JPH01165183A - Manufacture of thermoelectric device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate manufacture of a small size and high performance thermoelectric device which can be employed as a power source of an electronic wrist watch and the like by a method wherein a thermoelectric material strip obtained by chilling melt is combined with organic resin to produce the thermoelectric device. CONSTITUTION:(Bi, Sb)2 (Te, Se)3 system material is employed as thermoelectric material used at a temperature close to a room temperature. The material is melted in a nitrogen atmosphere in a quartz tube at about 800 deg.C to produce melt 1. The melt 1 is spouted against a rotary roll 2 made of Cu or the like and chilled to form a thermoelectric material strip 3. Then the thermoelectric material strips 3 obtained like this are laminated with organic resin layers 4 which have a low thermal conductivity and cut vertically to the lamination surface. After the out units are laminated with the organic resin layers again, electrodes 5 are formed and, further, insulating layers 6 and heat conducting layers 7 are formed. With this constitution, a thermoelectric device with excellent Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity and mechanical strength can be obtained. Moreover, as a thin strip can be obtained in the first stage, if a large number of minute thermoelectric material segments have to be coupled in order to manufacture, for instance, an electronic wrist watch, simple and efficient manufacturing process can be realized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric element used as a power source for electronic wristwatches and the like.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention is used in small electronic products such as electronic wristwatches to generate electric power using temperature differences, for example, the difference between body temperature and the surrounding environment, and to charge a secondary battery or a large-capacity capacitor as necessary. In the manufacturing method of thermoelectric elements used in This makes it possible to manufacture products with high quality and provide excellent properties.

[Conventional technology]

In an electronic wristwatch, a semi-permanent power source can be obtained by using body temperature in combination with a thermoelectric element and a large-capacity capacitor or a secondary battery.

In this case, (Bi, Sb)g (Te) is the thermoelectric material with the best figure of merit near room temperature.

There is a thermoelectric material based on Se), but even this material has a Seebeck coefficient of about 200 μV/ for both N type and P type.
Therefore, for example, to obtain a voltage of 2 cm with a temperature difference of 2°C, approximately 5
As many as four thermoelectric material micropieces are required.

In the case of a wristwatch, the usable area is limited to about 6 d, and there is also a limit to the thickness, so the element is, for example, 0.
．． It is necessary to connect several thousand thermoelectric material pieces of 1 size x 0.1 x 8 pieces in series, and the method to achieve this is as follows.
For example, Proceedings of the 1986 National Conference of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan m1
As seen in 194 (the use of thick film properties is considered).

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

When using the thick film method, there are limitations such as low electrical conductivity and the need to use a substrate with relatively high thermal conductivity, such as glass, making it difficult to obtain excellent thermoelectric elements.

[Means for solving problems]

In the present invention, in manufacturing a thermoelectric element, a thermoelectric material ribbon obtained by bringing a melt into contact with a rotating cooling medium and rapidly cooling it is used and composited with a heat-insulating material to manufacture a thermoelectric element.

[Effect]

Micro ribbons with excellent properties can be easily obtained by rapid cooling from a melt, and by combining them with heat-insulating materials with low thermal conductivity such as organic resins, thermoelectric elements that easily generate temperature differences and therefore have high efficiency can be created. is obtained.

〔Example〕

This will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings.

The thermoelectric material used near normal temperature is (Bi.

5b) Use t (Te, 5e) 3-based materials. A thin ribbon is obtained by using a melt quenching device such as a single roll method or a twin roll method.

The melt quenching method using a single roll method will be explained using diagrams.

In Figure 1, (Bi, 5b)t (Te, 5e)s
The system material is melted in a quartz tube at about 800° C. in a nitrogen atmosphere to form a melt 1. This is sprayed onto a rotating roll 2 made of Cu or the like and quenched to obtain a thermoelectric material ribbon 3.

The thin strip thus obtained was 0.1 mm thick and 8 mm wide.Next, the thermoelectric material thin strip obtained in this way was made of an organic resin with low thermal conductivity, as shown in Figure 2. Layer with 4.

Furthermore, this laminate is cut perpendicular to the laminate surface as shown in FIG. After this is laminated again with an organic resin, an electrode 5 is formed as shown in FIG. 4, and an insulating layer N6 and a heat conducting layer N7 are further formed to complete the thermoelectric element.

The thermoelectric material ribbon obtained by rapid cooling from the melt is preferably heat-treated at a temperature of about 300° C. to 500° C. in order to improve its characteristics.

CBi produced by quenching from the melt according to the invention, 5b)z
(Te, 5e)s-based materials have a higher density than those formed by a thick film method or the like, have excellent Seebeck coefficients and conductivity, and have excellent mechanical strength.

In addition, since a thin strip can be obtained from the beginning, it is much easier and more efficient than processing melted lumber or sintered material when it is necessary to join together many small pieces of thermoelectric material, such as in electronic wristwatches. Can be manufactured well.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a thermoelectric material ribbon obtained by rapid cooling from a melt is used to manufacture a thermoelectric element by combining it with an organic resin, thereby making it compact enough to be used as a power source for electronic wristwatches, etc. This makes it possible to easily manufacture thermoelectric elements with good performance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 are diagrams showing the manufacturing process of the thermoelectric element, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the thermoelectric element. 1... Melt body 2... Rotating roll 3... Thermoelectric material ribbon 4... Organic resin 5... Electrode 6... Insulating layer 7... Heat transfer layer and above Applicant Seiko Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for manufacturing a thermoelectric element, characterized in that the thermoelectric element is manufactured using a thermoelectric material ribbon obtained by rapid cooling from a melt.