Thermoelectric

Refrigeration Systems
1. DEVELOPMENTS
In 1821 Thomas Seebeck a German physicist, observed the production of (emf)
(electromotive force) if two dissimilar metals are joined together and their joints are kept at
different temperatures. The magnitude of such emf is dependent upon the material
combination and temperatures of junctions. However, he was unable to make use of his
invention probably due to insignificant emf and electric power output.
Thereafter a French scientist, Jean Peltier, discovered a reversed phenomenon to
that of Seebeck in 1834. He found that there is heating or cooling of a junction of a pair of
dissimilar substances if direct current is passed through them. However, he was not only
unable to realize the utility of the same but also failed to correlate between his invention
and that of Seebeck.
In 1838 Lenz, a German scientist, applied a D.C. source to a pair of materialsbismuth and antimony connected together as shown in Fig. 1. He was astonished to see
that the water droplet was frozen into ice. When the current was reversed, the ice melted.
This led to the concept of thermoelectric refrigeration. However, the idea did not
materialize into commercial products for about a century because of unavailability of
suitable materials until 1930's when semiconductors were developed.

Fig. 1 Ice formation from thermoelectric refrigeration effect

Altenkirch analyzed qualitatively the factors which should be improved to yield
reasonable thermoelectric cooling. The economical study exhibits that the thermoelectric
cooling turns out to be cheaper for the smaller unit below the range of 200 300
/ .
Beyond this the compression system is found to be economical. The size of the
thermoelectric system is reduced to2l3 of the present cooler. Thus small sized commercial
units for spot cooling, laboratory tests, space exploration, etc., have been manufactured.
The advances in the use of thermoelectric system are going on with the availability of
better semiconductors.
2. Analysis of Thermoelectric refrigeration Systems
2.1 Thermoelectric Effects
Whenever direct current passes through a pair of thermocouples with junctions
maintained at different temperatures, five effects are observed: Seebeck effect, Peltier
effect, Thomson effect, Joulean effect and conduction effect.
Seebeck effect: When the two junctions of a pair of dissimilar metals are maintained
at different temperatures, there is the generation of emf (electromotive force) (Fig. 2
(a)). He conducted a series of tests by varying the temperatures of the junctions of various
combinations of a set of materials. The emf output was found to be:

...(1)

where and are the emf output and the temperature difference of the junctions.
The phenomenon of generation of emf is called Seebeck effect.

(a) Seebeck effect.

(b) Peltier effect

(c) Thomson effect

Fig. 2. Thermoelectric elements

The proportionality constant of Eq. (1) is denoted by:

...(2)
,
and is called Seebeck coefficient or the thermoelectric power. It is to be noted that
is the coefficient for a pair of different inetals (A and B or P and N or p
,
and n). Peltier effect: If direct current is passed through a pair of dissimilar metals (Fig.
2(b)), there is heating at one junction, cooling at the cither depending upon material
combinations. Peltier varied the current and observed the heating and cooling rate for
different sets of elements. He found that:
...(3)
where q is the cooling or heating rate. The proportionality constant of Eq. (3) is called as
Peltier coefficient, ,
i.e.,
...(4)
,
where ,
is the coefficient for two different metals.
Thomson effect: It is a reversible thermoelectric phenomenon. When a current
Passes through a single conductor having a temperature gradient as exhibited in Fig. 2c,
heat transfer is given by:
...(5)
being Thomson coefficient and , theThomson heat transfer.
where
using first and second laws of thermodynamics obtained the relation between
Seebeck and Peltier coefficients as:
...(6)
,
,

Using Eq. (6) into Eq. (4), it is found:

...(7)
It is evident from Eq. (7) that to get the high value of cooling or heating,
should
be high, otherwise large current would be required. But high current will render high heat
generation due to Joulean effect.
Joulean effect: When the electrical current flows through a conductor, there is
dissipation of electrical energy. According to Joule it is related as:
...(8)
where and are the current and electrical resistance. This effect is called Joulean
effect.
Conduction effect: If the ends of any element are maintained at different
temperatures, there is heat transfer from the hot end to the cold end and is related by:
...(9)
.
where
being overall conductance and
, are the high and low temperatures,
respectively. If there is only one conductor of cross - sectional area , conductivity and
length , the overall conductance is given by:

