Determination of Electrical Contact Resistivity in Thermoelectric Modules (TEMs) from Module-Level Measurements
Date of this Version
4-2012Citation
Determination of Electrical Contact Resistivity in Thermoelectric Modules (TEMs) From Module-Level Measurements S. Ravi Annapragada; Todd Salamon; Paul Kolodner; Marc Hodes; Suresh V. Garimella. IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Year: 2012, Volume: 2, Issue: 4 Pages: 668 - 676, DOI: 10.1109/TCPMT.2012.2183595
Abstract
An experimental apparatus was developed to characterize the performance of a thermoelectric module (TEM) and heat sink assembly when the TEM was operated in refrigeration mode. A numerical model was developed to simulate the experiments. Bulk and interfacial Ohmic heating, the Peltier effect, Thomson effect and temperature-dependent bulk material properties, i.e., Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity were considered. A novel, self-consistent characterization methodology was developed to obtain the electrical contact resistivity at the interconnects in a TEM from the numerical simulations and the experiments. The electrical contact resistivity of the module tested was determined to be approximately 1.0 x 10(-9) Omega m(2). The predictions are consistent with electrical contact resistivity obtained based on the performance specifications (Delta T-max) of the TEM.
Discipline(s)
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology