Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2008 Hannover

Multiphysics Simulation of Thermoelectric Systems - Modeling of Peltier-

Cooling and Thermoelectric Generation
Martin Jaegle
Fraunhofer-IPM, Heidenhofstr. 8, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
Martin.Jaegle@ipm.fraunhofer.de
Tel: +49 761 8857 345, Fax: +49 761 8857 224

Abstract: Electro-thermal interaction is commonly The FEA-Model

considered only as a matter of joule heating. In COMSOL- Multiphysics allows the implementation
addition, the Seebeck-, Peltier- and Thompson- of common arbitrary partial differential equations
Effects are significant in materials with high (PDEs) of the field variable u on a one to three
thermoelectric figure of merit Z. These dimensional region Ω. Two PDE modes can be
thermoelectric materials have a high Seebeck- used: The “Coefficient-Form” and the “General
coefficient α, a good electric conductivity σ, and a Form”. In the more didactical “Coefficient Form”
poor thermal conductivity λ. They have widespread PDE application mode, the program allows the
areas of application. Thermoelectric systems are definition of the coefficients for the following PDE:
used for measurement techniques (thermocouples,
thermopiles...), for peltier-cooling (Peltier-elements
for CPU-Cooling, refrigeration, temperature
stabilization...) and direct energy conversion of heat
(thermoelectric generators, driven by waste heat, (3)
radioactive decay, combustion...). Equation (3) follows the notation of the COMSOL-
For an accurate modeling of these applications the Multiphysics documentation. Please notice that
thermoelectric field equations have to be solved. some symbols from the equations (1) - (2) occur
also here, but with a different meaning. The first
Keywords: Thermoelectric Generation, Cooling, line describes the PDE, the second and third lines
Peltier-Effect, Seebeck-Effect define the coefficients for the generalized Neumann
boundary condition and the Dirichlet boundary
1. Introduction condition on the surface of the region Ω.
In this presentation an implementation of The thermoelectric field equations (1) - (2) can now
thermoelectric effects in COMSOL Multiphysics is be transformed into the “coefficient form” as
described using the PDE-Application Mode. follows.
Therefore the coupled heat equation and Poisson's With the vector valued field variable
equation are extended by the thermoelectric effects
⎛T ⎞
u=⎜ ⎟ ,
and solved simultaneously, to get the solution for
the field variables temperature T and voltage V: ⎜V ⎟
− ∇((σα 2T + λ )∇T ) − ∇(σαT ∇V ) = σ ((∇V ) 2 + α ∇T ∇V )
⎝ ⎠
(4)
(1)
the coefficient c in (3) is
and
⎛ λ + σα 2T σαT ⎞⎟
∇(σα ∇T ) + ∇(σ ∇V ) = 0 , c=⎜
⎜
(2) ⎝ σα σ ⎟⎠
where the material properties α, σ and λ denote the (5)
thermopower (Seebeck-coefficient), the electric and and f is
( ) + α ∇T ∇V ⎞⎟⎠ ⎞⎟
the thermal conductivity, respectively. Usually
⎛ ⎛ 2
those material properties depend on the temperature ⎜ σ ⎜ ∇V
and may be anisotropic. Here only isotropic f =⎜ ⎝ ⎟
⎜ ⎟
material properties are used at constant material ⎝ 0 ⎠
parameters. The above equations can be derived (6)
from the coupled equations in [2] or the literature The other coefficients in equation (3) are zero for
cited therein [3]. static calculations.
For transient calculations, capacitive influences
have to be respected. Mostly it is sufficient to
consider only the thermal capacity (heat capacity C,
density ρ). Then d in equation (3) is
 ⎛ ρC ⎞
d =⎜ ⎟
⎜ 0 ⎟
⎝ ⎠
(7)
For the implementation of the PDE coefficients into
COMSOL the notation for deviations is
∂V ∂V ∂ 2V
= Vx, = Vt , = Vtx, ∇V = (Vx Vy Vz )
∂x ∂t ∂x∂t
(9)

Examples
The following examples show results of Figure 2: Temperature dependent thermal conductivity of
calculations for typical thermoelectric applications. (Bi0.5Sb0.5)2Te3 [4].
The material properties for the calculations with
temperature independent values are shown in table
1. Here typical values for Bismuth-Telluride and
copper were taken from [2]. Temperature
dependent material properties were taken manually
from figure 7 in [4]. They were interpolated by
cubic splines (figure 1-3). For the copper electrodes
no temperature dependency was used.

