International Journal of Energy Research

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Optimal flow layout and current allocation for improving the thermoelectric refrigeration system based on heat current method

Corresponding Author

Junhong Hao

[email protected]

orcid.org/0000-0002-5100-1391

Key Laboratory of Power Station Energy Transfer Conversion and System of Ministry of Education, School of Energy Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China

Correspondence

Junhong Hao, Key Laboratory of Power Station Energy Transfer Conversion and System of Ministry of Education, School of Energy Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China.

Email: [email protected]

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Zexin Chen,

Zexin Chen

Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

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Zhihua Ge,

Zhihua Ge

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Jian Sun,

Jian Sun

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Xiaoze Du,

Xiaoze Du

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Qun Chen,

Qun Chen

Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

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Junhong Hao,

Corresponding Author

Junhong Hao

[email protected]

orcid.org/0000-0002-5100-1391

Correspondence

Email: [email protected]

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Zexin Chen,

Zexin Chen

Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

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Zhihua Ge,

Zhihua Ge

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Jian Sun,

Jian Sun

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Xiaoze Du,

Xiaoze Du

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Qun Chen,

Qun Chen

Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

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First published: 01 October 2021

https://doi.org/10.1002/er.7347

Citations: 12

Funding information: Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 51821004; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Grant/Award Number: 2020MS010; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Numbers: 51806119, 51836004

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Summary

The integration analysis, modeling, and improvement of the multiple thermoelectric cooling components are significant for promoting thermoelectric cooling technology. Based on the heat current method, this paper studied a single thermoelectric cooling component and constructed its equivalent circuit model by integrating the coupled thermoelectric conduction and conversion processes with the convective heat transfer processes of both the hot side and cold side. The equivalent circuit model is used to build system-level energy transfer and conversion models of the thermoelectric refrigeration systems with parallel-flow, counter-flow, and cross-flow layouts. On this basis, the corresponding calculation process is provided by combining with the Gauss-Seidel Algorithm based on MATLAB software. The simulation results show that the cooling capacity and coefficient of performance under the counter-flow layout are the maximum, and the average end temperature difference is the minimum when the working current is uniform. Besides, the reasonable non-uniform working current allocation can effectively improve the cooling capacity of the thermoelectric refrigeration system by 6.6%, 32.3%, and 1.7%, respectively. Finally, experimental results verify that the proposed heat current model of the thermoelectric cooling unit is appropriate and feasible for modeling and improving the performance by counter-flow layout and non-uniform working current allocation.

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data available on request from the authors.

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Optimal flow layout and current allocation for improving the thermoelectric refrigeration system based on heat current method

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Optimal flow layout and current allocation for improving the thermoelectric refrigeration system based on heat current method

Summary

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