WO1994028364A1 - A peltier device - Google Patents
A peltier device Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1994028364A1 WO1994028364A1 PCT/NZ1994/000045 NZ9400045W WO9428364A1 WO 1994028364 A1 WO1994028364 A1 WO 1994028364A1 NZ 9400045 W NZ9400045 W NZ 9400045W WO 9428364 A1 WO9428364 A1 WO 9428364A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- peltier
- heat pump
- pump according
- couple
- peltier heat
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
- F25B—REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
- F25B21/00—Machines, plants or systems, using electric or magnetic effects
- F25B21/02—Machines, plants or systems, using electric or magnetic effects using Peltier effect; using Nernst-Ettinghausen effect
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N—ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N10/00—Thermoelectric devices comprising a junction of dissimilar materials, i.e. devices exhibiting Seebeck or Peltier effects
- H10N10/80—Constructional details
- H10N10/85—Thermoelectric active materials
- H10N10/851—Thermoelectric active materials comprising inorganic compositions
- H10N10/853—Thermoelectric active materials comprising inorganic compositions comprising arsenic, antimony or bismuth
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N—ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N10/00—Thermoelectric devices comprising a junction of dissimilar materials, i.e. devices exhibiting Seebeck or Peltier effects
- H10N10/80—Constructional details
- H10N10/85—Thermoelectric active materials
- H10N10/851—Thermoelectric active materials comprising inorganic compositions
- H10N10/854—Thermoelectric active materials comprising inorganic compositions comprising only metals
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L2924/00—Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
- H01L2924/0001—Technical content checked by a classifier
- H01L2924/0002—Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
Definitions
- a PELTIER DEVICE Field of the Invention comprises a Peltier heat pump as may be used for the cooling and temperature control of electronic components for example.
- Peltier heat pumps or refrigerators can be used for the cooling and temperature control of electronic components such as infrared detectors, laser diodes and silicon-chip circuits. These devices typically comprise pairs of thermoelectric semiconductors formed into the branches of two or more junctions. When a current flows through such a junction or Peltier couple, heat flows into or out of the junction depending on the direction of the current. When two such junctions are connected in series, with opposite polarity, heat is transferred away from one junction and discharged at the other junction. The junction to which the heat is transferred is thermally connected to a heat sink and the other junction, referred to as the cold junction, will maintain a temperature below that of the heat sink when an appropriate current is applied.
- the rate of transfer of heat from the cold junction to the hear sink is determined by a balance between the Peltier cooling, which is proportional to the current through the junctions and the Peltier coefficients of the two materials, the Joule heating which degrades the performance and is quadratic in current, and the thermally conducted heat from the heat sink to the cold junction which is proportional to the temperature difference between the heat sink and the cold junction.
- thermopowers S n and S p thermopowers S n and S p
- electrical resistivities r n and r p electrical resistivities k n and k p
- the maximum possible temperature difference, DT,, ⁇ , between the heat sink and cold junction, resulting from the Peltier effect, is a function of the figure of merit
- thermopowers small electrical resistivities and small thermal conductivities. This is usually achieved by choosing materials with the largest practical individual figures of merit
- thermopower, electrical resistivity and electrical conductivity of the material are the thermopower, electrical resistivity and electrical conductivity of the material.
- Semiconductors fill this role in applications at and around room temperature.
- semiconducting alloys such as doped bismuth telluride materials appear to be among the best materials for both the p-type and n- type elements, with individual figures of merit of around 3 x 10" 2 K" 1 .
- metals are unsuitable as a replacement material for either branch in a Peltier heat pump. Although they may have a small electrical resistivity they also have small thermopowers compared with semiconductors and high thermal conductivity.
- the best known materials for the n-type branch of the couple consist of bismuth-rich alloys of bismuth and antimony.
- the figure of merit of this material can be optimized by the application of a magnetic field.
- Bi 85 Sb 15 at 80K has a z of 6 x 10" 3 K" 1 in a magnetic field of 0.0 Tesla and a z of 11 x 10" 3 K "1 in a field of 0.13 Tesla.
- the best p-type semiconductors, bismuth tellurium alloys have high electrical resistance which results in a z of less than 2 x 10" 3 K" 1 at the same temperature and severely limits the performance of low temperature Peltier heat pumps.
- the present invention comprises a Peltier heat pump comprising a Peltier junction or couple or array of junctions or couples formed between a thermoelectrically active material and a metallic material with a high Debye temperature to form a Peltier couple or array of Peltier couples.
