IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i22p6070-d447968.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cooling and Mechanical Performance Analysis of a Trapezoidal Thermoelectric Cooler with Variable Cross-Section

Author

Listed:
  • Tianbo Lu

    (Engineering Research Center of High Power Solid State Lighting Application System, Ministry of Education, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China
    School of Mechanical Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China)

  • Yuqiang Li

    (Engineering Research Center of High Power Solid State Lighting Application System, Ministry of Education, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China)

  • Jianxin Zhang

    (Engineering Research Center of High Power Solid State Lighting Application System, Ministry of Education, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China)

  • Pingfan Ning

    (Engineering Research Center of High Power Solid State Lighting Application System, Ministry of Education, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China)

  • Pingjuan Niu

    (Engineering Research Center of High Power Solid State Lighting Application System, Ministry of Education, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China)

Abstract

In this study, a full-scale three-dimensional trapezoidal thermoelectric cooler model is constructed to study its cooling performance and mechanical reliability using finite element simulation. Temperature dependent material properties are considered in this work. The boundary conditions similar to those in a real experimental environment are applied. The effects of the input electrical current and geometry of the thermoelectric leg on the cooling performance and reliability of a trapezoidal thermoelectric cooler are analyzed, and a comparison is made with a rectangular thermoelectric cooler. The results indicate that increasing the leg height and the variable cross-sectional design of the leg can improve the cooling performance of the trapezoidal thermoelectric cooler. Compared to the original rectangular thermoelectric cooler, the minimum chip temperature was reduced by 0.87% under the trapezoidal thermoelectric cooler with optimized geometry. Furthermore, increasing the leg height enhances the mechanical reliability of the trapezoidal thermoelectric cooler, while the trapezoidal design of the leg reduces its mechanical reliability. The maximum von Mises stress of the leg for the trapezoidal thermoelectric cooler with optimal cooling performance increased by 40.1%. The results of this work provide useful guidance for the structural design of trapezoidal thermoelectric coolers.

