Use thermoelectric coolers with real-world heat sinks

摘要

Peltier devices, also known as solid-state refrigerators, or TECs (thermoelectric coolers), actively cool temperature-sensitive electronic components, such as optical detectors and solid-state lasers. A glance at any TEC data sheet reveals that some primary and fairly easily understood parameters characterize a TEC: The maximum current is the TECs current drive for maximum cooling, the maximum differential temperature is the no-load cooling temperature at maximum current and with no heat load. The maximum voltage is the TEC's voltage drop at the maximum-current drive, and the maximum heat transfer (Q_(MAX)) is the maximum cooling-heat load at a maximum current and differential temperature of zero.