Thermoelectric Simulation Using Comsol Multiphysics and Analysis of Contact Resistances Effects

Published in: Proceedings of the 13th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology: Engineering Education Facing the Grand Challenges, What Are We Doing?
Date of Conference: July 29 - 31, 2015
Location of Conference: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Authors: Miguel A. Ramírez
Eduardo E. Castillo
Refereed Paper: #170

Abstract:

The objectives of this work were to develop a simulation of the thermoelectric transport phenomena in a device leg, and to study the effects of the thermal and electrical contact resistances on the temperature difference across the leg. For this simulation Comsol, a finite element software, was used. The results showed that as the thermal resistance between the sample and the electrode increases the temperature difference increases, improving the performance of the device. Changes in electrical contact resistance showed no effect on the temperature difference in the sample; future works will investigate this behavior. The temperature difference was compared with the results of a previous work. Results were found to be in good agreement for low current values, but not for high ones. This difference could be due to the Joule heating effect or to the use of different properties in both works. The results of this work will be extended to model more complex systems, like cooling electronics devices, by using a thermoelectric module or solar-thermoelectric power generation.

Keywords—Thermoelectrics, Peltier device, Comsol.