- the Debye temperature of the pure metal is in excess of 340K, further preferably above 500K and most preferably in excess of 1000K.
- thermoelectrically active material is a semiconducting material and most preferably an n-type semiconductor, or alternatively a semi-metallic material having a high individual figure of merit, which is preferably chosen to optimise the figure of merit of the Peltier couple(s) at temperatures around and below 10OK.
- the figure of merit at the temperature of operation is at least 5xlO ⁇ 3 K _: ⁇ , further preferably above 6.5x10" 3 K ⁇ 1 and most preferably in excess of 10xlO" 3 K" 3 .
- Certain metals in very pure form exhibit the property that, at temperatures intermediate to room temperature and absolute zero, rk may fall significantly below the classical Wiedemann-Franz value. For example, in Cu at 8OK, rk can fall to a factor of 2 below the classical limit while in Be it may fall below the classical limit even further.
- thermopower of such a metal in the couple is negligible relative to that of the thermoelectrically active branch and hence it contributes little to the Peltier heat pumping within the couple.
- product of the metal' s thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity is also small it also makes only a small contribution to the Joule heating and heat leakage which limit the couple' s performance and the maximum temperature drop obtainable.
- a couple formed from for example an n-type semiconductor with a high individual figure of merit and a pure metal can have a larger figure of merit than that obtainable using the same n-type semiconductor in association with the best available p-type material.
- Metals that may be used in the junction include Be; Cr, Ru, Os; Rh, Fe, Mo, Ni, Co, Re, Al, Ti, Mn; and Mo, U, V, Sc, and Cu. However, any pure metal having an acceptable Debye temperature may be used.
- the purity of the metal is as high as possible and in excess of 99.5% pure, further preferably in excess of 99.9% pure and most preferably in excess of 99.99% pure.
- the purity should be sufficiently high that the electron mean free path is limited by the lattice vibrations rather than by impurities or defects, down to the temperature at which the device is operated.
- the metal arm is annealed in vacuum to reduce the density of grain boundaries, preferably to a level that the dimensions of the crystalline grains are greater than a few hundred nanometres.
- a pure aluminium arm should be annealed at a temperature above 200'C
- a pure copper arm should be annealed at a temperature above 400"C
- a pure Beryllium arm should be annealed at a temperature above 500'C.
- a magnetic field of up to 0.2Tesla may be applied to the junction while in operation to optimize the individual figure of merit of the thermoelectrically active material. Fields of this magnitude should have a negligible effect on the thermal and electrical conductivity of the metallic element.
- thermoelectrically active material that can be used in the junction is Bi 1 _ x Sb x where x is in the range 0.15 ⁇ 0.05.
- Any other thermoelectrically active n-type material with a similar or higher figure of merit than bismuth antimonide may also be used in the active leg in the junction.
- a p-type material with a figure of merit comparable to or higher than existing n-type materials could be used in the active leg of the junction.
- Figs la and lb are schematic diagrams of single Peltier couples of the invention.
- Figs 2a and 2b are schematic diagrams of arrays of Peltier couples of the invention.
- Figs 3a and 3b are schematic diagrams of cascaded Peltier couples of the invention.
- the semiconducting leg of the couple (1) preferably comprises an alloy of bismuth and antimony with composition where x is preferably in the range 0.15 ⁇ 0.05.
- the metallic leg of the couple (2) preferably comprises a high purity, high Debye temperature metal, preferably aluminium, beryllium or copper.
- connection between the semiconducting and metallic branches of the couple may be formed directly by a low electrical resistance bond (3) between the two branches as shown in Fig. la, or by an intermediate material with high thermal conductivity and high electrical conductivity (4), for example aluminium or copper, which is itself bonded to both the semiconducting leg and the metallic leg, as shown in Fig. lb.
- each leg should be similarly bonded to materials with high thermal conductivity and high electrical conductivity (5,6), for example aluminium or copper or other metals with high thermal conductivity, to form the heat-sink for the couple.
- the heat sink may be cooled to the operating temperature by a bath of liquid nitrogen or other cryogen, or a closed cycle refrigerator, or by the cold junction of a further Peltier cooler.
- Current leads (7,8) are electrically connected to the heat-sink elements (5,6) and a current supply (9). The region of the cold junction is shown by the label (cj) and the heat sink by the label (sk).
