A novel method to rapidly determine the key properties of thermoelectric devices

This article presents a novel method to determine the representative properties of a thermoelectric module (TEM). The method, by applying a constant current to a thermoelectric module then measuring the module´s transient voltage and both sides temperatures, could rapidly determine the module´s effective properties. The properties include Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical resistance (R), and thermal conductance (K). A commercial module, Altec1091, had been measured in this study, the test data shows a good agreement with previous literatures results.