...(10)
,

2.2.Thermodynamic Analysis of Thermoelectric Refrigeration System

Figure 3(a) shows an enlarged view of thermoelectric elements with control volume.
In order to analyze the system to obtain refrigeration effect
, etc., the following
assumptions have been made:
(i) Heat transfer takes place through semi-conductors at the ends only.
(ii) No energy exchange between the elements through space separating them, and
(iii) Properties such as conductivity, resistance, etc., are invariant with temperature.
Now cooling and heating due to the thermoelectric effect is given by (Peltier effect):
...(11)
,
and
...(12)
,

(a)

(b) Heat generation

(c) Heat transfer

Fig. 3 Energy transfer in thermoelectric system

Referring to Fig. 3(b), the heat generation in absence of other effects will lead to heat
2(due to symmetry and assumption (i)
transfer from both hot and cold ends equal to
given earlier). The conduction effect along the element leads to heat transfer at the cold
junction from the hot one. Then, from Fig. 3(a), for the control volume:
2
...(13)
,
and for the hot junction:
2
...(14)
,
Thus the thermoelectric cooling is:
2
...(15)
,
And heating,
2
...(16)
,
Now using first law, one obtains the energy input to the system from outside as:
...(17)
,
where negative sign indicates that energy has to be supplied to the system.
The required
is:
2
...(18)
,
,
Where the overall conductance for both the conductors is given as:
...(19)
and the total resistance for both conductors is:
...(20)
where the specific resistance and
1 .
For above Eq. (18) one can define a term called figure of merit,

as:

Mathematical analysis shows that the figure of merit is maximum when:

Then the maximum value of the figure of merit, , is seen to be

,

...(21)
...(22)
...(23)

Using relations given by Eqs. (22 and 23), one can obtain the current which
corresponds to maximum
from Eq. (8.18) with condition
/
0. The

resulting quantity turns out to be:

1
is the mean temperature given by

1
2.The maximum

where

...(24)
is given

by:

...(25a)

...(25b)
where
is the Carnot value for the refrigeration system operating between the
given upper and lower temperature limits and
.

Here, in Eq. (25b) the

.
behavior.
From Eq. (26), it is evident that
Then, from Eq. (25b):

...(26)

.
.

stands for the effect of actual thermoelectric

.

1 when the figure of merit,

i.e.,
...(27)
The maximum cooling is obtained from the condition
,

.
The corresponding cooling is given by:
.

0, which gives:
...(28)
...(29)

and,
.

If the heat source is removed, the

temperature difference is then:

...(30)
becomes zero trivially. Thus, the maximum

...(31)
In all the above derivations it is seen that should be as high as possible to get
reasonable amount of refrigeration effect and
. Up-to-date value of figure of merit, is
310
and
260 , one gets the maximum
about 0.007/ .For
0.007/ ,
as: 1.0251.
Figure 4 shows the achievement of maximum temperature with the year. It indicates
that there is shooting up of the achievement of temperature difference after the
development of semiconductors.
.

Fig. 8.4 Achievement of maximum temperature rise with year

The variation in coefficient of performance with the temperature difference
is shown in Fig. 5 with figure of merit as piuameters where
has been kept at 40
.
Figure 6 exhibits the variation in
and
with current forgiven value of and
other parameters. It is evident that the maxima of
and , occur at different values of
current. Hence a system designed to operate on least running cost is going to b expensive
in the initial investment. On the other hand a system designed on the basis of maximum
cooling will have high running cost.
As discussed earlier that the figure of merit should be as high as possible, it is seen
from Fig. 7 that the figure of merit is small for both the insulators and conductors while the
same is maximum for semiconductors for a given electron density. Here the insulators
show the poor value of figure of merit because of low value of electrical conductivity. On
the other hand the conductors have the low value of figure of merit because of high
thermal conductivity and low thermoelectric power.

Fig. 5 Valuation in

with temperature difference

There are various combinations of thermoelectric elements which are commercially fit
for the production of thermoelectric refrigeration system as given in Table 1.
Table 1 Some thermoelectric elements*
P type
Thermo elements

10

N type
Thermo elements

1.2
1.2
1.2
1.8
3.3

from table1, .

10
1.5
2.2
3

stands for .

or .

means: . .

For the selection of a pair of thermoelectric elements care is taken to have and
type combination. It is usual practice to denote thermoelectric elements with
if their
thermoelectric power
is positive. If the thermoelectric power,
is negative, it is called
type thermoelectric elements.

