations illustrate the heat transfer along a sample, consisting from Cu, Cu2O and PbTe thermoelectric layers on a 1 mm thick Pyrex glass substrate. The influence of two different types of heating, at a constant temperature and at a constant heat flux, is also investigated. It is revealed that the presence of a supporting material plays an important role on lowering the effective thermal conductivity of the layer-substrate ensemble. By using thinner thermoelectric layers the effective thermal conductivity is further reduced, almost down to the value of the glass substrate. As a result, the temperature gradient becomes steeper for a fixed heating temperature, which allows the production of devices with improved performance under certain conditions. Based on the simulation results, we also propose a model for a robust thin film thermoelectric device. With this suggestion, we invite the thermoelectric community to prove the applicability of the presented concept for practical purposes.
Highlights
Thermoelectric devices are widely used in a broad range of fields, where stability and reproducibility of the response over a long lifespan is needed
Three important parameters for the simulations, the thermal conductivity (κ), the heat capacity at constant pressure (CP) and the density (ρ) of the mentioned substances are presented in Table 1, along with their thermoelectric properties.[16, 18]
Pyrex glass has been chosen as a substrate for the simulations, due to its broad utilization in practical investigations
Summary
Thermoelectric devices are widely used in a broad range of fields, where stability and reproducibility of the response over a long lifespan is needed. Examples of applications range from thermonuclear batteries for remote locations and deep space exploration, [1, 2] to heating and cooling elements for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) devices.[3, 4] The wide acceptance of thermoelectric devices for energy recuperation is largely dependent on the increase of performance and lowering of the production costs. Notable steps are made in these directions, [5,6,7] which bring industrial scale applications closer to reality.[8,9,10] One prominent example is the prototype developed by the BMW group for mass introduction in hot car exhausts, which generates directly electricity from the waste heat.[11].
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