Design and Optimization of Flexible Thermoelectric Coolers for Wearable Applications

Abstract

Personalized cooling can provide comfort on the go and ultimately consume a fraction of the energy consumed by traditional space cooling techniques. Thermoelectric cooling (TEC) has emerged as a promising technology that can help us achieve personalized thermoregulation, but there is a lack of realization and application of flexible thermoelectric cooling modules for wearable applications. To promote the understanding and development of cooling devices working on thermoelectric principles, this paper discusses the methodology used for designing and characterizing wearable thermoelectric cooling modules for human body thermoregulation. A methodology to design a Flexible TEC device capable of achieving up to a temperature drop of 3 °C from high ambient temperature of 35 °C with low current consumption of 0.2–0.4 A and low heat transfer coefficient of 20 W m−2K−1 has been discussed. The module uses low fill factor (<10%) and high aspect ratio (>2) of legs to work in a highly resistive environment without needing external heat sinks for heat dissipation, capable of removing up to 0.08 W cm−2 of heat on cold side and providing more than 0.12 W cm−2 on the hot side.