TY - GEN
T1 - Cooling power of transverse thermoelectrics for cryogenic cooling
AU - Tang, Yang
AU - Ma, Ming
AU - Grayson, M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 SPIE.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Transverse Peltier coolers have been experimentally and theoretically studied since 1960s due to their capability of achieving cooling in a single-leg geometry. Recently proposed pxn-type transverse thermoelectrics reveal the possibility of intrinsic or undoped transverse coolers that can, in principle, function at cryogenic temperatures, which has drawn more attention to the performance of such transverse coolers. However, unlike longitudinal thermoelectrics, the equations for transverse thermoelectrics cannot be solved analytically. In this study, we therefore calculate the thermoelectric transport in transverse coolers numerically, and introduce a normalized notation, which reduces the independent parameters in the governing equations to a normalized electric field E∗ and a hot-side transverse figure of merit zTh, only. A numerical study of the maximum cooling temperature difference and cooling power reveals the superior performance of transverse thermoelectric coolers compared to longitudinal coolers with the same figure of merit, providing another motivation in the search for new transverse thermoelectric materials with large figure of merit.
AB - Transverse Peltier coolers have been experimentally and theoretically studied since 1960s due to their capability of achieving cooling in a single-leg geometry. Recently proposed pxn-type transverse thermoelectrics reveal the possibility of intrinsic or undoped transverse coolers that can, in principle, function at cryogenic temperatures, which has drawn more attention to the performance of such transverse coolers. However, unlike longitudinal thermoelectrics, the equations for transverse thermoelectrics cannot be solved analytically. In this study, we therefore calculate the thermoelectric transport in transverse coolers numerically, and introduce a normalized notation, which reduces the independent parameters in the governing equations to a normalized electric field E∗ and a hot-side transverse figure of merit zTh, only. A numerical study of the maximum cooling temperature difference and cooling power reveals the superior performance of transverse thermoelectric coolers compared to longitudinal coolers with the same figure of merit, providing another motivation in the search for new transverse thermoelectric materials with large figure of merit.
KW - Transverse thermoelectrics
KW - cooling power
KW - normalized transport equations
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U2 - 10.1117/12.2229028
DO - 10.1117/12.2229028
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84982107218
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Tri-Technology Device Refrigeration (TTDR)
A2 - Ruhlich, Ingo N.
A2 - Andresen, Bjorn F.
A2 - Heremans, Joseph P.
A2 - Sheik-Bahae, Mansoor
A2 - Epstein, Richard I.
A2 - Hehlen, Markus P.
PB - SPIE
T2 - Tri-Technology Device Refrigeration (TTDR)
Y2 - 19 April 2016 through 20 April 2016
ER -