Thermoelectric modules are an important alternative to heat engines in the harvesting of waste heat. Electrical-thermal analogues are often employed when studying heat conduction and this analogue can be extended to develop an equivalent circuit for thermoelectric effects. For the primarily one-dimensional problem of thermoelectricity, the equations can be discretized to create a simple mathematical model. In this document, such a model is developed from first principles and show that the electro-thermal coupling is properly in- corporated. The results of simulations using the model are then presented and validated experimentally. Furthermore, in one possible application of thermoelectric modules, a self-contained cooling unit with an integrated thermoelectric generator is designed. By performing fluid dynamics simulations on a fan and heat sink model, the geometry and operating conditions can be optimized and the start-up and transient characteristics are studied.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/31648 |
| Date | 04 January 2012 |
| Creators | Yan, David |
| Contributors | Dawson, Francis P., Pugh, Mary C. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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