JPH11159908A - Microwave heating and cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase a heating and cooling efficiency, by a method wherein at least one of heat exchangers, pinching a thermoelectric module, is surrounded by a surrounding member of plastic, while a retaining member is fixed to the surrounding member to retain pinching condition of the thermoelectric module by the heat exchanger. SOLUTION: A heat exchanger 2 is made of a metallic material, such as aluminum or the like, and is constituted of a base table 2a as well as fins 2b to radiate heat transferred from the heat generating surfaces 1c of a thermoelectric module 1 and effect heat exchange. Another heat exchanger 3 is made of a metal such as aluminum or the like so as to have the section of a projected shape, and effects heat exchange so as to transfer heat to the heat absorbing surfaces 1d of the thermoelectric module 1. The surrounding member 4 is made of a resin and is provided with a tubular shape having a through hole 4a to cover an surround the heat exchanger 3 from the top surface side of the same. Bolts (retaining members) 5 are fixed by inserting the tip ends thereof the heat exchanger 2 and fixing the base ends thereof while penetrating through the surrounding member 4 to obtain a condition that the heat exchangers 2, 3 are pinching the thermoelectric module 1. According to this method, the transfer of heat from or into the heat exchanger 3 is reduced whereby heating and cooling efficiency can be increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic heating / cooling apparatus using a thermoelectric semiconductor as a cold heat source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an electronic heating / cooling device of this type shown in FIG. The thermoelectric module A includes a thermoelectric module A in which P-type elements and N-type elements of thermoelectric semiconductors A arranged in a thermally conductive manner are alternately connected in series, and a thermoelectric module A that sandwiches the thermoelectric module from the current direction in the thermoelectric semiconductor A. 1st and 2nd heat exchangers B and C, and 1st and 2nd heat exchangers
Bolt D for fixing B and C, second heat exchanger C and bolt
And a resin washer E inserted between the bolts D so as to be located between the bolts D.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional electronic heating / cooling apparatus, a resin washer E is provided with a bolt.
D and the washer E is connected to the second heat exchanger C
Between the first and second heat exchangers B and C and the bolt D, the heat is hardly transferred to the bolt D, and the heating and cooling is performed. Efficiency can be increased.

However, in this case, since the second heat exchanger C itself is not insulated, the heating / cooling efficiency is not always high depending on the ambient temperature.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic heating and cooling device having high heating and cooling efficiency.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a thermoelectric semiconductor P-type element and an N-type element, which are arranged in a thermally conductive manner, are alternately connected in series. A thermoelectric module, a first and a second heat exchanger sandwiching the thermoelectric module from a current direction in the thermoconductive semiconductor, and a resin surrounding member surrounding at least one of the first and second heat exchangers. And a holding member that holds the thermoelectric module in a state where the first and second heat exchangers sandwich the thermoelectric module by being fixed to the surrounding member.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. This electronic heating and cooling device comprises a thermoelectric module 1, a first heat exchanger 2, a second heat exchanger 3,
The surrounding member 4 and the bolt (holding member) 5 are provided.

The thermoelectric module 1 is composed of P-type elements and N-type elements of thermoelectric semiconductors 1a arranged in a thermally conductive manner and alternately connected in series via a substrate 1b. More specifically, the P-type element and the N-type element of the thermoelectric semiconductor 1a have heat-generating surfaces 1c depending on the direction of the current.
The heat absorbing surface 1d and the heat generating surface 1c are located on the same plane, and the heat absorbing surface 1d is located on the same plane.

The first heat exchanger 2 is made of a metal material such as aluminum, and includes a base 2a and fins 2b erected from one surface of the base 2a. This first heat exchanger 2
Indicates that the other surface of the base 2a is the heating surface of the thermoelectric module 1.
By joining to the board 1b connected to 1c, the board
The heat transmitted from the heat generating surface 1c via 1b is radiated to exchange heat.

The second heat exchanger 3, like the first heat exchanger 2, is made of a metal material such as aluminum and has a convex cross-sectional shape with one end portion having a smaller cross-sectional area than the other end portion. Is formed. The second heat exchanger 3 has a bottom surface, which is the other end surface, joined to the substrate 1b connected to the heat absorbing surface 1d of the thermoelectric module 1 so as to transfer heat to the heat absorbing surface 1d via the substrate 1b. Heat exchange.

The surrounding member 4 is formed, for example, of a resin such as PBT into a cylindrical shape having a through hole 4a. In addition,
The cross section of the through hole 4a is smaller at one end opening than at the other end opening. This surrounding member 4
The second heat exchanger 3 is covered from the top surface side, which is one end surface, and surrounds the second heat exchanger 3 from one end to the central portion.

