Modeling of Thermoelectric Elements in Cooling Circuits of Drive Systems

Drive systems with fluid links require the implementation of working fluid cooling. General trends in aerospace and automotive industry are the weight and size reduction of drive systems; this is also true for the improvement of cooling systems design. It is rational to use thermoelectric elements (Peltier elements) for cooling. The application of thermoelectric elements allows significantly increasing energy efficiency of the heat removal process. The article presents the patented design of a device with a liquid cooling circuit (rheological throttle-thermostat). The proposed original cooling device has thermoelectric elements, which significantly reduces transient time and energy consumption of magnetorheological drives. The developed numerical model is able to calculate the heat flows in the working fluid, refrigerating medium and thermoelectric elements. Recommendations for the operation of cooling circuits with a rheological throttle-thermostat are given. Numerical simulation results of the performance of the original cooling device with thermoelectric elements are represented. The values of the absorbed thermal power in the rheological throttle-thermostat prove high efficiency of the device despite its small size and small mass. The rationalization of performance of the rheological throttle-thermostat by optimization of electrical characteristics of control signals is considered.