Table 1: Numerical material properties from [2]

Thermoelectric Electrode
Material (Copper)
Seebeck α, p: 200e-6 6.5e-6
Coefficient V/K n: -200e-6 Figure 3: Temperature dependent electric conductivity of
(Bi0.5Sb0.5)2Te3 [4].
Electric σ, 1.1e5 5.9e8
conductivity S/m
Table 2: Temperature dependent material properties
Thermal λ, 1.6 350
W/m/K
of (Bi0.5Sb0.5)2Te3 from [4].
conductivity
T α λ σ
Density ρ, 7740 8920
kg/m³
/K / 10-6V/K / W/m/K / 103A/V/m
Heat C, 154.4 385 100 75 2.5 185
capacity J/kg/K 150 125 2 142
200 170 1.55 100
250 200 1.35 72
300 218 1.28 60
350 225 1.35 55
400 218 1.75 70

Example 1: Thermoelectric Cooler

A simple cooler geometry consists of one p-
type semiconductor element 1x1x5.8mm³ in size. It
is contacted by two copper electrodes 0.1 mm in
thickness (Figure 4).
Table 1 sows the material properties used for
temperature-independent calculations. The
Figure 1: Temperature dependent Seebeck coefficient of boundary conditions were set to 0V and 0°C at the
(Bi0.5Sb0.5)2Te3 taken from [4] and cubic spline base of the lower electrode. Adiabatic boundary
interpolation. conditions were taken on all other surfaces. At the
top of the upper electrode a current of 0.7A was
applied.
 Figure 4: A p-type thermoelectric element is
contacted by copper electrodes (left). The base is kept at Figure 6: Temperature distribution along the element
0°C and 0V. At the top 0.7A current was applied. calculated with constant (circle) and temperature
Adiabatic boundary conditions were used. The resulting dependent material properties (cross) without (solid) and
temperature distribution is shown in the center, the with 10mW heat load (dotted) on top of the element,
voltage is shown right. A temperature difference of nearly respectively.
61 K is achieved. The voltage at the upper electrode is 49
mV. The temperature and voltage distribution along
the element is shown in Figure 6 and 7 for a current
Figure 4 shows the result of the calculation. In of 0.7A.
the center, the temperature distribution shows
that the cold side temperature is at 212.26K. The
associated voltage is shown right. To drive the
current, a voltage of 49.1mV is needed.
The same calculations were made with
temperature dependent material properties.
Figure 5 shows the cold side temperatures for
temperature dependent (crossed curve) and
constant material properties (circles). In addition,
a heat load of 10mW was applied at the cold
side. The elements have their maximum
temperature difference at different currents
according to the different material properties.
Figure 7: Voltage distribution along the element
calculated with constant (circle) and temperature
dependent material properties (cross) without (solid) and
with 10mW heat load (dotted) on top of the element,
respectively.

