Transient supercooling performance of thermoelectric coolers with a continuous double current pulse

Abstract

In this work, the transient supercooling performance of thermoelectric coolers is numerically investigated via a three-dimensional, multiphysics, and transient model. The particular focus is placed on how to increase the holding time of supercooling state to meet some specific cooling requirements. A new concept of effective cooling temperature line is proposed to evaluate the supercooling performance. On the basis of this concept, the frequently used holding time of supercooling state is replaced by an effective holding time, teff-hold. As a reference baseline, the transient supercooling performance is first evaluated under a single current pulse and the largest teff-hold is determined by searching for the optimal pulse width and amplitude. Subsequently, the supercooling performance and the effective holding time are evaluated under a continuous double current pulse whose shape can be characterized by the pulse width (τ1) and amplitude (P1) of the first pulse, the pulse width (τ2) and amplitude (P2) of the second pulse, and the initial current (Iini,2) of the second pulse. The results show that among the five parameters Iini,2 is the most dominant parameter to achieve a larger teff-hold. Only when Iini,2 is higher than the initial current of the first pulse, employing a double pulse can yield a larger teff-hold than employing the optimal single pulse. The results also demonstrate that with a proper Iini,2 the value of teff-hold can be further prolonged by optimizing τ1, τ2, P1, and P2, and the largest teff-hold for the optimal double pulse is increased by 59.8%, as compared with that of the optimal single pulse. Finally, the principles for selecting parameters of a double current pulse are discussed.