Thermoelectric performance model development and validation for a selection and design tool

Abstract

A thermal model has been developed to simulate the performance of thermoelectric cooling for two avionics scenarios, where utilizing commercial off the shelf (COTS) components is highly desirable. Modeling predictions were validated through a series of experiments which studied the two scenarios at varying heat loads and heat sink thermal resistances. In these experiments, component temperatures were shown to be reduced by up to 15% with the addition of a thermoelectric cooler. Furthermore, in both scenarios, the model predicted the temperature of the cooled components within 3-10% accuracy. Further development of the model could result in a tool, which is not currently available, for optimizing system performance and determining the applicability of thermoelectric cooling in a given scenario.