THERMOELECTRIC CONVERSION ELEMENT INCLUDING IN THERMOELECTRIC MATERIAL SPACE OR SPACE IN WHICH CONNECTION IS MADE SUCH THAT HEAT TRANSFER AMOUNTS ARE REDUCED AND WORKING SUBSTANCE FLOW IS EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN THAT FOR ORIGINAL THERMOELECTRIC MATERIAL

摘要

The purpose of the present invention is to improve, by providing, in the terminals of thermoelectric materials and electrodes or the inside of the material, one or more spaces or either thin or fine line structures in spaces such that heat transfer or working substance (WS) flow is prevented from propagating, figure-of-merit of thermoelectric materials without the same. Thermal conductivity due to causes other than WS that can move within a thermoelectric conversion element can be reduced as much as possible by providing the spaces, alternatively, microstructures in thermoelectric materials. If the terminal of thermoelectric material or surfaces facing the terminal of the thermoelectric material is modified and/or the steeple tips or steeples formed on the terminal, the potential barrier height for WS can be reduced or the tunnel potential barrier width can be reduced when WS leaps into the space from the surface of the steeple tips or the steeples. The direct heat transfer amount caused by the lattice between both ends that sandwich the space is reduced without changing the current flow rate due to WS being reduced, and thus the thermoelectric performance of the thermoelectric conversion element that includes in thermoelectric materials the spaces and/or bridging spaces in which a connection is made can be made greater than the figure-of -merit of conventional thermoelectric materials that do not include any spaces.