Utilizing effective material properties to validate the performance of thermoelectric cooler and generator modules

Non-standardized forms of performance data is an issue designers encounter when dealing with thermoelectric module manufacturers. To assess a product's performance, experimental methods can be used as well as analytical modeling by using the material properties that are not usually revealed. The latter investigates theories using the guidelines given by the manufacturers. After analyzing the theories, the values are used to assess the performances of the thermoelectric modules. The samples then go through experimental testing to insure their validity. Finally, the analytical, experimental, and manufacturer-provided results are compared to find a common ground. The results shows good agreement where the most of the errors are less than 1%.