Suggested Citation

  • Tianbo Lu & Yuqiang Li & Jianxin Zhang & Pingfan Ning & Pingjuan Niu, 2020. "Cooling and Mechanical Performance Analysis of a Trapezoidal Thermoelectric Cooler with Variable Cross-Section," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6070-:d:447968
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6070/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6070/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lv, Hao & Wang, Xiao-Dong & Wang, Tian-Hu & Cheng, Chin-Hsiang, 2016. "Improvement of transient supercooling of thermoelectric coolers through variable semiconductor cross-section," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 501-508.
    2. Shittu, Samson & Li, Guiqiang & Xuan, Qindong & Zhao, Xudong & Ma, Xiaoli & Cui, Yu, 2020. "Electrical and mechanical analysis of a segmented solar thermoelectric generator under non-uniform heat flux," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    3. Gong, Tingrui & Wu, Yongjia & Gao, Lei & Zhang, Long & Li, Juntao & Ming, Tingzhen, 2019. "Thermo-mechanical analysis on a compact thermoelectric cooler," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1211-1224.
    4. Sun, Henan & Gil, Sergio Usón & Liu, Wei & Liu, Zhichun, 2019. "Structure optimization and exergy analysis of a two-stage TEC with two different connections," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 175-191.
    5. Shen, Zu-Guo & Liu, Xun & Chen, Shuai & Wu, Shuang-Ying & Xiao, Lan & Chen, Zu-Xiang, 2018. "Theoretical analysis on a segmented annular thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 297-313.
    6. Ibeagwu, Onyebuchi Isreal, 2019. "Modelling and comprehensive analysis of TEGs with diverse variable leg geometry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 90-106.
    7. Bhuvanesh Srinivasan & David Berthebaud & Takao Mori, 2020. "Is LiI a Potential Dopant Candidate to Enhance the Thermoelectric Performance in Sb-Free GeTe Systems? A Prelusive Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-7, February.
    8. Yilbas, Bekir Sami & Akhtar, S.S. & Sahin, A.Z., 2016. "Thermal and stress analyses in thermoelectric generator with tapered and rectangular pin configurations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 52-63.
    9. Su, Ning & Zhu, Pengfei & Pan, Yuhui & Li, Fu & Li, Bo, 2020. "3D-printing of shape-controllable thermoelectric devices with enhanced output performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    10. Sarafraz, M.M. & Pourmehran, O. & Yang, B. & Arjomandi, M., 2019. "Assessment of the thermal performance of a thermosyphon heat pipe using zirconia-acetone nanofluids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 884-895.
    11. Huang, Yu-Xian & Wang, Xiao-Dong & Cheng, Chin-Hsiang & Lin, David Ta-Wei, 2013. "Geometry optimization of thermoelectric coolers using simplified conjugate-gradient method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 689-697.
    12. Mohammad Siddique, Abu Raihan & Mahmud, Shohel & Van Heyst, Bill, 2020. "Performance comparison between rectangular and trapezoidal-shaped thermoelectric legs manufactured by a dispenser printing technique," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Moonis R. Ally & Brian Fricke, 2021. "Heat Transfer, Refrigeration and Heat Pumps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-3, November.
    2. Kashif Irshad, 2021. "Performance Improvement of Thermoelectric Air Cooler System by Using Variable-Pulse Current for Building Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-13, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shittu, Samson & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong & Ma, Xiaoli, 2020. "Review of thermoelectric geometry and structure optimization for performance enhancement," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    2. Chen, Wei-Hsin & Wang, Chi-Ming & Lee, Da-Sheng & Kwon, Eilhann E. & Ashokkumar, Veeramuthu & Culaba, Alvin B., 2022. "Optimization design by evolutionary computation for minimizing thermal stress of a thermoelectric generator with varied numbers of square pin fins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    3. Wang, Xue & Wang, Hongchao & Su, Wenbing & Chen, Tingting & Tan, Chang & Madre, María A. & Sotelo, Andres & Wang, Chunlei, 2022. "U-type unileg thermoelectric module: A novel structure for high-temperature application with long lifespan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    4. Liu, Haowen & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong & Ma, Xiaoli & Shen, Chao, 2023. "Investigation of the impact of the thermoelectric geometry on the cooling performance and thermal—mechanic characteristics in a thermoelectric cooler," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    5. Shittu, Samson & Li, Guiqiang & Xuan, Qindong & Zhao, Xudong & Ma, Xiaoli & Cui, Yu, 2020. "Electrical and mechanical analysis of a segmented solar thermoelectric generator under non-uniform heat flux," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    6. Maduabuchi, Chika, 2022. "Thermo-mechanical optimization of thermoelectric generators using deep learning artificial intelligence algorithms fed with verified finite element simulation data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    7. Yin, Tao & He, Zhi-Zhu, 2021. "Analytical model-based optimization of the thermoelectric cooler with temperature-dependent materials under different operating conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    8. Khalil, ALkhadher & Elhassnaoui, Ahmed & Yadir, Said & Abdellatif, Obbadi & Errami, Youssef & Sahnoun, Smail, 2021. "Performance comparison of TEGs for diverse variable leg geometry with the same leg volume," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    9. Chen, Wei-Hsin & Chiou, Yi-Bin, 2020. "Geometry design for maximizing output power of segmented skutterudite thermoelectric generator by evolutionary computation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    10. Chika Maduabuchi & Hassan Fagehi & Ibrahim Alatawi & Mohammad Alkhedher, 2022. "Predicting the Optimal Performance of a Concentrated Solar Segmented Variable Leg Thermoelectric Generator Using Neural Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-25, August.
    11. Maduabuchi, Chika & Eneh, Chibuoke & Alrobaian, Abdulrahman Abdullah & Alkhedher, Mohammad, 2023. "Deep neural networks for quick and precise geometry optimization of segmented thermoelectric generators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PC).
    12. Fan, Shifa & Gao, Yuanwen, 2019. "Numerical analysis on the segmented annular thermoelectric generator for waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 35-47.
    13. Wang, Xiao-Dong & Wang, Qiu-Hong & Xu, Jin-Liang, 2014. "Performance analysis of two-stage TECs (thermoelectric coolers) using a three-dimensional heat-electricity coupled model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 419-429.
    14. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Wang, Suilin, 2023. "Study of the geometry and structure of a thermoelectric leg with variable material properties and side heat dissipation based on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    15. Xuan, Zhiwei & Ge, Minghui & Zhao, Chenyang & Li, Yanzhe & Wang, Shixue & Zhao, Yulong, 2024. "Effect of nonuniform solar radiation on the performance of solar thermoelectric generators," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    16. Loau Al-Bahrani & Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian & Ben Horan & Alex Stojcevski, 2021. "Solving the Real Power Limitations in the Dynamic Economic Dispatch of Large-Scale Thermal Power Units under the Effects of Valve-Point Loading and Ramp-Rate Limitations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, January.
    17. Ge, Ya & Lin, Yousheng & He, Qing & Wang, Wenhao & Chen, Jiechao & Huang, Si-Min, 2021. "Geometric optimization of segmented thermoelectric generators for waste heat recovery systems using genetic algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    18. Gaoju Xia & Huadong Zhao & Jingshuang Zhang & Haonan Yang & Bo Feng & Qi Zhang & Xiaohui Song, 2021. "Study on Performance of the Thermoelectric Cooling Device with Novel Subchannel Finned Heat Sink," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    19. Luo, Ding & Yan, Yuying & Li, Ying & Wang, Ruochen & Cheng, Shan & Yang, Xuelin & Ji, Dongxu, 2023. "A hybrid transient CFD-thermoelectric numerical model for automobile thermoelectric generator systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    20. Liu, Zhichun & Zhu, Shiping & Ge, Ya & Shan, Feng & Zeng, Lingping & Liu, Wei, 2017. "Geometry optimization of two-stage thermoelectric generators using simplified conjugate-gradient method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 540-552.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6070-:d:447968. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.