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Thermoelectric Cooling
Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux at the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other, with consumption of electrical energy, depending on the direction of the current. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and occasionally a thermoelectric battery. It can be used either for heating or for cooling, although in practice the main application is cooling. It can also be used as a temperature controller that either heats or cools. This technology is far less commonly applied to refrigeration than vapor-compression refrigeration is. The primary advantages of a Peltier cooler compared to a vapor-compression refrigerator are its lack of moving parts or circulating liquid, very long life, invulnerability to leaks, smal ...
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Peltier Effect
The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa via a thermocouple. A thermoelectric device creates a voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when a voltage is applied to it, heat is transferred from one side to the other, creating a temperature difference. At the atomic scale, an applied temperature gradient causes charge carriers in the material to diffuse from the hot side to the cold side. This effect can be used to generate electricity, measure temperature or change the temperature of objects. Because the direction of heating and cooling is affected by the applied voltage, thermoelectric devices can be used as temperature controllers. The term "thermoelectric effect" encompasses three separately identified effects: the Seebeck effect, Peltier effect, and Thomson effect. The Seebeck and Peltier effects are different manifestations of the same physical process; textbooks may re ...
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Figure Of Merit
A figure of merit is a quantity used to characterize the performance of a device, system or method, relative to its alternatives. Examples *Clock rate of a CPU *Calories per serving *Contrast ratio of an LCD *Frequency response of a speaker * Fill factor of a solar cell * Resolution of the image sensor in a digital camera *Measure of the detection performance of a sonar system, defined as the propagation loss for which a 50% detection probability is achieved * Noise figure of a radio receiver *The thermoelectric figure of merit, ''zT'', a material constant proportional to the efficiency of a thermoelectric couple made with the material *The figure of merit of digital-to-analog converter, calculated as (power dissipation)/(2ENOB × effective bandwidth) /Hz* Luminous efficacy of lighting *Profit of a company *Residual noise remaining after compensation in an aeromagnetic survey *Battery life of a laptop computer
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Heat Sink
A heat sink (also commonly spelled heatsink) is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant, where it is dissipated away from the device, thereby allowing regulation of the device's temperature. In computers, heat sinks are used to cool CPUs, GPUs, and some chipsets and RAM modules. Heat sinks are used with high-power semiconductor devices such as power transistors and optoelectronics such as lasers and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), where the heat dissipation ability of the component itself is insufficient to moderate its temperature. A heat sink is designed to maximize its surface area in contact with the cooling medium surrounding it, such as the air. Air velocity, choice of material, protrusion design and surface treatment are factors that affect the performance of a heat sink. Heat sink attachment methods and thermal interface materials also affect the die temperature o ...
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Heat Exchanger
A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contact. They are widely used in space heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, power stations, chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, natural-gas processing, and sewage treatment. The classic example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine in which a circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows past the coils, which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air. Another example is the heat sink, which is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant. Flow arrangement Image:Heat_exc_1-1.svg, Fig. 1: Shell and tube heat exchanger, single pass (1 ...
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Global Warming Potential
Global warming potential (GWP) is the heat absorbed by any greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, as a multiple of the heat that would be absorbed by the same mass of carbon dioxide (). GWP is 1 for . For other gases it depends on the gas and the time frame. Carbon dioxide equivalent (e or eq or -e) is calculated from GWP. For any gas, it is the mass of that would warm the earth as much as the mass of that gas. Thus it provides a common scale for measuring the climate effects of different gases. It is calculated as GWP times mass of the other gas. Methane has GWP (over 100 years) of 27.9 meaning that, for example, a leak of a tonne of methane is equivalent to emitting 27.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Similarly a tonne of nitrous oxide, from manure for example, is equivalent to 273 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Values Carbon dioxide is the reference. It has a GWP of 1 regardless of the time period used. emissions cause increases in atmospheric concentrations of that will last thousan ...
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Ozone Depletion
Ozone depletion consists of two related events observed since the late 1970s: a steady lowering of about four percent in the total amount of ozone in Earth's atmosphere, and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone (the ozone layer) around Earth's polar regions. The latter phenomenon is referred to as the ozone hole. There are also springtime polar tropospheric ozone depletion events in addition to these stratospheric events. The main causes of ozone depletion and the ozone hole are manufactured chemicals, especially manufactured halocarbon refrigerants, solvents, propellants, and foam-blowing agents (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, halons), referred to as ozone-depleting substances (ODS). These compounds are transported into the stratosphere by turbulent mixing after being emitted from the surface, mixing much faster than the molecules can settle. Once in the stratosphere, they release atoms from the halogen group through photodissociation, which catal ...