- the current required to operate a cooler depends on the dimensions of the couple and it's heat pumping capacity but typically Peltier couples are high current, low voltage, devices.
- the required operating temperature of the cold junction would be maintained preferably by controlling the current supplied to the cooler.
- the Peltier heat pump may consist of a single couple as shown in Fig. 1. or a linear or x-y array of such couples as shown in Figs 2a and 2b respectively.
- m is a metallic leg
- n is a semiconducting leg
- c indicates electrical connecting materials
- i indicates electrical insulators
- cj indicates the cold junction
- sk indicates the heat sink and + and - denote the current leads.
- the cold junction at the top of the couple provides the zone which is cooled when an electric current is passed through the device.
- a body i, preferably a sheet or plate, which is a good electrical insulator and a good thermal conductor. This body may then act as a heat sink for whatever devices or components may be connected to it.
- Monolithic Peltier couples may be constructed in which the legs are separated, except at the cold junction, by an insulating layer. The legs of the couple and any such insulating layers may be in the form of thick or thin films.
- Figs 3a and 3b show two ways in which a sequence of Peltier couple arrays may be cascaded in two stages to increase the temperature difference between the heat sink and cold junction.
- n is a semiconducting leg
- c indicates electrical connecting materials
- i indicates electrical insulators
- cj indicates the cold junction
- sk indicates the heat sink and + and - denote the current leads.
- This form of construction is illustrative only and not limiting in general.
- Arrays of couples may be cascaded through several stages to achieve even greater temperature drops. In a cascaded array different pure metals may be used as the metallic branch of the Peltier couple in different levels of the cascade in order to optimize performance.
- the Peltier couples of the invention can be compared to the prototype couples comprising a thermoelectrically active leg joined to a thermoelectrically passive leg as described in papers written by the inventors M G Fee, Applied Physics Lett. 62, 1161 (1993), and H J Trodahl and M G Fee, Proc. of the 6th Int. Symposium on Superconductors (ISS93), Hiroshima, October 26-29, 1993 (Springer-Verlag, Tokyo) to be published.
- a prototype device was built consisting a single couple between an oriented crystal of Bi 79 Sb 21 and 5-9 pure copper wire.
- the Bi 79 Sb 21 crystal had a length of 1.1cm and a cross-sectional area of 0.06cm 2 , while the wire (which had been annealed in vacuum at a temperature of 500 'C) was 1mm in diameter and 43cm long in order to maximise the figure of merit for the couple.
- a temperature drop of 4.2 degrees below that of liquid nitrogen was obtained at a current of 2.5A in zero field and a drop of 4.9 degrees in a field of 0.07T.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
NZ266886A NZ266886A (en) | 1993-05-25 | 1994-05-20 | Peltier effect heat pump, with peltier couple formed by material with high thermoelectric figure of merit in contact with high purity, high debye temperature metal |
AU68592/94A AU6859294A (en) | 1993-05-25 | 1994-05-20 | A peltier device |
JP7500506A JPH08510600A (en) | 1993-05-25 | 1994-05-20 | Peltier device |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
NZ247696 | 1993-05-25 | ||
NZ24769693 | 1993-05-25 |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO1994028364A1 true WO1994028364A1 (en) | 1994-12-08 |
Family
ID=19924355
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/NZ1994/000045 WO1994028364A1 (en) | 1993-05-25 | 1994-05-20 | A peltier device |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
JP (1) | JPH08510600A (en) |
AU (1) | AU6859294A (en) |
WO (1) | WO1994028364A1 (en) |
Cited By (10)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO1999030090A1 (en) * | 1997-12-10 | 1999-06-17 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric cooling apparatus with dynamic switching to isolate heat transport mechanisms |
US6384312B1 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2002-05-07 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric coolers with enhanced structured interfaces |
US6403876B1 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2002-06-11 | International Business Machines Corporation | Enhanced interface thermoelectric coolers with all-metal tips |
US6467275B1 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2002-10-22 | International Business Machines Corporation | Cold point design for efficient thermoelectric coolers |
US6494048B1 (en) | 2002-04-11 | 2002-12-17 | International Business Machines Corporation | Assembly of quantum cold point thermoelectric coolers using magnets |
US6588217B2 (en) | 2000-12-11 | 2003-07-08 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric spot coolers for RF and microwave communication integrated circuits |
