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Direct Contact Resistance Evaluation of Thermoelectric Legs

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Abstract

In developing intermediate temperature (300–700 °C) thermoelectric modules with high conversion efficiencies exceeding 10 %, the evaluation of the electrical contact resistance between the thermoelectric material and metallic electrode is a critical issue. In this work, a novel direct contact resistance measurement apparatus is proposed that enhances the previously reported extrapolation based erroneous contact resistance evaluation methods. The accuracy and resolution of this apparatus are investigated in detail, and the proposed novel contact resistance measurement exhibits sufficient performance to evaluate high efficiency thermoelectric modules. The presence of the Peltier effect in the direct current-induced contact resistance measurements is verified experimentally using the proposed apparatus. Two modified measurement parameters, i.e., the pulse shape input current and heat dissipating metallic block, are proposed and their effects in suppressing the unintended Peltier effect are discussed in detail.

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Acknowledgments

This work was conducted under the framework of the Research and Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER, B6-2448). This research was also supported by the K-Valley Research, Education, Development & Business Project (RED&B, N01150329) funded by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). This research was also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) Grant funded by the Korean Government(MSIP)(NRF-2015R1A5A1036133).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea

    Y. Kim & G. Yoon

  2. Advanced Materials and Devices Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152 Gajung-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-343, Republic of Korea

    Y. Kim & S. H. Park

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  1. Y. Kim
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  2. G. Yoon
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  3. S. H. Park
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Correspondence to S. H. Park.

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Kim, Y., Yoon, G. & Park, S. Direct Contact Resistance Evaluation of Thermoelectric Legs. Exp Mech 56, 861–869 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-016-0131-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-016-0131-8

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