A bolt (holding member) 5 has a base end penetrated and fixed to the surrounding member 4 with its tip end inserted into the first heat exchanger 2. By fixing the bolt 5 to the surrounding member 4 in this manner, the state in which the first and second heat exchangers 2, 3 sandwich the thermoelectric module 1 from the current direction in the heat transfer semiconductor 1a is maintained.

Next, a state in which the object 10 is cooled by this will be described. As described above, the second heat exchanger 3 is configured such that the bottom surface which is the other end surface is joined to the substrate 1b connected to the heat absorbing surface 1d of the thermoelectric module 1,
Since heat is exchanged so as to transfer heat to the heat absorbing surface 1d via the substrate 1b, the object 10 to be cooled is placed in contact with the top surface, which is one end surface of the second heat exchanger 3, so that the object 10 Can be cooled. In order to further increase the heating and cooling efficiency, as shown in FIG. 1, a heat insulating spacer 20 is arranged between the object 10 to be cooled and the first heat exchanger 2 so that the present electronic device can be used. Encloses the entire heating and cooling device.

In such an electronic heating and cooling device, the first
And a resin surrounding member 4 to which bolts 5 for holding a state in which the second heat exchangers 2 and 3 sandwich the thermoelectric module 1 are fixed.
Because the second heat exchanger 3 is surrounded by
It is possible to reduce the flow of heat in and out of the heat exchanger 3 and to increase the heating and cooling efficiency.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. Note that members having substantially the same functions as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and only differences from the first embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the second
While only the first heat exchanger 3 is surrounded by the surrounding member 4, in the present embodiment, the first heat exchanger 2 is also surrounded by the second surrounding member 6.

More specifically, the base 2a of the first heat exchanger 2 is
The cross-section is formed in a convex shape, and the cross-sectional area on the other surface side is larger than the one surface side.

The second surrounding member 6, like the surrounding member 4, is formed of, for example, a resin such as PBT into a cylindrical shape having a through hole 6a. The through-hole 6a has a smaller opening cross section at one end opening than at the other end opening. The second surrounding member 6 is provided with the first heat exchanger 2.
And the base 2a of the first heat exchanger 2
Surround most of the.

The bolt 5 has a base end penetrating the enclosing member 4 and a tip end penetrating the second enclosing member 6, and is fixed to the enclosing members 4,6. Thus, bolt 5
Is fixed to the surrounding members 4, 6, the first and second heat exchangers 2, 3 maintain a state in which the thermoelectric module 1 is sandwiched from the current direction in the heat transfer semiconductor 1a.

In such an electronic heating and cooling apparatus, the first
And both resin-made surrounding members to which bolts 5 for holding a state in which the second heat exchangers 2 and 3 sandwich the thermoelectric module 1 are fixed.
Since both the first and second heat exchangers 2 and 3 are surrounded by 4,6, it is necessary to reduce the flow of heat into and out of both the first and second heat exchangers 2 and 3. And the heating and cooling efficiency can be increased.

In the first embodiment, the second heat exchanger
In the first embodiment, only the first heat exchanger 2 is surrounded by the surrounding member 4, and the second heat exchanger 3 is surrounded by the second surrounding member 6. However, a configuration surrounding only the first heat exchanger 2 may be adopted.

[0021]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first or second heat exchanger is provided with a resin surrounding member to which a holding member for holding the thermoelectric module between the first and second heat exchangers is fixed. Because at least one of the heat exchangers is surrounded,
The flow of heat from at least one of the first and second heat exchangers can be reduced, and the heating and cooling efficiency can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 thermoelectric module 1a thermoelectric semiconductor 2 first heat exchanger 3 second heat exchanger 4 surrounding member 5 bolt (holding member) 6 second surrounding member

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroaki Okada 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. (72) Inventor Yuri Sakai 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Works ( 72) Inventor Komatsu Illumination 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masayuki Sagawa 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermoelectric module in which P-type elements and N-type elements of thermoelectric semiconductors arranged in parallel in a thermally conductive manner are alternately connected in series, and a first and a second thermoelectric module sandwiching the thermoelectric module from a current direction in the thermoconductive semiconductor. A second heat exchanger, a resin surrounding member surrounding at least one of the first and second heat exchangers, and the first and second heat exchangers being fixed to the surrounding member.
And a holding member for holding a state in which the heat exchanger sandwiches the thermoelectric module.