US6597544B2 (en) | 2000-12-11 | 2003-07-22 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric microcoolers for cooling write coils and GMR sensors in magnetic heads for disk drives |
US6608250B2 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2003-08-19 | International Business Machines Corporation | Enhanced interface thermoelectric coolers using etched thermoelectric material tips |
US6712258B2 (en) | 2001-12-13 | 2004-03-30 | International Business Machines Corporation | Integrated quantum cold point coolers |
WO2010063044A3 (en) * | 2008-11-14 | 2010-11-18 | Herbert Karl Fuchs | Method for converting thermal energy into electric energy |
Families Citing this family (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JP5984748B2 (en) * | 2013-07-01 | 2016-09-06 | 富士フイルム株式会社 | Thermoelectric conversion element and thermoelectric conversion module |
GB201708724D0 (en) * | 2017-06-01 | 2017-07-19 | Sunamp Ltd | Active crystallisation control in phase-change material thermal storage systems |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3090207A (en) * | 1962-03-22 | 1963-05-21 | Bell Telephone Labor Inc | Thermoelectric behavior of bismuthantimony thermoelements |
EP0275829A2 (en) * | 1987-01-19 | 1988-07-27 | Agrogen-Stiftung | Low-temperature freezing device for samples of biological material enclosed in containers |
AU2797689A (en) * | 1988-01-05 | 1989-08-01 | Chemonorm Ag | Refrigerating unit for refrigerator |
JPH05172424A (en) * | 1991-11-20 | 1993-07-09 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Heat pump device |
-
1994
- 1994-05-20 AU AU68592/94A patent/AU6859294A/en not_active Abandoned
- 1994-05-20 JP JP7500506A patent/JPH08510600A/en active Pending
- 1994-05-20 WO PCT/NZ1994/000045 patent/WO1994028364A1/en active Application Filing
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3090207A (en) * | 1962-03-22 | 1963-05-21 | Bell Telephone Labor Inc | Thermoelectric behavior of bismuthantimony thermoelements |
EP0275829A2 (en) * | 1987-01-19 | 1988-07-27 | Agrogen-Stiftung | Low-temperature freezing device for samples of biological material enclosed in containers |
AU2797689A (en) * | 1988-01-05 | 1989-08-01 | Chemonorm Ag | Refrigerating unit for refrigerator |
JPH05172424A (en) * | 1991-11-20 | 1993-07-09 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Heat pump device |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, M-1502, page 74; & JP,A,5 172 424 (MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND. CO. LTD), 9 July 1993. * |
Cited By (13)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5966941A (en) * | 1997-12-10 | 1999-10-19 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric cooling with dynamic switching to isolate heat transport mechanisms |
WO1999030090A1 (en) * | 1997-12-10 | 1999-06-17 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric cooling apparatus with dynamic switching to isolate heat transport mechanisms |
US6608250B2 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2003-08-19 | International Business Machines Corporation | Enhanced interface thermoelectric coolers using etched thermoelectric material tips |
US6384312B1 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2002-05-07 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric coolers with enhanced structured interfaces |
US6403876B1 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2002-06-11 | International Business Machines Corporation | Enhanced interface thermoelectric coolers with all-metal tips |
US6467275B1 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2002-10-22 | International Business Machines Corporation | Cold point design for efficient thermoelectric coolers |
US6740600B2 (en) | 2000-12-07 | 2004-05-25 | International Business Machines Corporation | Enhanced interface thermoelectric coolers with all-metals tips |
US6588217B2 (en) | 2000-12-11 | 2003-07-08 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric spot coolers for RF and microwave communication integrated circuits |
US6597544B2 (en) | 2000-12-11 | 2003-07-22 | International Business Machines Corporation | Thermoelectric microcoolers for cooling write coils and GMR sensors in magnetic heads for disk drives |
US6712258B2 (en) | 2001-12-13 | 2004-03-30 | International Business Machines Corporation | Integrated quantum cold point coolers |
US6494048B1 (en) | 2002-04-11 | 2002-12-17 | International Business Machines Corporation | Assembly of quantum cold point thermoelectric coolers using magnets |
WO2010063044A3 (en) * | 2008-11-14 | 2010-11-18 | Herbert Karl Fuchs | Method for converting thermal energy into electric energy |
US8519253B2 (en) | 2008-11-14 | 2013-08-27 | Herbert Karl Fuchs | Method for converting thermal energy into electrical energy |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
JPH08510600A (en) | 1996-11-05 |
AU6859294A (en) | 1994-12-20 |
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