WO2005001946A1

WO2005001946A1 - Peltier element and production method therefor

Info

Publication number: WO2005001946A1
Application number: PCT/JP2004/009162
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kenji Higashi
Original assignee: Da Vinci Co., Ltd.; Sera Corporation. Inc.
Priority date: 2003-06-30
Filing date: 2004-06-29
Publication date: 2005-01-06
Also published as: JP4669395B2; JPWO2005001946A1

Abstract

A Peletier element easy to produce and high in cooling efficiency, and a production method therefor. This Peletier element (1) has at least one pair of thermoelectric converters (2) in which p-type semiconductor elements (4) and n-type semiconductor elements (5) are alternately disposed with adjacent ens of respective elements series-joined by electrodes (6, 6a) alternately. A pair of thermoelectric converters (2a, 2b) are formed so that they are symmetrical in shape with respect to a surface parallel to the electrode (6) and a heat absorption surface F1 and a heat emission surface F2 face each other. Respective electrodes (6, 6a) are fixed to face each other across an insulation sheet (3) consisting of glass fibers (3a) coated with silicone varnish (3b).

Description

Specification

Peltier device and method of manufacturing the same

Technical field

The present invention relates to a Peltier device and a method for manufacturing the same. More specifically, it has at least one pair of thermoelectric converters in which P-type semiconductor elements and N-type semiconductor elements are alternately arranged and adjacent ends are alternately connected in series with electrodes, and has a cooling action by the Peltier effect. The present invention relates to a Peltier device and a method for manufacturing the same.

Background art

Conventionally, as a Peltier element as described above in which a plurality of thermoelectric conversion substrates, which are thermoelectric conversion bodies, are stacked, those described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 below are known. According to the patent document, a plurality of thermoelectric conversion substrates are stacked via a ceramic heat transfer plate.

Patent Document 1: JP-A-8-236820

Patent Document 2: JP-A-10-303473

[0003] In Patent Document 1, the size of the thermoelectric conversion substrate is unified, and the number of semiconductors arranged in each stage is the same. The heat absorption efficiency is improved by sequentially increasing the amount of current from the heat absorption side stage to the heat radiation side stage by an integral multiple. However, the pattern of the thermoelectric conversion board had to be different for each stage in order to increase the amount of current sequentially, and the design * manufacturing was complicated.

[0004] In Patent Document 2, the melting point of the solder in each step is changed in order to stack a plurality of stages of thermoelectric conversion substrates, and the production is complicated in order to increase the reliability of forming each layer.

[0005] Furthermore, even with the techniques described in the literatures of "D" and "D", there is a force S required to suppress heat deformation during lamination. In addition, since the intermediate substrate faces the heat receiving surface and the heat radiating surface of the thermoelectric conversion substrates located on both sides, the intermediate substrate must also withstand the stress due to thermal distortion caused by the temperature difference. Therefore, in order to eliminate these inconveniences, the ceramic heat transfer plate is required to have robustness. As a result, the heat resistance of the heat transfer plate interposed between the thermoelectric conversion boards increases, and the cooling efficiency decreases. There was an inconvenience.

Disclosure of the invention Problems the invention is trying to solve

[0006] In view of such conventional circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a Peltier device that is easy to manufacture and has high cooling efficiency and a method for manufacturing the same.

Means for solving the problem

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, a feature of the Peltier device according to the present invention is that a P-type semiconductor device and an N-type semiconductor device are alternately arranged, and adjacent ends are alternately connected in series with electrodes. A configuration having at least one pair of thermoelectric converters, wherein the pair of thermoelectric converters is formed such that the shape parallel to the electrode is symmetrical with respect to the surface, and the heat absorbing surface and the heat generating surface are opposed to each other. That is, the electrodes are fixed to each other with the insulating sheet coated with an adhesive interposed therebetween.

[0008] According to the configuration, the intermediate substrate is not required, and the electrodes constituting the thermoelectric converter do not need to be largely different in each layer, and can be easily manufactured. In addition, the insulating sheet interposed between the opposing electrodes only needs to insulate and bond these electrodes, so that the insulating sheet can be made very thin, and as a result, the thermal resistance can be reduced. The elasticity of the adhesive reinforced with fibers absorbs the thermal stress generated at the joint between the two thermoelectric converters, so that the problem of thermal distortion is also eliminated.

