Thermocouple and method of production

• US 9,105,781 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2012
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mahle International GmbH (MAHLE-STIFTUNG GmbH)
• Original Assignee: O-Flexx Technologies GmbH (MAHLE-STIFTUNG GmbH)
• Inventors: Hoppe, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Mowla, Golam
• Application Number:
  US14/352,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20140246067A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,023 Days
• Field of Search: 136/201, 136/205, 136/225, 136/242, 438/55
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/38 Cooling arrangements using the Peltier effect
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/01 Manufacture or treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/17 characterised by the structure or configuration of the cell or thermocouple forming the device
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/81 Structural details of the junction
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/817 the junction being non-separable, e.g. being cemented, sintered or soldered

Abstract

A method for the low-cost production of sheet-like thermocouples comprises the following steps: —providing an electrically and thermally conductive substrate having at least one clearance, which subdivides the substrate into substrate regions, —fitting thermolegs onto the substrate, wherein each thermoleg is connected to a region of the substrate on a hot side and on a cold side, —applying an encapsulation, so that at least each thermoleg is enclosed and the encapsulation enters into a material bond with the regions of the substrate, —separating parts of the substrate in such a way as to prevent a flow of electric current between the regions of the substrate through the at least one clearance. The invention also relates to a substrate that is suitable for carrying out the method and to a thermocouple that can be produced by the method.

Claims

1. A method for producing a thermocouple having at least two thermolegs, at least one first thermoleg of the at least two thermolegs formed of p-doped semiconductor material and at least one second thermoleg of the at least two thermolegs formed of n-doped semiconductor material are electrically alternatingly conductively interconnected on a hot side and a cold side of the thermocouple, the method comprising the following steps:

providing a substrate consisting of an electrically and thermally conductive material and having at least one aperture dividing the substrate into substrate regions on the hot side and substrate regions on the cold side of the thermocouple;

fitting the substrate with the at least two thermolegs, wherein each of the at least two thermolegs is placed on a substrate region on the hot side and on a substrate region on the cold side and is electrically and thermally conductively connected to the substrate region on the hot side and to the substrate region on the cold side;

applying an encapsulation such that the encapsulation encases each of the at least two thermolegs and the encapsulation bonds integrally to the substrate region on the hot side and to the substrate region on the cold side of the each of the at least two thermolegs; and

separating parts of the substrate in such a way that a flow of electric current between the substrate regions on the hot side and the substrate regions on the cold side is prevented by the at least one aperture in the substrate.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the each of the at least two thermolegs have a thickness in the range of 20 μ

m-500 μ

m.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of separating is performed after the encapsulation has been attached.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of bending unencapsulated substrate regions of the substrate around a bending line after the step of separating.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of arranging two plates formed of an insulating material at a distance from one another and parallel to one another, and connecting the substrate on the hot side to one of the two plates and on the cold side to the other of the two plates.

6. A substrate for a thermocouple having at least two thermolegs made in accordance with the method of claim 1, wherein

the substrate consists of an electrically and thermally conductive material;

the substrate is cuboidal;

the substrate has two opposing flat surfaces delimited laterally by end sides and on a hot side and a cold side by longitudinal sides;

the substrate has at least one aperture through the flat surfaces, the at least one aperture dividing the substrate into substrate regions on the hot side and substrate regions on the cold side;

the aperture having a first portion parallel to the longitudinal sides, at least one second portion extending from the first portion in the direction toward the longitudinal side on the cold side, and at least one third portion extending from the first portion in the direction toward the longitudinal side on the hot side, the second and third portions being offset in relation to one another in the longitudinal direction.

12. A module, comprising:

at least one thermocouple as claimed in claim 7;

two plates arranged at a distance from one another and parallel to one another and made of an insulating material, wherein the thermocouple is connected on the hot side to one of the two plates and is connected on the cold side to the other of the two plates.

7. A thermocouple, comprising:

at least two thermolegs, at least one first thermoleg of the at least two thermolegs formed of p-doped semiconductor material and at least one second thermoleg of the at least two thermolegs formed of n-doped semiconductor material are electrically alternatingly conductively interconnected on a hot side and a cold side of the thermocouple, wherein a temperature gradient between the hot and the cold side of the thermocouple can be applied or tapped;

a plurality of supporting parts on the hot side of the thermocouple and a plurality of supporting parts on the cold side of the thermocouple, each of the supporting parts consisting of an electrically and thermally conductive material and having a planar surface fitted with the thermolegs, the planar surfaces of the supporting parts lie in one plane, the supporting parts are arranged at a distance from one another in such a way that they do not contact one another, and each of the at least two thermolegs is electrically and thermally conductively connected to a respective planar surface of a respective one of the supporting parts on the hot side and to the planar surface of a respective one of the supporting parts on the cold side; and

at least one encapsulation encasing each thermoleg and bonded to the supporting part on the hot side and to the supporting part on the cold side of each of the at least two thermolegs.

8. The thermocouple as claimed in claim 7, wherein the thermolegs have a thickness in the range of 20 μ

m-500 μ

m.

9. The thermocouple as claimed in claim 7, wherein the supporting parts are made of a plastically or elastically deformable material.

10. The thermocouple as claimed in claim 7, wherein a contact portion of the supporting parts is not encased by the encapsulation.

11. The thermocouple as claimed in claim 10, wherein the contact portion is deflected from the plane of the planar surface.