Thermoelectric cooling with dynamic switching to isolate heat transport mechanisms
First Claim
1. A thermoelectric cooling apparatus, comprising:
- a first thermal sink of a first nominal temperature;
a second thermal sink of a second nominal temperature, the second temperature being relatively greater than the first temperature;
a thermoelectric element continuously coupled to the second thermal sink;
means for selectively switching a thermal coupling of the thermoelectric element to the first thermal sink; and
means for selectively switching an electrical voltage across the thermoelectric element operable independent from the means for selectively switching the thermal coupling.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and method for sub-ambient cooling using thermoelectric element dynamics in conjunction with pulsed electrical power and selectively enabled thermal coupling to the cold sink. In one form, Peltier devices are dynamically enabled using pulses of electrical power while the thermal path between the cold side of the Peltier device and the cold sink is selectively switched in relative synchronism between conductive states responsive to the dynamics of the Peltier device temperatures. Switched coupling of the thermal connection between the cold sink and the Peltier device materially improves efficiency by decoupling Joule heating and conductive heat transfer losses otherwise conveyed from the Peltier device. Preferable implementations utilizes MEMS to accomplish the selective thermal switching, whereby sub-ambient cooling capacity is increased by parallel operation of multiple Peltier devices and MEMS switches.
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Citations
92 Claims
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1. A thermoelectric cooling apparatus, comprising:
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a first thermal sink of a first nominal temperature; a second thermal sink of a second nominal temperature, the second temperature being relatively greater than the first temperature; a thermoelectric element continuously coupled to the second thermal sink; means for selectively switching a thermal coupling of the thermoelectric element to the first thermal sink; and means for selectively switching an electrical voltage across the thermoelectric element operable independent from the means for selectively switching the thermal coupling. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A thermoelectric cooling apparatus, comprising:
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a first thermal sink of a first nominal temperature; a second thermal sink of a second nominal temperature, the second temperature being relatively greater than the first temperature; a third thermal sink of the second nominal temperature, the third thermal sink being electrically separate from the second thermal sink; a first thermoelectric element thermally coupled to the second thermal sink; a second thermoelectric element thermally coupled to the third thermal sink; means for selectively switching a thermal coupling of the first and second thermoelectric elements to the first thermal sink; and means for selectively switching an electrical voltage across the first and second thermoelectric elements operable independent from the means for selectively switching the thermal coupling. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A thermoelectric cooling apparatus operable in an ambient, comprising:
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a first thermal sink means for dissipating thermal energy at a temperature above the ambient; a second thermal sink means for absorbing thermal energy at a temperature below the ambient; a first thermoelectric element coupled to the first thermal sink and coupled to the second thermal sink to transport thermal energy therebetween; means for selectively switching the thermal conductance of the coupling between the first thermoelectric element and the second thermal sink; and means for selectively enabling the first thermoelectric element independent of but in relative functional synchronism with the means for selectively switching the thermal conductance. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78)
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79. A method of operating a thermoelectric cooling apparatus having a first thermal sink operable at a first nominal temperature, a second thermal sink operable at a second nominal temperature relatively greater than the first nominal temperature, and a thermoelectric element coupled to the second thermal sink, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting thermal energy from the thermoelectric element to the second thermal sink through a continuous coupling; selectively switching the transmission of thermal energy between the thermoelectric element and the first thermal sink; and selectively enabling an electric voltage across the thermoelectric element independent of the selective switching of the transmission of thermal energy. - View Dependent Claims (80, 81, 82, 83, 84)
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85. A method of operating a thermoelectric cooling apparatus having a first thermal sink operable at a first nominal temperature, a second thermal sink operable at a second nominal temperature relatively greater than the first nominal temperature, a third thermal sink operable at the second nominal temperature and in electric separation from the second thermal sink, a first thermoelectric element coupled to the second thermal sink, a second thermoelectric element thermally coupled to the third thermal sink, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting thermal energy from the first thermoelectric element to the second thermal sink through a continuous coupling; transmitting thermal energy from the second thermoelectric element to the third thermal sink through a continuous coupling; selectively switching the transmission of thermal energy between the first and second thermoelectric elements and the first thermal sink; and selectively enabling an electric voltage across the first and second thermoelectric elements independent from the selective switching of the transmission of thermal energy. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88)
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89. A method of operating a thermoelectric cooling apparatus having a first thermal sink for dissipating thermal energy at a temperature above an ambient, a second thermal sink for absorbing thermal energy at a temperature below the ambient, and a thermoelectric element coupled between the first and second thermal sinks to transport thermal energy therebetween, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting thermal energy from the thermoelectric element to the first thermal sink through a continuous coupling; selectively switching the thermal conductance of the coupling between the thermoelectric element and the second thermal sink; and selectively enabling the thermoelectric element independent from but in relative functional synchronism with the selective switching of the thermal conductance. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91, 92)
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Specification