Design and optimization of a cubic two-stage thermoelectric cooler for thermal performance enhancement

Low-temperature condition is highly required in many fields, such as aerospace, medical devices, and electronic components. The development of devices to provide low-temperature condition is of great significance. In this work, a novel cubic two-stage thermoelectric cooler (C-TTEC) is designed and optimized for thermal performance enhancement. At the first stage, the cold side of N (N = 1, 2, 3, 4) pieces of thermoelectric modules (TEMs) are assembled around a cubic aluminum block with separate water-cooled heat sinks for heat dissipation. At the second stage, the hot side of another TEM is connected with the cubic aluminum block for heat dissipation. Compared with conventional square type two-stage TEC (S-TTEC) and pyramid type two-stage TEC (P-TTEC), the thermal performance, including cold side temperature and temperature difference between the hot and cold sides are greatly enhanced. The lowest cold side temperature is obtained through optimization of the structure of TTEC, voltage of TEMs at different stages and mode of heat dissipation. The thermal analysis shows that the ratio of the number of TEM in two adjacent stages is 3.2:1, rounded to 4:1, which is consistent with the experimental results. The experimental results show that the proposed C-TTEC can achieve temperature as low as-49.5 degrees C, which is lower than that of P-TTEC without insulation (-34.3 degrees C) and S-TTEC (-38.6 degrees C). This work provides a good theoretical basis of the multi-stage thermoelectric cooler for thermal performance enhancement.

Automated summary

A novel cubic two-stage thermoelectric cooler (C-TTEC) is designed and optimized for enhanced thermal performance, achieving lower temperature conditions.