Transient thermo-mechanical characteristic of segmented thermoelectric cooler for hot-spot thermal management

Thermal shock, leg design, and current profile may also affect the transient performance and reliability of a segmented thermoelectric cooler (STEC), but it has not yet been studied. Hence, this study conducts a detailed 3-D transient analysis of STEC with two distinct leg geometries: square and circular cross-sections. Effects of various operational conditions, including pulse current profiles, segment leg ratios, and thermal shock scenarios, on the transient supercooling, coefficient of performance and thermal stress of STEC are investigated. The results indicate that the quadratic current pulse demonstrated the best cooling performance among the tested current pulse shapes, achieving temperature reductions of 5.3 K for squareleg and 6.1 K for circular-leg configurations compared to the steady-state minimum temperatures at optimal current. Additionally, the analysis highlights the influence of segment leg ratios, with a hot-side to cold-side segment length ratio of 7:3 showing improved thermal performance by achieving reduced cold-side temperature. Under thermal shock conditions, higher-power current pulses effectively minimized peak temperature rise while maintaining reasonable thermal stress levels. These findings provide valuable insights into optimizing the design and operation of STECs for hotspot cooling applications, paving the way for developing more efficient and reliable next-generation cooling systems.