Abstract
Beginning around 1990, a combination of factors — notably environmental concerns regarding refrigerant fluids and interest in cooling electronics — led to renewed activity in the science and technology of alternative refrigeration. Thermoelectric cooling is the most well established of these technologies. Closely related cooling mechanisms, thermomagnetic effects and thermionic emission, are less well established but may soon have their day. The common theme is the presence of coupled electrical and thermal currents, so that it is also possible to use the effects to generate power from a temperature differential. These basic mechanisms and the fundamentals of their implementation comprise our subject.
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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Nolas, G.S., Sharp, J., Goldsmid, H.J. (2001). Historical Development. In: Thermoelectrics. Springer Series in MATERIALS SCIENCE, vol 45. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04569-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04569-5_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07451-6
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