Thermoelectric elements

Lead Telluride. Lead teUuride [1314-91 -6] PbTe, forms white cubic crystals, mol wt 334.79, sp gr 8.16, and has a hardness of 3 on the Mohs scale. It is very slightly soluble in water, melts at 917°C, and is prepared by melting lead and tellurium together. Lead teUuride has semiconductive and photoconductive properties. It is used in pyrometry, in heat-sensing instmments such as bolometers and infrared spectroscopes (see Infrared technology AND RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY), and in thermoelectric elements to convert heat directly to electricity (33,34,83). Lead teUuride is also used in catalysts for oxygen reduction in fuel ceUs (qv) (84), as cathodes in primary batteries with lithium anodes (85), in electrical contacts for vacuum switches (86), in lead-ion selective electrodes (87), in tunable lasers (qv) (88), and in thermistors (89). 

Apart from g Pu, which is a nuclear fuel and explosive, the transuranium elements have in the past been produced mainly for research purposes. A number of specialized applications, however, have led to more widespread uses. I Pu (produced by neutron bombardment of I Np to form 93 Np which decays by jS-emission to 94Pu) is a compact heat source (0.56 Wg as it decays by a-emission) which, in conjunction with PbTe thermoelectric elements, for instance, provides a stable and totally reliable source of electricity with no moving parts. It has been... 

Tittes K, Plieth W (2007) Electrochemical deposition of ternary and binary systems from an alkaline electrolyte—a demanding way for manufacturing p-doped bismuth and antimony teUurides for the use in thermoelectric elements. J Solid State Electrochem 11 155-164... 

The silver white, shiny, metal-like semiconductor is considered a semimetal. The atomic weight is greater than that of the following neighbor (iodine), because tellurium isotopes are neutron-rich (compare Ar/K). Its main use is in alloys, as the addition of small amounts considerably improves properties such as hardness and corrosion resistance. New applications of tellurium include optoelectronics (lasers), electrical resistors, thermoelectric elements (a current gives rise to a temperature gradient), photocopier drums, infrared cameras, and solar cells. Tellurium accelerates the vulcanization of rubber. 

Calvet and Guillaud (S3) noted in 1965 that in order to increase the sensitivity of a heat-flow microcalorimeter, thermoelectric elements with a high factor of merit must be used. (The factor of merit / is defined by the relation / = e2/pc, where e is the thermoelectric power of the element, p its electrical resistivity, and c its thermal conductivity.) They remarked that the factor of merit of thermoelements constructed with semiconductors (doped bismuth tellurides usually) is approximately 19 times greater than the factor of merit of chromel-to-constantan thermocouples. They described a Calvet-type microcalorimeter in which 195 semiconducting thermoelements were used instead of the usual thermoelectric pile. 

Fig. 5. The Petit microcalorimeter (31) vertical axles (A and A2) mobile arms (Bi-B3) flux-meter holders (C1-C3) cell guide (D) thermoelectric element (E) cell-positioning block (F) top and bottom flanges (Gi and G2) portholes (Jj and J2) and springs (R). 

In this microcalorimeter, the heat sink is not a massive metal block but is divided into several parts which are mobile with respect to each other. Each thermoelectric element (E) and a cell guide (D) are affixed to a fluxmeter holder (C). The holder (C) is mobile with respect to a massive arm (B) which, in turn, rotates around a vertical axle (A). All parts of the heat sink are made of brass. Surfaces in contact are lubricated by silicone grease. Four thermoelectric elements (E) are mounted in this fashion. They enclose two parallelepipedic calorimetric cells, which can be made of glass (cells for the spectrography of liquids are particularly convenient) or of metal (in this case, the electrical insulation is provided by a very thin sheet of mica). The thermoelectric elements surrounding both cells are connected differentially, the Petit microcalorimeter being thus a twin differential calorimeter. 

The purpose of the particular arrangement of the heat sink in the Petit microcalorimeter is to ensure an excellent and reproducible contact, at any temperature, between the surface of the thermoelectric elements and the outside walls of the calorimetric cells (31) and, moreover, to avoid... 

It is clear that in this microcalorimeter, only a fraction of the outside wrall of the inner vessel is covered by thermoelectric elements. Consequently, only a part of the total heat flux emitted by the cell is detected. This may be the cause of a systematic error which, however, can be avoided if the heat transfer via the thermoelectric elements constitutes a constant fraction of the total, irrespective of the process taking place in the calorimeter cell. The present version of the Petit microcalorimeter can be used only at moderate temperatures (<100°C), mainly because some components of the thermoelectric elements wrould be damaged at higher temperatures. 

