Optimal flow layout and current allocation for improving the thermoelectric refrigeration system based on heat current method

Abstract

The integration analysis, modeling, and improvement of the multiple thermoelectric cooling components are significant for promoting thermoelectric cooling technology. Based on the heat current method, this paper studied a single thermoelectric cooling component and constructed its equivalent circuit model by integrating the coupled thermoelectric conduction and conversion processes with the convective heat transfer processes of both the hot side and cold side. The equivalent circuit model is used to build system-level energy transfer and conversion models of the thermoelectric refrigeration systems with parallel-flow, counter-flow, and cross-flow layouts. On this basis, the corresponding calculation process is provided by combining with the Gauss-Seidel Algorithm based on MATLAB software. The simulation results show that the cooling capacity and coefficient of performance under the counter-flow layout are the maximum, and the average end temperature difference is the minimum when the working current is uniform. Besides, the reasonable non-uniform working current allocation can effectively improve the cooling capacity of the thermoelectric refrigeration system by 6.6%, 32.3%, and 1.7%, respectively. Finally, experimental results verify that the proposed heat current model of the thermoelectric cooling unit is appropriate and feasible for modeling and improving the performance by counter-flow layout and non-uniform working current allocation.