New Physical Interpretation of Thermoelectric Cooling in Semiconductor Structures

Nontraditional approach to explain the thermoelectric cooling is suggested . It is based on the Le Chatelier-Braun thermodynamic principle. New effect of cooling and heating of junction of two materials (barrierlessthermoelectric cooling) is theoretically predicted, and this effect is different from...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: José del Rio Valdés, G. N. Logvinov, Yu. G. Gurevich
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2006
País:México
Institución:Instituto Politécnico Nacional
Repositorio:Redalyc-IPN
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:46436541
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=46436541
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Física, Astronomía y Matemáticas
Thermoelectricity
Thermoelectric cooling
Descripción
Sumario:Nontraditional approach to explain the thermoelectric cooling is suggested . It is based on the Le Chatelier-Braun thermodynamic principle. New effect of cooling and heating of junction of two materials (barrierlessthermoelectric cooling) is theoretically predicted, and this effect is different from the Peltier effect (barrierthermoelectric cooling). The suggested thermoelectric effect must be displayed always at the finite values ofthe junction surface heat conductivity h. Barrierless thermoelectric effect occurs even in the case when theconducting materials are identical with the same Peltier coefficients. It is shown that both barrier and barrierlessthermoelectric cooling effects always exist simultaneously in the general case. The reasons proving reversibilityof the thermoelectric cooling process are resulted.