MODELING THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE ENHANCEMENT OF HEAT SINK PERFORMANCE

摘要

Increased power density is straining the ability of air-cooled heat sink technologies to provide adequate cooling for heat-generating components. Several technologies are under investigation as replacements for air-cooling. Under specific conditions, a well-selected thermoelectric device [TED] can act as an enhancement to a heat sink's heat removal capacity or allow it to achieve lower temperatures. Such improvements to heat sink performance using a thermoelectric device are possible without increasing airflow or heat sink dimensions. Proper sizing of this kind of optimized thermoelectric system involves consideration of multiple conditions, including the amount of heat being generated, the temperatures involved (typically, target case temperature and expected ambient temperature), and available voltage and current. Although thermoelectric devices are often thought of as inefficient, with Coefficients of Performance [COP] of less than 1, a well-selected TED can have a COP of much greater than 10. Existing methods for thermoelectric optimization, for the sake of simplicity, often ignore the thermal resistance of the heat sink or ignore the effect of temperature dependence of the thermoelectric material parameters of resistivity, thermal conductivity, and thermopower. To correctly include these factors in the design of the TED, a methodology has been developed to determine an optimum device while simultaneously considering the input parameters of θca (case to ambient thermal resistance), heat load, target cooling temperatures, and available DC power. The method is iterative, involving the use of given input conditions to yield an estimate for expected final temperature conditions, which are used to