Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Transverse thermoelectric elements have the potential to decouple the electric current and the heat flow, which could lead to new designs of thermoelectric devices. While many theoretical and experimental studies of transverse thermoelectricity have focused on layered structures, this work examines composite materials with aligned fibrous inclusions. A simplified mathematical model was derived based on the Kirchhoff Circuit Laws (KCL), which were used to calculate the equivalent transport properties of the composite structures. These equivalent properties, including Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity, compared well with finite element analysis (FEA) results. Peltier cooling performance was also examined using FEA, which exhibited good agreement to KCL model predictions. In addition, a survey was conducted on selected combinations of thermoelectric materials and metals to rank their transverse thermoelectricity with respect to the dimensionless figure of merit.
Source: Energies
DOI: 10.3390/en10071006
Authors: Bosen Qian, Fei Ren
Institution: Temple University
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,137
Funder: Temple University
OpenAlex ID: W2735333824