驱动电源对热电模块制冷性能的影响

Impact of Driving Power on Refrigeration Performance of Thermoelectric Modules

在热电制冷系统实际工作过程中,冷热端温差引起的Seebeck电压会抵消部分输入电源。热电模块的理论研究通常以电流为研究变量,并忽略Seebeck电压的影响。但热电产品在实际过程中通常选用直流电压源进行工作。因此,研究驱动电源对热电模块制冷性能的影响是非常重要的。本文以商用热电模块(TEC1-12706)为研究对象,利用MATLAB模拟计算其在不同驱动电源下分别对应的最小冷端温度、最大冷热端温差和相应电压或电流随热阻变化的关系,并设计实验进行验证。结果表明,在理想情况下不同驱动电源对于热电制冷性能无影响;但在实际情况下,不同驱动电源在达到相同制冷能力时对应了不同的电压/电流,冷热端最大温差随热阻增大而减小。热电产品温度控制系统应根据输入电源的不同而变化,为热电模块选择合适的电源提供了方案。

In the actual operation of the thermoelectric refrigeration system, the Seebeck voltage caused by the temperature difference between the hot and cold ends will counteract part of the input power. Theoretical studies of thermoelectric modules usually use current as the research variable and ignore the effect of Seebeck voltage. However, in the actual process, thermoelectric products usually use a DC voltage source to work. Therefore, it is very important to study the influence of driving power on the Refrigeration Performance of Thermoelectric Modules. In the present study, a commercial thermoelectric module（TEC1-12706） is taken as the research object, and MATLAB is used to simulate the corresponding minimum cold side temperature, maximum temperature difference and the corresponding voltage or current variation with thermal resistance under different driving power. The experiment for verification is designed. The results show that, under ideal conditions, different driving power sources have no effect on thermoelectric refrigeration performance; while under actual conditions, different drive power supplies correspond to different voltages/currents when they reach the same cooling capacity, and the maximum temperature difference decreases as thermal resistance increases. The thermoelectric product temperature control system should be changed according to the input power supply, providing a scheme for selecting the appropriate power supplied for the thermoelectric module.