Fig. 6 Variation in

and

with current

Fig. 7 Schematic representation for the ranges of insulator, semiconductor and metal

Fig. 8.S Variation of number of thermoelectric couples with

3 . ADVANTAGES OF THERMOELECTRIC REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
It possesses several advantages as listed below:
(i) Absence of moving parts eliminates vibration problem as well as regular
attendance. Therefore, it can be best suited for systems where vibration is
undesirable. In addition there is no wear due to rubbing as such the life is
expected to be almost infinite compared with other systems.
(ii) It is easy to overload if desired, just by increasing the current to a certain limit
(iii) The load can be easily controlled by means of adjusting the current to meet the
situation.
(iv) Very compact in size since even the system boundary may be used as the
cooling surface as exhibited in Fig. 8.9. Here one of the walls of the room forms
the evaporator surface Therefore, the cost of manufacture of that wall is taken
care by the evaporator surface.

Fig.9 Thermoelectric cooling element fitted on the wall the room

(v)

(vi)
(vii)

(viii)

(ix)
(x)
(xi)

It can be operated in any position in contrast with vapour - absorption, Vapour

compression or steam-jet refrigeration systems. As for example, if a vertical
compressor is used in a refrigeration system, it cannot be operated in any other
position.
It is lighter in weight for the same capacity of refrigeration.
Since electric current passes through conductors, there is no problem of
leakage which is most undesirable in other refrigeration systems. Further, the
leakage of refrigerant from the system causes the drastic decrease in the
capacity in addition to extra cost for the refrigerant and charging operations.
Thus a thermoelectric refrigeration system operates at the same capacity for
long and eliminates the cost of charging and extra materials.
It is most easy to operate as a heat pump, just by reversing the terminals.
Hence, a thermoelectric refrigeration system can be considered as an year
round air conditioner*.
Since no refrigerant is used, there is no question of toxication etc. and can be
used directly for air conditioning.
Its design and manufacture are rather much simpler than the other refrigeration
systems.
It is most suitable for the production of cooling suit.

Main disadvantages of thermoelectric refrigeration system is the unavailability of

suitable material of high figure of merit. Presently the total cost of refrigeration system will
be a few times higher than the vapour compression or other systems for a few ton
capacity. In addition, the running cost is found to be much higher compared to vapour
compression system. That is why the vapour-compression or other systems of refrigeration
are most commonly employed. The overall
of a thermoelectric refrigeration system is
of the order of 0.1
0.2 .

4.

COMPARISON BETWEEN THERMOELECTRIC

VAPOUR-COMPRESSION SYSTEM.

REFRIGERATION

AND

The two systems are shown in Fig10 where the electron flow direction for the
thermoelectric refrigeration system and refrigerant vapour flow for the vapour compression
system are exhibited. In the former the electrons are pumped by the battery, situation
similar to the vapour-compression system where the compressor delivers the vapour from
the evaporator to a high pressure. As the electrons reaches the junction of the dissimilar
semi-conductors, its energy decreases due to heat transfer to the surroundings. This
corresponds to cooling or condensation of compressed vapour. Thereafter electrons are
reduced to lower potential which resembles the throttling process. The heat transfer to the
cold junction imparts energy to electrons which again move to the battery similar to vapour
from evaporator to the compressor to complete the cycle.

Fig. 8.10 Analogy between thermoelectric compression systems

Example 1: A thermoelectric refrigeration system is to operate in an ambient
. Find the minimum temperature
temperature of 313
. Its figure of merit is 0.0036
that can be achieved by it.
Solution: The maximum temperature difference is given by (Eq. 31):
313

Where
313

2
and 0.

0.0036
2
313
.

0.0036
223.27

223.27

89.73

Example 2: Calculate diameter of the -type element corresponding to the maximum

value of figure of merit
and
from the given data for a pair of thermoelectric
element.

Thermoelectric power
Specific resistivity
Conductivity
Diameter of the element
Length of the couple

.
.

P-type
N-type
0.00022 - 0.00018
0.00001 0.00002
1
1
10
12
12

Solution: Using Eq. (22), we get:

As
12
10 2

For maximum value of figure of merit, we have from Eq. (23):

.
.

The same may be calculated from

gets:

values i. e.,

.
.

From E q.(19) one

0.0158

11.89

0.002745

and

From Eq. (20) one gets:

.