Example 2: Transient Operation

Figure 8 shows the result of a time dependent
calculation. The above thermoelectric element is
operated at 0.6 Ampere with no heat load at steady
state temperatures. One second after the beginning
of the calculation, the current is increased to 0.8A
linearily within 0.1s. After 4 seconds the amperage
decreases again linearily within 0.1s to 0.6A (figure
Figure 5: Calculated cold side temperatures versus 8, upper diagram). The lower diagram shows the
current for constant (circle) and temperature dependent transient cold side temperature with temperature
material properties (cross) without (solid) and with
10mW heat load (dotted), respectively.
dependent material parameters. The short current
pulse causes a temporary temperature drop of about
3K. Such supercooling effects are also described
e.g. numerically in [2] and, in addition, Example 4: Arbitrary Geometries
experimentallly in [5]. Many real life applications have more complex
geometies, like thermopile sensors or thin film
devices. One typical example where FEA is
advantagous is an electrode configuration which is
in the direction of the temperature gradient. Thus,
the often better thermal and electrical conductance
of the electrodes will shorten both, the temperature
differences as well as generated voltages. Figure 10
shows such a configuration. The size of the
thermoelectric material is 1x5x0.8mm³, the
electrode size is 1x3x0.1mm³. The temperature on
top of the configuration is set to 10°C, the base is
set to 0°C. The left figure shows the temperature
distribution, the figure in the middle shows the
voltage. The open circuit voltage at the upper left
electrode is calculated to be -2.02mV. Both
shortings of the field variables by the electrodes can
be seen clearly, since the steepest gradient is
between the electrodes. Figure 10 shows on the right
Figure 8: Transient calculation of peltier- side the electric current streamlines.
supercooling. A short current pulse generates temporarily
lower cold side temperatures.

Example 3: Thermoelectric generation

To simulate a thermoelectric generator, also the
above shown semiconductor element was used,
again with the variable material properties (figure 1
– 3). The top of the upper electrode was set to
100°C, the base of the lower electrode to 0°C, 0V.
Figure 9: shows as a result the current-voltage and
the current power characteristics of the generator.

Figure 10: Example for a more “complex” element

geometry: The copper electrodes are laterally connected
(with respect to the temperature gradient). Left side:
Temperature distribution, the top is set to 10°C, the base
is at 0°C. The appropriate Voltage is shown in the
middle; the left graph shows the voltage color coded
electric streamlines and the temperature as a slice plot.

Example 5: Combination of thermoelectric and

Figure 9: Current-voltage (left) and current-power structural mechanic modeling
characteristics (right) for the upper thermoelectric This example shows results of calculations for a
element p-n thermocouple, contacted by copper electrodes
on a alumina substrate (Figure 11). The dimensions
According to these characteristics, the open of the thermoelectric legs are 1.5x1.5x10mm³ with
circuit voltage of the element is calculated to be 0.5mm spacing. The electrodes are made from
about -21mV, the short-circuit current is about 0.2mm copper, the thickness of the alumina
220mA. The maximum power output is 1.22mW. substratre is 0.5mm. The left side is kept at 0°C and
is mechanically fixed. The current density J is
applied at the upper left electrode, the lower left
electrode is grounded.
 For reasons of simplicity, neither temperature The elastic moduli and thermal expansion
dependency of the material data, nor transient or coefficients for bismuth-telluride are are taken from
unisotropic calculations were taken into account. [6] and are listed in table 3. The mechanic
The thermoelectric material data are shown in properties for copper and alumina are taken from
table 1. The thermal conductivity of the alumina the COMSOL material library., Young's modulus
substrate was set to 29W/m/K. was 110GPa for copper and 300 GPa for alumina,
Poissons ratio was 0.35 for copper and 0.22 for
alumina. The temperature expansion coefficient
was 17 10-6/K for copper and 8 10-6/K for alumina.
Reference Temperature for the thermal expansion
was 0°C.
Table 3: elastic material properties cij in 1011dyn/cm²
at 280K and temperature expansion coefficient ai in 10-
6
/K of Bi2Te3 at 300K, from [4]
c11 c66 c33 c44 c13 c14
6.847 2.335 4.768 2.738 2.704 1.325

ax ay az
Figure 11: The thermocouple example consists of 21.3 14.4 14.4
two 1.5x1.5x10mm³ legs. They are contacted with copper
on a alumina substrate. The left side is kept at 0°C and
mechanically fixed. The current density J is applied at the
upper left electrode, the lower electrode is grounded.