[0009] The pair of thermoelectric converters can be connected in parallel or in series to a power supply.

When independent voltage application terminals are provided for the pair of thermoelectric converters, a voltage can be applied to each thermoelectric converter, and design can be performed with a high degree of freedom. When connecting in series, it is preferable to make the resistance values of these thermoelectric converters different. For example, by making the resistance value of one thermoelectric converter smaller than that of the other, the voltage applied to the other thermoelectric converter increases. As a result, the maximum heat absorption and the maximum temperature difference change, and the design of the Peltier element according to the application at the manufacturing stage becomes easy. According to experiments, it is desired that the resistance values be different by 0.2 ohm or more, and in the embodiment of the present invention described later, the resistance values are changed by 0.3 ohm.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present invention, an electrode on the opposite side of the electrode facing the fiber is formed on an insulating substrate.

[0011] By covering the side surface of the thermoelectric converter orthogonal to the laminating direction with the insulating sheet, insulation is provided. An edge moisture-proof layer may be constituted. In each of the above structures, the fiber may be glass fiber, and the adhesive may be a silicone varnish. It is desirable that the thickness of the fiber is 0.3 mm or less.

[0012] On the other hand, in the method of manufacturing a Peltier device according to any one of the above features, the pair of thermoelectric converters is formed, and the electrodes are opposed to each other with the insulating sheet interposed therebetween, and the bonding is performed. It is to fix the electrodes facing each other by drying.

The invention's effect

[0013] According to the features of the Peltier device and the method of manufacturing the same according to the present invention, the heat resistance is reduced by eliminating the ceramic heat transfer plate interposed between the thermoelectric conversion substrates, thereby improving the cooling efficiency. Became possible. In addition, the use of an insulating sheet improves the manufacturing efficiency by facilitating the joining process while ensuring insulation using fibers, and improves the durability of the element by absorbing thermal deformation with a bonding material reinforced with fibers. I got it.

[0014] Furthermore, thermoelectric converters of substantially the same shape formed symmetrically with respect to the plane can be electrically laminated independently, so that the degree of freedom in designing according to the use of the user is increased. The characteristics of each thermoelectric converter are adjusted by, for example, making the resistance values of the two-stage thermoelectric converters stacked different from each other, and the maximum temperature difference between the heat absorption side and the heat generation side of the Peltier element as a whole is determined. It is also possible to design such as to achieve the goal.

[0015] In addition, by eliminating the ceramic heat conductive plate from between the pair of thermoelectric converters and introducing a thin-film insulating sheet, the temperature difference between the heat absorbing surface and the heat radiating surface of each thermoelectric converter is reduced. Reduced. By reducing the temperature difference, we succeeded in improving the electrothermal conversion efficiency with respect to the applied power by reducing the Seebeck effect that appears as a reaction to the Peltier effect.For example, the power consumption is about half that of a single-stage Peltier element. Temperature difference can be obtained.

[0016] Other objects, configurations, and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following section, "Best mode for carrying out the invention".

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a side view of a Peltier device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a thermoelectric converter used for the Peltier device in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the Peltier device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a Peltier device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a Peltier device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a Peltier device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.

The Peltier element 1 is configured by stacking a plurality of thermoelectric converters 2 (2a) as shown in FIG. 2 as shown in FIG. Each thermoelectric converter 2 is formed by alternately connecting the adjacent ends of a P-type semiconductor element 4 and an N-type semiconductor element 5 which are alternately arranged in series with an electrode 6. In the present embodiment, an electrode 6b made of copper or the like on an insulating base material 7 made of a ceramic base material and an electrode 6a made of a single metal such as copper are used as joining members. In other words, the electrodes 6b, 6b opposite to the electrodes 6a, 6a facing the insulating sheet 3 are formed on the insulating substrate 7.

