Theoretical Analysis of the Cooling Performance of a Thermoelectric Element with Temperature-Dependent Material Properties

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) cooling may play a significant role in the electronic industry in the near future due to advantages such as static cooling and environmentally friendly properties. However, temperature-dependent material properties make theoretical analysis of the cooling performance challenging. In this work, a theoretical model is proposed to predict the performance of a thermoelectric cooler considering the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and electric resistivity. The governing thermal equation of the TE element is given, in which the thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient are nonlinear functions of temperature T, while the electric resistivity adopts the value reached at mean temperature. The performance of the TE cooling element, such as temperature field, cooling power, and coefficient of performance (COP), etc., predicted by the proposed model agree well with the numerical and finite element result, which prove the validity of our theoretical model. The results suggest that the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient have the most notable influence on the heat flow and COP of the TE cooling element.