Thermoelectric Cooling: The Thomson Effect in Hybrid Two- Stage Thermoelectric Cooler Systems with Different Leg Geometric Shapes

Abstract

This chapter aims to analyse the performance of hybrid two-stage thermoelectric cooler systems [two-stage thermoelectric cooling devices (TEC)], which are composed of different thermoelectric materials in each stage with different leg geometric shapes. If we consider a temperature gradient inside a two-stage TEC, then, besides Joule heat, also Thomson heat has to be taken into account. We discuss the out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics equations of a one-dimensional model to provide the performance expressions that govern the system. TEC system performance is analysed in function of the Thomson coefficients ratio of both stages. We describe a recent geometric optimization procedure that includes leg geometry parameters such as ratio of cross-sectional area and length of legs for each stage of the two-stage TEC.