[0019] Voltage application terminals 8A, 8B, 8C and 8D are fixed to the electrodes 6b and 6b located at the beginning and end of each thermoelectric converter 2 by soldering, respectively. Since these terminals 8A, 8B, 8C and 8D are independent, they can be electrically connected either in series or in parallel, and two types of two-stage Peltier elements with different characteristics can be easily formed from the same thermoelectric conversion board. Can produce. Furthermore, it is also possible to apply different voltages individually, which has succeeded in ensuring the freedom of design for the user. And, since the connection form of the terminals can be varied in various ways, we succeeded in improving the degree of freedom in design.

[0020] The pair of thermoelectric converters 2a and 2b are formed such that their shapes are symmetric with respect to a plane parallel to the electrode 6 (6a). Here, the opposing electrodes 6a, 6a are both formed in a rectangular shape when viewed in the layered direction. In this specification, "the electrodes 6a and 6a face each other" means "the electrodes 6a and 6a almost overlap each other when viewed in the stacked direction". Since the pair of thermoelectric converters 2a and 2b are formed so as to be symmetrical in shape with respect to the above-mentioned parallel plane, the heat transfer between the pair of thermoelectric converters 2a and 2b is considered to be the most efficient. Become.

Between the pair of thermoelectric converters 2a and 2b, the electrodes are fixed to each other with an insulating sheet 3 formed by applying an adhesive 3b to fibers 3a. The fiber 3a is located between each facing metal electrode. It is desirable that at least each of the electrodes 6a, 6a be disposed so as to avoid direct contact with each other. Here, the fiber includes a woven fabric in which fibers are arranged vertically and horizontally, a nonwoven fabric in which fibers are randomly arranged, and a fiber in which fibers are oriented in one direction. In other words, it can be said to be a cloth. However, it is desirable that the fibers are oriented in two or more directions along the plane of each electrode 6a in order to withstand tensile and compressive changes. In the present embodiment, a glass cloth using glass fiber as an insulator is used as the fiber 3a. In addition, for example, an inorganic adhesive such as a silicone adhesive, for example, silicone rubber or silicone varnish can be used as the adhesive. As long as the insulating sheet can be insulated as a whole, in this embodiment, both the fiber 3a and the adhesive 3b are made of an insulating material. The thickness of the insulating sheet is 0.3 mm or less, preferably 0.2 mm or less.

In manufacturing the Peltier device as described above, a pair of thermoelectric converters 2a and 2b are prepared. Then, after the electrodes 6a, 6a are opposed to each other with the insulating sheet 3 interposed therebetween, the adhesive 3b is dried and the opposed electrodes 6a, 6a are fixed to complete the Peltier device 1.

In use, for example, the right terminal 8A of the lower thermoelectric converter 2a is connected to a positive terminal, and the other terminal 8B is connected to a negative terminal. Also, the right terminal 8C of the upper thermoelectric converter 2b is connected to a positive terminal, and the other terminal 8D is connected to a negative terminal. As a result, in FIG. 1, the upper surfaces F 1 and F 1 of the thermoelectric converters 2 a and 2 b are on the heat absorbing side, and the lower surfaces F 2 and F 2 are on the heat radiating side. Heat is dissipated from the lower side of element 1 as shown by arrow H2. However, since these terminals 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D are independent, various variations can be realized without being limited to this.

Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the lower thermoelectric converter 2a having an electric resistance of 1.8 Ω and the same shape made of the same number of semiconductors, but the P-type semiconductor element 4 and the N-type semiconductor element 5 are arranged in reverse. The thermoelectric converter 2c having an electric resistance value of 1.5 Ω is laminated according to the above-described procedure. In this example, external connection terminals 8E and 8F are provided at the left ends of both thermoelectric converters 2a and 2c, and the other left ends are connected with a connection terminal 8G and connected in series.

