Evaluation of Efficiency Factors of Commercial Thermoelectric Materials Using COMSOL Multiphysics® Software

K. Cadien [1], S. Seif [1], T. Thundat [1],
[1] Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Published in 2015

We have developed single leg model using COMSOL Multiphysics® software to compute Φ of TE materials without using conventional ZT parameters. The Φ were calculated using parametric programming in PDE by using special probe to capture change in power (∆P), ΔT, and area (A), thus (Φ = ∆P/A*ΔT 2). The obtained results showed that the TE material with highest Φ when the temperatures are between 375 K and 550 K are n-type SiGe, and p-type SiGe. When the temperatures are between 550 K and 780 K, the TE materials with the highest Φ are PbTe-Pbl2, PbTe-CdTe, and PbTe-SrTe-Na. This work has shown that COMSOL Multiphysics is a powerful tool for analysis of TE materials and can be used to predict Φ without using conventional ZT.

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