(Elsevier, 2016) Martínez Echeverri, Álvaro; Astrain Ulibarrena, David; Aranguren Garacochea, Patricia; Ingeniería Mecánica, Energética y de Materiales; Mekanika, Energetika eta Materialen Ingeniaritza
Thermoelectric self-cooling was firstly conceived to increase, without electricity consumption, the
cooling power of passive cooling systems. This paper studies the combination of heat pipe exchangers
and thermoelectric self-cooling, and demonstrates its applicability to the cooling of power electronics.
Experimental tests indicate that source-to-ambient thermal resistance reduces by around 30% when
thermoelectric self-cooling system is installed, compared to that of the heat pipe exchanger under
natural convection. Neither additional electric power nor cooling fluids are required. This thermal
resistance reaches 0.346 K/W for a heat flux of 24.1 kW/m2, being one order of magnitude lower than
that obtained in previous designs. In addition, the system adapts to the cooling demand, reducing this
thermal resistance for increasing heat.
Simulation tests have indicated that simple system modifications allow relevant improvements in the
cooling power. Replacement of a thermoelectric module with a thermal bridge leads to 33.54 kW/m2 of
top cooling power. Likewise, thermoelectric modules with shorter legs and higher number of pairs lead
to a top cooling power of 44.17 kW/m2. These results demonstrate the applicability of thermoelectric
self-cooling to power electronics.
