Performance characteristic of thermoelectric module

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the physical properties and performance curves of the thermoelectric module. In order to do that a test rig has been fabricated and 2 thermoelectric modules are tested which are TEC1-12705 and CP1.4-71-06L. The voltage generated by the thermoelectric module and the temperature difference are measured and by using some equations, physical properties such as Seebeck coefficient a, Electrical resistance R and Thermal conductivity Kt are obtained. These experiments data are then compared with the manufacturer data. Performance curves are determined by testing the thermoelectric module with 3 different heat sinks which are water cooling jacket, cooling fan with fin and fin itself as a heat sink. Then by using some calculations, the values of P, QH and COP are determined. Optimizations have been done to improve the performance of thermoelectric module by studying the effect of different water flow rate in water cooling jacket, different power supply of cooling fan and the different number of fin and ratio between the fin area contacts to the thermoelectric module surface.