ANALYSIS OF THE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS OF A MINIATURE THERMOELECTRIC MODULE FOR SHIPBOARD POWER AND NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

Abstract

This work presents the design of a thermoelectric module for ship power and navigation systems based on the TES1-01703 module. Mathematical equations are presented for analyzing the operational characteristics of the module during electrical, thermal and mechanical processes. A computer-aided design (CAD) system is used to design the geometry of the thermoelectric module, and a specialized finite element analysis software environment is used to calculate the main operational characteristics. The designed thermoelectric module has overall dimensions of 15×15×4.2 mm, it contains 18 P-type semiconductors and 18 N-type semiconductors, 37 metal interconnect plates. Based on this, a thermoelectric circuit of 35 contact connections between semiconductors, which form 18 thermoelectric pairs, was created. The overall dimensions of the active zone of the designed thermoelectric module (U-shaped circuit) are 12×12×2.6 mm. The calculation was performed numerically with selected boundary conditions for the electrical, thermal and mechanical parts. In the model, the module is cooled by forced convection using a fan cooling method at a heat transfer coefficient h=50 W/(m²·K) and a convection temperature t_amb=25 °C. Using computer simulation, the distribution of the main parameters of the model at a current of 3.3 A was obtained. These parameters include electric voltage, temperature, electric current density, electric field strength, Joule heating, heat flux density, mechanical stresses and deformations. During the simulation, areas were identified where temperature, mechanical stresses and deformations have increased values. Also, graphs of the dependences of operating parameters on the current when it changes from 0 to 3.5 A were constructed. These graphs show how the electric voltage, temperature, current density, electric field strength, Joule heating, heat flux density, mechanical stresses and deformations change with increasing current. Analysis of the obtained data allowed us to establish the nonlinear nature of the dependences of operating parameters on the current. The limit operating modes of the module were determined, at which its efficiency, thermal stability and mechanical reliability as part of ship systems are ensured