0.002745

Example 3: Find the value of figure of merit of a thermoelectric pair which can render
the
4 when operating within temperature limits 313
and 258
. Conclude your
answer.
Solution: From Eq. (25):

1
1
313

where
Then,

258

and

285.5

0.6858

Note: This value of

0.6858
is above 100 times to that of the available
Thermoelectric elements. It is evident that it may take several decades when such
material may become available.
Example 4: Design a thermoelectric refrigeration system for an equipment to be
maintained at 258
. The ambientt emperatureis 313
The cooling load is 20
. The
thermoelectric elements have the following properties:

1 .
.

0.00012
0.00015
1000
2000
1
1

Thermoelectric element of
type has 0.01
both the diameter and length. Both
thermoelectric elements are of the same length.
Obtain: (a) Diameter of n-type couple element, (b) figure of merit, (c)
,
, and
corresponding current, number of thermoelectric couples and power (D.C.) needed for the
same, (d) COP and current for maximum cooling, number of thermoelectric elements and
D.C. power to drive the same, (e) compare the
with Carnot
, and (0 obtain power
needed for cases (c) and (d) on the basis of overall voltage drop.

Solution: Since we know that for maximum value of figure at merit, , the relation Eq
(22):

1 1000

2000

1.414

0.00007855
0.01
4
1.414 0.000078551.414

1.414

0.00005555

0.00005555
0.0084
8.4
4
(b) The values and are calculated from Eqs.( 19 and 20), respectively.
100
0.01 1
1
0.01 1 1000 0.00007855
1 2000 0.00005555 100 0.002173

1 0.00007855 0.01
1 0.00005555 0.01 0.01341
Therefore, the figure of merit,
.

Since

0.002502

0.00012
285.5

0.00015

0.00027

.
.

0.1953

The corresponding current is [Eq 24]:

.
.

The cooling produced per element is:

2
,
0.00027 22.095 258
22.095
0.2712
.

The

22.095

0.002173 2

.power needed to run the system for maximum

0.01341 313
.

73.75

74

313

258

258

is:

102.4

(d) When the design is needed for maximum cooling, we get:

.
,

.
.

0.1399

32.06

0.01341

0.002502 285

0.3791
The required number of Pairs:
52.76 53
.
They have to be connected in series. The power needed to run this system with
source is :
143
.
(e) The
of a Carnot refrigerator is:
4.6909
Therefore relative
.

.
.

based on Carnot value:

0.0416

. .

and for maximum cooling :

.
0.0298
.

(f) The overall voltage drop for maximum

is:
74 ,
74 0.00027 313 258
22.095 0.002173
4.652
And corresponding Power
4.652 22.095
102.78
Similarly for maximum cooling: the voltage drop is:
74 ,
53 0.00027 313 258
32.06 0.002173
4.479
Thus, power used is:
4.479 32.06
143.61
The negligible difference is due to arithmetical errors. This example clearly
demonstrates that the large thermoelectric refrigeration system cannot be used on
commercial basis because the power consumption. would be so large that, it cannot
compete even if initial investments is set a side.
Example 5: A thermoelectric-refrigeration system consists of pairs' connected in a
series. It works under a 6
solar battery. The hot and cold junctions are maintained at
40
and - 10
, respectively. The properties of the thermoelectric materials are
0.00016 and
0.0002 there resistance and conductance for each
pair 0.003
and 0.02 .
obtain for the cases (i) for maximum
and (ii) for maximum cooling effect the
following (a) number of thermoelectric couples,( b) wattage and tonnage (cooling) of the
unit, (c) power consumed and (d) compare the
with Carnot value.
Solution: Case (i): In order to obtain various quantities, let us obtain the figure of
merit.
Now
0.00016 0.0002
0.00036
,
Therefore,
.

0.00216

(a) Now for maximum

, the current is given by:

288
.

21.9878

Now the overall voltage drop for

,

couples in a series is given by:

,

71.77

(b) Cooling effect is given by:

2
,
72 0.00036 21.9878 263
.

0.007243

(b) Power needed is given by:

6 21.8978 131.39

21.9878

72

0.003
2

0.02 50

25.49

(c)

0.194

5.26
Therefore, compared to Carnot value, the
system is:
.
0.03688

of the thermoelectric refrigeration

case (ii): when the cooling is to be maximum, the current is given by:
.
,
(a)
31.56
.
.
And the corresponding number of couples as above to be connected in a series:
54.3 54
.

(b) The maximum cooling is obtained from:

2

54 0.02

50

26.68

0.00762
(c) Power needed for the system
6 31.56 189.36
.

