Experimental and Simulation Studies on Thermoelectric Cooler: A Performance Study Approach

Abstract

The current experimental and simulation studies focus on two distinctive approaches on developing performance specifications on a typical thermoelectric cooler. The performance specifications considered for the current study involves cooling capacity, voltage, and current for different temperature ranges on hot side of the module. Simulation studies were carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics software for analyzing the coefficient of performance (COP). Thermoelectric cooler’s performance was simulated for the module’s hot side temperature ranges of about 303.15–333.15 K with a stipulated temperature interval of around 5 K. COP is evaluated at various temperature ranges (20 K, 40 K, and 60 K) over the module for each temperature prevailing on the hot side. The whole system is numerically modeled and the final attained results were correlated with the results obtained from simulation. Factors considered for modeling includes Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, and resistivity variation of the Peltier elements.