Figure 12: The thermal expansion of the thermocouple for 1A and 2A current. The initial geometry is shown as a
black wireframe; the deformed frame is red and filled with temperature coded colors (°C). At maximum cooling near
1A, the module shrinks about 5 microns (above). At 2A, the module is thermally expanded although it is still cooling.

To solve the PDEs, the "parametric segregated for two currents, 1A above and 2A below. The
solver" in COMSOL was used. The current was original geometry is shown as a black wireframe,
varied from 0.001 - 2A. Figure 12 shows the result the displacemend by thermal expansion is indicated
by the red wireframe, filled with temperature coded
color.

Figure 15: A doubling of the resistivity of the lower

thermoelectric leg leads to higher temperatures and thus
to asymmetric thermal expansion. Other parameters are
Figure 13: The calculated cold side temperature like in figure 2, the current is 1.5A.
versus current shows a maximum temperature difference
of about 62°C. Figure 5 shows the calculated temperature
distribution and thermal expansion for a current of
At maximum cooling near 1A, the module 1.5A. The different resistivities of the
shrinks about 5 microns (above). At 2A, the module thermoelectric legs lead to an assymetric
is thermally expanded although it is still cooling. temperature distribution in the legs, causing a
Figure 13 shows the calculated cold side bending of them due to the thermal expansion.
temperature versus the applied current for an Figure 6 shows the von Mises stress within the
operation as a peltier module. About 62°C module as a slice Plot. A maximum stress of about
temperature difference can be achieved at 1 A. 37MPa was calculated.

Figure 14: thermal expansion of the module in x- Figure 16: Von Mises stress in the asymetrically
direction
strained module of figure 15.

The according change of the module length in Summary

x-direction is shown in Figure 14. At low currents, An implementation of the thermoelectric field
the module shrinks due to the cooling. With higher equations in COMSOL multiphysics is shown.
temperatures the module expands. Minimum size Thermoelectric calculations can be made for
and maximum cooling are not at the same current. arbitrary geometries. Anisotropy (not shown) and
With this model, thermoelectric and temperature dependency of the materials can be
thermomechanic effects can be simulated included. Also transient calculations can be made.
simultaneously, and thus enabling thermomechanic Structural analysis or convection can also be added
studies of thermoelectric effects. As an example the easily.
effect of a changed electric resistivity is shown in Parts of this Publication were published
the figures 15 and 16. The electric resistivity of the previously in [7] - [9].
lower thermoelectric leg was doubled.
Literature
[1]: COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3a Documentation,
www.comsol.com
[2]: Antonova E.E., Looman D.C; Finite Elements
for Thermoelectric Device Analysis in ANSYS;
Int. Conference on Thermoelectrics; 2005 pp.
200
[3]: Landau, L. D. and Lifshitz, E. M.;
Electrodynamics of Continous Media, 2nd
Edition, Butterworth Heinemann (Oxford,
1984)
[4]: Seifert, W., Ueltzen, M., Müller, E.; One
Dimensional Modelling of Thermoelectric
Cooling; phys.stat.sol. (a) 194, No.1, pp 277 –
290; 2002
[5]: Snyder, G.J. et al; Supercooling of Peltier
cooler using a current pulse; J. Appl. Phys; Vol.
92, No. 3; pp. 1564-1569, 2002
[6]: Landolt-Börnstein; Numerical data;
ISBN3540121609; Vol 17f, pp.275, 1983
[7]: 1. Jaegle, Martin; Simulating Thermo¬electric
Effects with Finite Element Analysis using
COMSOL; Proceedings ECT2007, Odessa;
p.222
[8]: Martin Jaegle, Markus Bartel, Dirk Ebling,
Alexandre Jacquot Harald Böttner;
Multiphysics simulation of thermoelectric
systems; Proceedings ECT2008, Paris, O27-1
[9]: Dirk Ebling, Martin Jaegle, Markus Bartel,
Alexandre Jacquot, Harald Böttner;
Multiphysics simulation of thermoelectric
systems for the comparison to experimental
device performance; Proceedings ICT 2008, To
be published