Development of a model for predicting the reliability indicators in the design of cascade thermoelectric coolers

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2017.99988

Keywords:

thermoelectric coolers, reliability indicators, temperature differential, energy efficiency

Abstract

Here we report a development of the reliability-oriented model, which makes it possible to evaluate the efficiency of functioning and to predict indicators of reliability of a two-cascade thermoelectric cooler.

The model is proposed for the interrelation between indicators of reliability of two-cascade thermoelectric coolers at sequential electrical connection of cascades and basic parameters under the mode of maximum refrigeration coefficient. The relations onbtained allow us to estimate both the basic parameters and the indicators of reliability, in particular: the failure rate and the probability of failure-free operation of the chosen variant of design of a two-cascade thermoelectric cooler at the specified ratio of the number of thermoelements in the cascades and the assigned temperature differential.

It is demonstrated that by manipulating the operating current and the ratio of the number of thermoelements in the cascades of a cooler in the range of functioning temperatures, it is possible to determine the conditions, which correspond to the maximum of refrigeration coefficient. We obtained an analytical dependence of the relation between relative failure rate and the number of thermoelements in the cascades, thermal load, operating currents and the values of temperatures.

We examined the model for a fixed geometry of thermoelements, working range of temperature differential at the variation in the relation of the number of thermoelements in the cascades of a thermoelectric cooler. An analysis of the calculated data revealed that there is an optimum relation of the number of elements in the cascades, which corresponds to the maximum of refrigeration coefficient at the assigned temperature differential. In the point of the maximum of refrigeration coefficient there is the equality between values of relative drop in temperature and the refrigeration coefficients in cascades.

The given data make it possible to estimate the efficiency of functioning and to predict reliability indicators of a two-cascade TED of the chosen design under the mode Emax under different operating conditions.

Author Biographies

Vladimir Zaykov, Research Institute “STORM” Tereshkova str., 27, Odessa, Ukraine, 65076

PhD, Head of Sector

Vladimir Mescheryakov, Odessa State Environmental University Lvivska str., 15, Odessa, Ukraine, 65016

Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Head of Department

Department of Informatics

Yurii Zhuravlov, National university “Odessa maritime academy” Didrikhsona str., 8, Odessa, Ukraine, 65029

PhD, Senior Lecturer

Department of technology of materials and ship repair

References

  1. Bell, L. E. (2008). Cooling, Heating, Generating Power, and Recovering Waste Heat with Thermoelectric Systems. Science, 321 (5895), 1457–1461. doi: 10.1126/science.1158899
  2. Jurgensmeyer, A. L. (2011). High Efficiency Thermoelectric Devices Fabricated Using Quantum Well Confinement Technique. Colorado, 59.
  3. Rowe, D. M. (Ed.) (2012). Materials, Preparation and Characterization in Thermoelectrics. Thermoelectrics and its Energy Harvesting. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1120. doi: 10.1201/b11891
  4. Simkin, A. V., Biryukov, A. V., Repnikov, N. I., Ivanov, O. N. (2013). Thermoelectric efficiency of low –temperature generator materials and the possibility of it's increasing. Journal of nano – and electronic Physics, 5 (4 (2)), 04070–04071.
  5. Brown, S. R., Kauzlarich, S. M., Gascoin, F., Snyder, G. J. (2006). Yb14MnSb11: New High Efficiency Thermoelectric Material for Power Generation. Chemistry of Materials, 18 (7), 1873–1877. doi: 10.1021/cm060261t
  6. Sootsman, J. R., Chung, D. Y., Kanatzidis, M. G. (2009). New and Old Concepts in Thermoelectric Materials. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 48 (46), 8616–8639. doi: 10.1002/anie.200900598
  7. Zebarjadi, M., Esfarjani, K., Dresselhaus, M. S., Ren, Z. F., Chen, G. (2012). Perspectives on thermoelectrics: from fundamentals to device applications. Energy Environ. Sci., 5 (1), 5147–5162. doi: 10.1039/c1ee02497c
  8. Choi, H.-S., Seo, W.-S., Choi, D.-K. (2011). Prediction of reliability on thermoelectric module through accelerated life test and Physics-of-failure. Electronic Materials Letters, 7 (3), 271–275. doi: 10.1007/s13391-011-0917-x
  9. Wereszczak, A. A., Wang, H. (2011). Thermoelectric Mechanical Reliability. Vehicle Technologies Annual Merit Reviewand Peer Evaluation Meeting. Arlington, 18.
  10. Singh, R. (2008). Experimental Characterization of Thin Film Thermoelectric Materials and Film Deposition VIA Molecular Beam Epitaxy. University of California, 54.
  11. Nesterov, S. B., Kholopkin, A. I. (2014). Evaluation of the possibility of increasing the thermoelectric quality of nanostructured semiconductor materials for refrigeration equipment. Refrigerating Technique, 5, 40–43.
  12. Gromov, G. (2014). Volumetric or thin –film thermoelectric modules. Components and Technologies, 9, 38.
  13. Market of thermoelectric modules. Analytical review (2009). Moscow: RosBusinessConsulting, 92.
  14. Zaikov, V. P., Meshcheryakov, V. I., Gnatovskaya, A. A., Gnatovskaya, A. A. (2015). Influence of the effectiveness of raw materials on the reliability of thermoelectric cooling devices. Part I: single-stage TEDs. Tekhnologiya i konstruirovanie v ehlektronnoj apparature, 1, 44–48. doi: 10.15222/tkea2015.1.44
  15. Zaikov, V. P., Meshcheryakov, V. I., Zhuravlev, Yu. I. (2015). Analysis of reliability improvement possibilities of thermoelectric cooling devices. Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, 4 (8 (76)), 17–25. doi: 10.15587/1729-4061.2015.46553
  16. Zaykov, V. P., Kirshova, L. A., Moiseev, V. F. (2009). Prediction of reliability on thermoelectric cooling devices. Kn. 1. Single -stage devices. Odessa: Politehperiodika, 118.

Downloads

Published

2017-04-29

How to Cite

Zaykov, V., Mescheryakov, V., & Zhuravlov, Y. (2017). Development of a model for predicting the reliability indicators in the design of cascade thermoelectric coolers. Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, 2(8 (86), 52–60. https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2017.99988

Issue

Section

Energy-saving technologies and equipment