Research on the dynamic performance testing of thermoelectric coolers at high temperature

Currently, research on thermoelectric coolers (TECs) mainly focuses on the optimization of materials and structures, while there is little research that was paid attention on their thermal performance under high temperature conditions. This paper aims to elucidate the thermal performance of TECs by establishing a test platform for evaluating their dynamic performance at high temperature. Experiments were conducted under various conditions, including fixed cooling power, constant temperature difference, fixed cold-side temperature, and fixed hot-side temperature. The results indicate that when TECs are used for thermal management of low-power heat-generating devices and the temperature difference is small, the measured coefficient of performance (COP) of the TECs could be larger than 2.5. The energy efficiency ratio of the thermoelectric cooler prototype varies in a cameblack shape as the working current of the thermoelectric cooler increase. As the operating temperature difference of the TECs increases, there is a notable decline in their cooling efficiency ratio. Furthermore, the operating current corresponding to the TECs’ optimal efficiency point also rises as the working temperature difference increases. These results suggest that TECs are more suitable for thermal management of device-level applications characterized by minimal temperature differences and low heat loads. In practical application, the appropriate thermal management conditions should be selected based on the characteristics of the thermoelectric cooler to harness its high-efficiency performance.