THE INFLUENCE OF EDDY CURRENTS ON PARAMETERS OF ANISOTROPIC UNIPOLAR THERMOELEMENT

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of eddy thermoelectric and electric currents and eddy heat flows with a laminar flow character on the value of transverse thermoEMF E⊥ and efficiency η of an anisotropic unipolar thermocouple. In the case of transverse thermoEMF of an anisotropic unipolar thermoelement, the assessment of such influence was carried out taking into account the eddy current caused by the anisotropy of the thermoEMF, and for the evaluation of the efficiency η – taking into account the eddy currents caused by the anisotropy of the coefficients of thermoEMF αi, electrical conductivity σik and thermal conductivity κik (i, k = 1..3). The research results showed that the influence of the studied current leads to a change in the value of the optimal angle of inclination γ between one of the selected crystallographic axes and the length a of the thermoelement and to some decrease in the value of the transverse thermoelectric power. Efficiency η under the action of eddy thermoelectric and electric currents and eddy heat flow is more significantly affected. Numerical analysis shows that in the case of using such a material as cadmium antimonide, the effect on the transverse thermoEMF is 36% (γ = 45⁰), and the effect on the efficiency is more significant.