THERMOELECTRIC CLUSTER, METHOD FOR OPERATING SAME, DEVICE FOR CONNECTING AN ACTIVE ELEMENT IN SAID CLUSTER TO A THERMOELECTRIC DRIVE, GENERATOR (VARIANTS) AND HEAT PUMP (VARIANTS) BASED THEREON

摘要

The inventions are directed to the production of electrical power and/or heat transfer in heating and cooling devices. All embodiments of a generator and a heat pump are based on a method for operating a thermoelectric cluster, in which the respective heat-transfer agent is caused to directly act on the respective thermoelectric conductors. All of the apparatuses use a device for connecting an active element 1 to thermoelectric conductors 4 and 5, the device comprising an electrically and heat conductive non-solidifying plastic mixture, or a solder having a melting point below operating temperature, or a foil of a ductile metal alloy, wherein the thermoelectric conductor and the active element are resiliently urged against each other. The resulting thermoelectric cluster comprises active elements 1 having the size in the direction of electrical current no less than three times smaller than the size in the perpendicular direction thereto.