SBIR-STTR Award

As electronic devices become smaller, faster and more complex, their need for high heat dissipation turns into a pressing concern. Cumbersome cooling systems such as large heat sinks, forced air cooling and fluid cooling are impractical and need to be replaced by alternative, small size, light weight thermal management techniques. Particularly promising in this respect are thermoelectric modules due to their relatively light weight and potential for high heat dissipation. However, up to now, conventional thermoelectric materials and fabrication techniques have been costly and incapable of producing small size, high efficiency thermoelectric modules. This proposal suggests a novel set of composite thermoelectric materials as well as suitable designs that can be used to fabricate compact, high performance, light weight thermoelectric modules. The advantages of these novel thermoelectric materials are low cost, high productivity, low temperature process and capable of producing small size, high efficiency thermoelectric modules. These modules can be fabricated as individual thermoelectric modules as well as integrated into the electronic or other component that requires cooling to gain maximum effectiveness with minimum additional space. The fabrication techniques that will be used to fabricate high performance, compact thermoelectric modules are already established and will be modified for this application.

Keywords:
Thermoelectric Modules; Thermoelectric Materials; Heat Dissipation; Additive Process; Thermal Manag

Small size thermoelectric modules hold a lot of potential in thermal management applications such as power generation, cooling, and sensor applications. Conventional thermoelectric materials and fabrication techniques have been costly and incapable of producing small size, high efficiency modules. This proposal suggests a novel technology which includes the development of a novel set of thermoelectric composites and new fabrication techniques. The principal advantage of this technology is the capability of producing small size elements and modules with a multitude of couples. With a multitude of theroelectric couples in a small module, high performance can be expected. The feasibility of the proposed technology has been proven in the Phase I project. With the successful development in the Phase I project, the objective of Phase II is to improve the thermoelectric composite materials and engineering technologies for fabrication of smaller elements and high performance modules. Module design and fabrication techniques will be optimized to achieve the best performance possible from these thermoelectric materials. This proposed Phase II project has won a matching fund award from CalTIP program and generating great interest from industry.Anticipated Benefits/Commercial Applications: We anticipate development of a new set of materials for use in fabrication of compact thermoelectric modules. Markets include aerospace, military, automotive and protable electronic devices. The world market for thermal management devices is over $1 billion and expected to grow significantly.

Keywords:
Thermoelectric Modules, Heat Dissipation, Thermal Management, Thermoelectric Coolers, Thermoelectric