(c)
.

(d)

0.1389

0.0264

This example demonstrates that the

of the refrigeration system decreases to
0.7159 (
for
.
.
. ). But the refrigeration effect is increased to 1.541(
.
Example 6: A thermoelectric pair as its
. twice to that of
. . The
operating temperatures are
308
and
262
and
0.014
and
, corresponding to
0.002
. Find (a)
and
.,
.,
. and their ratio
and (c) power for
and
.
.
308262 1.1756
solution: Here
285
and

0
This equation is solved using various values of

as:

Z
F(Z)=0
0.003
- 0.000271
0.0031 - 0.000118
0.00317 0.00000011
Required values of

is then 0.00317

,
.
.

2620.014

0.014

0.002

0.00317

0.00317 39.028
.
0.014 0.00317 262 2

18.049

308

262

.
0.8792

corresponding

0.002979 18.049 262

18.049
0.0022 0.014 308 262
0.4389

Then
0.8792
0.4389
2.0029
.
for
0.002979
308 262
39.028
,
0.002 0.8989

5. OPTIMUM THERMOCOUPLE ELEMENTS

It is evident from Fig. 8.6 that a refrigeration system which is designed on the basis of
maximum COP would be expensive in initial investment. On the other hand, if the above
system is designed on the basis of maximum cooling, its running cost would be more
compared to former. Therefore, it requires economic consideration while deciding the
thermoelectric system.
Let the refrigeration capacity be TR. Then the number of pairs of thermocouple
elements for this capacity is:
...(32)

The power needed for these couples is:

,
,

...(33)

If C is the cost of thermoelectric elements per pair of life, L,thetotal investment for L
year is Nc ,.
The cost for years for the power consumption can be obtained from Eq. (32) with
electrical energy charges
per
and operating factor oF:
.

...(34a)

Therefore, the total annual expenditure is obtained from:

.

...(34)

Using Eq. (8.21) and rearranging terms in Eq. (8.34), it is found as:
C

...(35)

Now, using the dimensionless parameters as well as variables:

...(36a)
...(36b)
8.76

...(36c)
...(36d)
...(36e)

In the dimensionless form Eq.( 35) is seen to be:

...(37a)

,
where

,,

...(37b)
...(38)

For given values of parameters, , ,

and , the variation of
and
in
as given in Fig. 11. The
dimensionless form has been presented with varying
optimum cost of thermoelectric elernents fall between the maxima of
and .

Fig. 11 Variation in COP and

and

and optimum thermoelectric elenents

If the interest is considered on the investment one can still use Eq. (39). But the
parameter has to be evaluated from:
.
.
...(40a)
for simple interest and,
.

...(40b)

for compound interest. Here /is the interest rate and the rest symbols have usual
meaning.
Figure 1I shows the variation of optimum number of thermocouples for various values
of parameters
(or
),
,
and . Thus; for known capacity and for a given
location where costs of various quantities are known, it can be used to obtain the optimum
number of thermoelectric elements for a given tonnage of the system.
But this will be possible only by reduces size by fig. as given above. I have looked
into it & then is scope for it.
6. MUTTI.STAGE.THERMOELECTRIC SYSTEMS
In order to improve the performance of a thermoelectric refrigeration system to
achieve lower temperature, the multi-staging is used since maximum temperature
difference from a single-stage cannot be obtained greater than the given by Eq.
(31).Figure 12(a), shows a multi-stage system which can also be reduced to an equivalent
thermal system. Then, for the first stage:
1
...(41)
Similarly, for the second stage one can get:

...(42)

Fig 12 Multi-stage thermoelectric system.

Substituting for

from Eq. (41), one gets:

1 1
1 1
By induction one can prove that for third stage and further. stages as:
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
Equation (8.45) can also be written in the shortened form as:

1 1
The COP of the n-stage system can be written as:

...(43)
...(44)
...(45)
...(46)

or
1

...(47)

Thus Eqs. (46 and 47) yield:

...(48)

If we consider n-stage refrigeration system with the coefficient of performance of

every stage to be equal arid denoted by
, one can obtain from Eq. (48) as:
...(49)

The coefficient of performance for each stage of an n-stage cascade system is given
by an approximate expression:
1 2
12
...(50)
Here it has been assumed that the temperature difference for each stage is equal to
where
and ,are the upper and lower temperature limits for the system and
. Then
is given by:
.

