Optimisation of the heat dissipation in thermoelectric devices by means of an element with phase change

Author

Vian, J.G. ; Astrain, D. ; Esarte, J. ; Aguas, J.J. ; Domiguez, M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Univ. Publica de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

448

Lastpage

452

Abstract

An element with phase change and no moveable components has been developed in order to improve the heat dissipation in applications of thermoelectric refrigeration. With a fluid mechanics and heat transfer software (Fluent) a comprehensive study of the condensation phenomenon occurring into this element has been done in order to analyse its thermal behaviour needed to model the thermoelectric device using an electric analogy. Subsequently, several prototypes for different geometries, refrigerant loads and vacuum pressures were made to check the experimental results and compare to the theoretical ones. With this element, the authors have been able to reduce the thermal resistance considerably and with it to improve within 12-18% the total efficiency of the thermoelectric refrigerators including it

Keywords

cooling; heat sinks; refrigeration; thermal analysis; thermal resistance; thermoelectric devices; Fluent; computer simulation; condensation phenomenon; heat dissipation; heat dissipation optimisation; phase change element; refrigerant loads; thermal behaviour; thermal efficiency; thermal resistance; thermoelectric devices; thermoelectric refrigeration; vacuum pressures; Application software; Geometry; Heat transfer; Prototypes; Refrigeration; Resistance heating; Software prototyping; Thermal resistance; Thermoelectric devices; Thermoelectricity;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Thermoelectrics, 2001. Proceedings ICT 2001. XX International Conference on

Conference_Location

Beijing

ISSN

1094-2734

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7205-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICT.2001.979927

Filename

979927