Calorimeter Ref. Thermoelectric element Temp, range (°C) Intrinsic sensitivity11 frV/mff) ... 

The intrinsic sensitivity of a heat-flow calorimeter is defined as the value of the steady emf that is produced by the thermoelectric elements when a unit of thermal power is dissipated continuously in the active cell of the calorimeter 38). In the case of microcalorimeters, it is conveniently expressed in microvolts per milliwatt (juV/mW). This ratio, which is characteristic of the calorimeter itself, is particularly useful for comparison purposes. Typical values for the intrinsic sensitivity of the microcalorimeters that have been described in this section are collected in Table I, together with the temperature ranges in which these instruments may be utilized. The intrinsic sensitivity has, however, very little practical importance, since it yields no indication of the maximum amplification that may be applied to the emf generated by the thermoelements without developing excessive noise in the indicating device. 

As already indicated, Tian s equation supposes (1) that the temperature of the external boundary of the thermoelectric element 8e, and consequently of the heat sink, remains constant and (2) that the temperature Oi of the inner cell is uniform at all times. The first condition is reasonably well satisfied when the heat capacity of the heat sink is large and when the rate of the heat flux is small enough to avoid the accumulation of heat at the external boundary. The second condition, however, is physically impossible to satisfy since any heat evolution necessarily produces heat flows and temperature gradients. It is only in the case of slow thermal phenomena that the second condition underlying Tian s equation is approximately valid, i.e., that temperature gradients within the inner cell are low enough to be neglected. The evolution of many thermal phenomena is indeed slow with respect to the time constant of heat-flow calorimeters (Table II) and, in numerous cases, it has been shown that the Tian equation is valid (16). 

The temperature gap (AT) between the two flows is chosen as the controlling parameter it determines both the enthalpy feed and the Carnot efficiency of the thermoelectric element. The value of AT is related to the heat exchanger efficiency Tiexc or e-NTU (normal thermal unit), the ratio of the heat exchanged to the total exchangeable heat. This relationship comes from the definition of e-NTU for the exchanger efficiency and, in this specific case, it has the following form [16] ... 

Zhou et al. [175] described the determination of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus by a microfluidic chip system. The unit included an LIF microfluidic chip analyzer, a glass microchip for both PCR and capillary electrophoresis, a chip thermal cycler based on dual Peltier thermoelectric elements, a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) SARS diagnostic kit, and a DNA electrophoretic sizing kit. According to the authors, the system allowed efficient DNA amplification of the SARS coronavirus followed by electrophoretic sizing and detection on the same chip. 

Pig.l Integrated FGM thermoelectric element using the conventional material... 

Experimental Research on FGM Thermoelectric Elements 3.1. Dopant concentration graded FGM... 

Basic research on the composition graded FGM thermoelectric element based on p-type Bi-Sh-Te has been carried out by Electrotechnical Laboratory, AIST, MIT I 4. In the e3q)eriment p-type (Bi2Te3)i-Y(Sb2Te3)Y elements were prepared by PIES (Pulverized and Intermixing... 

At the present research phase, it can be said that the approach on FGM for thermoelectricity has been classified and the experiments on multi-staged paded FGM thermoelectric elements have been carried out to verify the FGM concept by using the conventional material. ... 

It is the most important to develop processing methods for more efi dent FGM thermoelectric element over a wide temperature range including the processing methods for a continuously paded FGM element. 

Hence, it probably causes the deterioration of thennodectiic performance of FGM element at hi temperature range. However, such a situation is usual for a thermoelectiic device which has the jimction between thermoelectric element and electrode or the junction between n lype thermoelectric element and p type one. The durability for Si-Ge device and Pb-Te one has been already established at hi temperature range 7. Such an experience can be apphed to the constitution of FGM thermoelectric element. 

Another technological problem on FGM thermoelectric element is concerned with the operation of thermoelectric devices. That is, the performance at the off-design operating conditions should be considered,... 

The FGM effect on the thermoelectric energy conversion efiGdency was estimated to get 23.3% for the temperature range firom 300K to 1400K, twice of single thermoelectric element such as Si-Ge. 

The experiments on several kinds of FGM approaches were introduced to verify the usefidness of FGM thermoelectric element. 

The several technological problems on FGM thermoelectric element are discussed. In particular, the approaches for the durability of FGM structure are proposed to suggest the direction of basic research on FGM technology. 

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