With this configuration, when the upper terminal 8F is connected to the plus electrode and the lower terminal 8E is connected to the minus electrode, the voltage and power consumption of the upper thermoelectric converter 2c are equal to those of the lower thermoelectric converter 2a. It seems that the heat absorption becomes smaller. However, since there is greater heat absorption from the lower thermoelectric converter 2a, the temperature difference force S between the heat absorbing surface F1 and the heat generating surface F2 of the upper thermoelectric converter 2c itself becomes smaller, and the maximum value of the temperature difference increases. When the plus electrode and the minus electrode are inverted, the maximum value of the temperature difference tends to decrease compared to the above, but the maximum endothermic amount tends to increase and the maximum values of the maximum endothermic amount and the temperature difference are the resistance values. Can be determined by adjusting the difference between the two.

In the third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 5, the semiconductors 4 and 5 and the electrodes 6 sandwiched between the insulating bases 7 and 7 of the thermoelectric converter 2 in the Peltier device 1 according to the second embodiment The same thing as the above-mentioned insulating sheet is arranged so as to surround the outer periphery of the above. The sheet is dried and fixed to form the insulating and moisture-proof layer 10. With this configuration, a thick insulating moisture-proof film formed of silicone RTV rubber or the like for insulation moisture-proofing can be formed into a thin film, so that the film propagates to each ceramic substrate via the insulating moisture-proofing film. The amount of heat generated can be reduced, and the mechanical strength can be reinforced.

In the fourth embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 6, a thermoelectric converter 2d similar to the Peltier device 1 according to the second embodiment is further added to form a three-layer structure. An insulating sheet 3 is inserted between the lower thermoelectric converter 2d and the intermediate thermoelectric converter 2e, and between the intermediate thermoelectric converter 2e and the upper thermoelectric converter 2f, respectively, and is inserted into the electrodes 6a and 6a of the insulating sheet insertion portion. Each thermoelectric converter 2d, 2e, 2f is formed as a plane symmetrical shape through a parallel plane. External connection terminals 8H and 81 are fixed to the lower thermoelectric converter 2d and the upper thermoelectric converter 2f, respectively. Adjacent thermoelectric converters are connected by series terminals 8J and 8K. For example, when the upper connection terminal 81 is connected to the plus electrode and the lower connection terminal 8H is connected to the minus electrode, the upper surface F1 of each of the thermoelectric converters 2d, 2e, 2f becomes a heat absorbing surface and the lower surface F2 becomes a heat radiating surface.

[0027] These embodiments described above can be combined with each other. Further, the numerical values and materials in each embodiment are not limited to those, but are merely examples, and can be appropriately modified.

Industrial applicability

[0028] The present invention can be used as a Peltier device having at least one pair of thermoelectric converters, and can also be used as a multi-stage Peltier device further provided with a plurality of thermoelectric converters.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] A Peltier element having at least one pair of thermoelectric converters in which P-type semiconductor elements and N-type semiconductor elements are alternately arranged and adjacent ends are alternately joined in series by electrodes. The converter is formed so that its shape is symmetrical with respect to a plane parallel to the electrodes, and the electrodes are fixed to each other with an insulating sheet in which an adhesive is applied to fibers interposed therebetween.

[2] The Peltier device according to claim 1, wherein each of the pair of thermoelectric converters is provided with an independent voltage application terminal.

3. The Peltier device according to claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric converters are joined in series, and the thermoelectric converters have different resistance values.

[4] The Peltier device according to any one of [13] to [13], wherein the resistance values are different from each other by 0.2 ohm or more.

[5] The Peltier element according to any one of [14] to [14], wherein an electrode opposite to the electrode facing the fiber is formed on an insulating substrate.

6. The Peltier device according to claim 15, wherein a side surface orthogonal to a laminating direction of the thermoelectric converter is covered with the insulating sheet to form an insulating moisture-proof layer.

[7] The Peltier device according to claim 16, wherein the fiber is a glass fiber.

[8] The Peltier device according to any one of [17] to [17], wherein the adhesive is a silicone varnish.

9. The Peltier device according to claim 18, wherein the thickness of the insulating sheet is 0.3 mm or less.

[10] The method for manufacturing a Peltier device according to any one of [11] to [9], wherein the pair of thermoelectric converters are formed, and the respective electrodes are joined to face each other with the insulating sheet interposed therebetween. The adhesive is dried to fix the opposing electrodes.