Using Eq. (5O) into Eq. (49), it is found as:

...(51)

In case of infinite number of stages of a cascade system, the coefficient of

performance can be given by:
...(52)

However the infinite number of cascade system cannot be realized from the practical
point of view. Hence two-to three-stage systems can be practically a feasible choice.
Figure 12(b) shows the variation of
for different number of stages with varying
operating conditions. It is seen that as the number of stages increases, the coefficient of
performance increases.
A brief outline for a multi-stage thermoelectric system is presented here with
notations given in Fig. 13. The details of optimum number and sizes of multistage
thermoelectric systems are available. The governing equations are obtained for couples
as:
Heat rejection from stage 1 = heat absorbed by the second stage, i.e.,
,
,

...(53)

The voltage drop through each side must be equal, i.e.,

,

...(54)

Fig. 13 Multi-stage thermoelectric elements

According to Kirchhoff' s law the total current at any junction is balanced, i.e.,
...(55)
From Eqs. (54 and 55)

, and

are found as:

,

...(56a)
...(56b)

.
where
and
Eliminating I , and I from Eq. (53) with the help of Eqs. (56a and 56b), one gets a
quadratic equation in I , as:

0
...(57)
This equation was solved by Foster [3] for various values of , property values and
number of thermoelectric elernents. After calculating , from Eq. (57), cooling capacity and
power are obtained

from the respective equations as:

. ,
.
.
...(58)
and,
. ,
.
. ,

.
...(59)
,
The
is then obtained as usual. The optimum results obtained have been shown
in Fig. 14. It is seen that as the number of thermoelectric couples in the low stage
increases, the
decreases but the refrigeration effect increases. Again the maxima of
and refrigeration effect occur at different points: former at lower ampere as compared
latter at the higher ampere value.

Fig. 14 Effect of changing the number of couples in the low stage of the two-stage
,
, Two stage couples,
,
thermoelectric system.
. , Elect, conductivity
.
.
/
,Seebeck coefficient

Example 7: The coefficient of performance of a single-stage thermoelectric system is

0.2. Obtain the
for 2,3, 4 and infinite stage systems. Compare the results with
respect to single-stage system.
Solution: Using Eq. (51), it is seen

In case of infinite number of stages the

.

0.2893
0.3038
0.3088

is given by Eq. (52),i .e.,

0.3152
.

The required improvements due to multistaging are:

0.2893 / 0.2
1.446.
0.3038 / 0.2
1.519.
0.3088 / 0.2
1.544.
0.3152/ 0.2

1.576.

It is evident that the two-staging gives considerable improvement over the single
stage. Thereafter the improvement is very less. Even by using infinite number of rtag"r the
has improved by about 3% over that of four-stages. However a three stage system is
barely 6% less efficient than infinite one.
Seeing the complicacy of fabrication, it is seen that a two to four stage system is
quite reasonable choice.
7. ACTUAL THERMOELECTRIC REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
The design consideration in the thermoelectric refrigeration system requires the
knowledge of optimum size, optimum number of couples, etc., of a given material. Also.
one should know the contact resistance between the thermoelectric elements and the
copper plates to which these elements are soldered. Similarly the increase in thermal
resistances due to junction has to be incorporated. To achieve the desired performance
high grade thermal insulation should be provided between the thermoelectric elements.
Further the thermocouples should be insulated from the outside circuit using appropriate
electric insulation having low thermal resistance. To protect the life of insulation and
thermoelectric elements a good quality moisture resisting element should be provided as
shown in Fig. 15. Thus an actual thermoelectric refrigeration system would perform
successfully for many years to come.

Fig. S.15 An actual thermoelectric refrigeration system.

Example.8: The resistance of a pair of thermoelectric elements is 0.0025
and
the conductance 0 .02
/ . If the contact resistance is equivalent to 10% of the electric
resistance, calculate the cooling produced by a thermoelectric system of 150 pairs for the
case of maximum capacity. The cold and hot end temperatures are 310
and 260
.
The donof the pair is 0.0005 .
Also find
, current and compare the
aiter neglecting the effect of the
contact resistance due to copper plate.
Solution: The figure of merit is obtained as:
.

0.004545
150 0.02 0.004545 260 2
310.86
.

.
.

0.2829

310

260

52
.
without contact resistance is found to be 0.005 and therefore:
.

So,

.
.

Required improvement 4%.

0.2953