New technology for thermoelectric cooling

Abstract

Thermoelectric coolers in use today have a coefficient of performance (COP) of only about 0.5. This compares to COPS of larger scale machines, such as air conditioners and refrigerators at levels of 3.0 to 5.0. For electronic component cooling there is a new thermoelectric technology emerging for improved efficiency. This paper discusses this new technology which is multi-layer quantum well (MLQW) thermoelectrics, that should increase by four or five times the COP of present thermoelectric coolers used in electronic cooling applications. It also details and updates the experimental work in MLQW thermoelectric materials and will detail the supporting analysis of the predicted higher performance cooling. A specific example of an electronic cooling module configuration is presented.