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Chlorofluorocarbons
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F), produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, and propane. They are also commonly known by the DuPont brand name Freon. The most common representative is dichlorodifluoromethane (R-12 or Freon-12). Many CFCs have been widely used as refrigerants, propellants (in aerosol applications), and solvents. Because CFCs contribute to ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere, the manufacture of such compounds has been phased out under the Montreal Protocol, and they are being replaced with other products such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) including R-410A and R-134a. Structure, properties and production As in simpler alkanes, carbon in the CFCs bond with tetrahedral symmetry. Because the fluorine and chlorine atoms differ greatly in size and effective charge from hydrogen and from each other, the m ...
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Refrigerants
A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Refrigerants are heavily regulated due to their toxicity, flammability and the contribution of CFC and HCFC refrigerants to ozone depletion and that of HFC refrigerants to climate change. Refrigerants are used in a Direct Expansion (DX) system to transfer energy from one environment to another, typically from inside a building to outside (or vice versa) commonly known as an "air conditioner" or "heat pump". Refrigerants can carry per kg 10 times more energy than water and 50 times more than air. Refrigerants are controlled substances due to 1) High Pressures (100-145 psi), 2) Extreme temperatures (-50°C to 145°C), 3) Flammability A1 class non-flammable, A2/A2L class flammable & A3 class extremely flammable/explosive and 4) Toxicity B1-low, B2-medium & B3-high, as classi ...
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Peltier IDs Explained
Peltier is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Autumn Peltier (born 2004), climate activist * Harvey Peltier, Jr. (1923-1980), American politician *Harvey Peltier, Sr. (1899-1977), American politician *Jean Charles Athanase Peltier (1785–1845), French physicist, documented the Peltier effect *Lee Peltier (born 1986), English football player *Leonard Peltier (born 1944), Native American activist who was convicted of the murder of two FBI Agents *Leslie Peltier (1900–1980), American astronomer *Thérèse Peltier (1873–1926), French sculptor and aviator * William Richard Peltier (born 1943), University of Toronto professor and physicist See also * Pelletier * Peltier effect, in physics ** Peltier device Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux at the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side o ..., ...
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Bismuth Antimonide
Bismuth antimonides, Bismuth-antimonys, or Bismuth-antimony alloys, (Bi1−''x''Sb''x'') are binary alloys of bismuth and antimony in various ratios. Some, in particular Bi0.9Sb0.1, were the first experimentally-observed three-dimensional topological insulators, materials that have conducting surface states but have an insulating interior. Various BiSb alloys also superconduct at low temperatures, are semiconductors, and are used in thermoelectric devices. Bismuth antimonide itself (see box to right) is sometimes described as Bi2Sb2. Synthesis Crystals of bismuth antimonides are synthesized by melting bismuth and antimony together under inert gas or vacuum. Zone melting is used to decrease the concentration of impurities. When synthesizing single crystals of bismuth antimonides, it is important that impurities are removed from the samples, as oxidation occurring at the impurities leads to polycrystalline growth. Properties Topological Insulator Pure bismuth is a semim ...
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Silicon–germanium
SiGe ( or ), or silicon–germanium, is an alloy with any molar ratio of silicon and germanium, i.e. with a molecular formula of the form Si1−''x''Ge''x''. It is commonly used as a semiconductor material in integrated circuits (ICs) for heterojunction bipolar transistors or as a strain-inducing layer for CMOS transistors. IBM introduced the technology into mainstream manufacturing in 1989. This relatively new technology offers opportunities in mixed-signal circuit and analog circuit IC design and manufacture. SiGe is also used as a thermoelectric material for high-temperature applications (>700 K). Production The use of silicon–germanium as a semiconductor was championed by Bernie Meyerson. The challenge that had delayed its realization for decades was that Germanium atoms are roughly 4% larger than Silicon atoms. At the usual high temperatures at which silicon transistors were fabricated, the strain induced by adding these larger atoms into crystalline silicon pr ...
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Lead Telluride
Lead telluride is a compound of lead and tellurium (PbTe). It crystallizes in the NaCl crystal structure with Pb atoms occupying the cation and Te forming the anionic lattice. It is a narrow gap semiconductor with a band gap of 0.32 eV. It occurs naturally as the mineral altaite. Properties * Dielectric constant ~1000. * Electron Effective mass ~ 0.01 ''m''e * Hole mobility, μp = 600 cm2 V−1 s−1 (0 K); 4000 cm2 V−1 s−1 (300 K) Applications PbTe has proven to be a very important intermediate thermoelectric material. The performance of thermoelectric materials can be evaluated by the figure of merit, ZT=S^2\sigma T/\kappa, in which S is the Seebeck coefficient, \sigma is the electrical conductivity and \kappa is the thermal conductivity. In order to improve the thermoelectric performance of materials, the power factor (S^2\sigma) needs to be maximized and the thermal conductivity needs to be minimized. ...
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