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Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

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Re: Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

#11

Post by magicalhippo »

The paper[1] has some actual details, like this:

Under low-heat-pumping, with minimal role of parasitics, TFTEC modules offer four times the Coefficient of Performance (CoP) advantage over bulk devices. As an example, system-level CoP with a 16-couple TFTEC module is ~ 15 for small temperature differentials of 2 °C, pumping about 1.2 W heat load using 80 mW of electric power. Such small-scale high-CoP cooling is relevant for distributed refrigeration or compartmentalized refrigeration as well as for use in future electronic thermal management

They also note that the maximum cooling power density depends inversely on thickness, and this is where the thin-film TECs like this gets most of their improvements from, compared to millimeter thick regular TECs.

Just a quick scan before going to bed, but looks interesting for certain applications.

[1]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59698-y

Re: Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

#12

Post by scythe »

From the abstract:

>system-level coefficient-of-performance is ~15 for temperature differentials of 1.3 °C.

There's a long way to go. As far as I know, the leader in condensed-phase refrigeration cycles is still the sodium iodide ionocaloric method, which blew past all of the competing methods (magnetocaloric, elastocaloric, thermoelectric) when it was announced in 2022:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade1696

...but the temperature drop of 25 C is just barely practical for air conditioning in warm (but not desert) climates.

Re: Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

#14

Post by doctoboggan »

actinium226 wrote: post #13

So, these devices.... turn heat into electricity? Where does the electricity go, back into the system it's powering?

> turn heat into electricity?

No, they turn a temperature gradient into electricity. If one side is heated and the other cooled, you can get current flow on the two leads. And as with many electrical devices, it can also be run in reverse: if you put a voltage across the leads then one side will get hot and the other side will get cold.

Re: Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

#16

Post by adrian_b »

porphyra wrote: post #8
Spivak wrote: post #2

So it's a better Peltier element? The article only seems to compare it to existing thermoelectric devices and not standard refrigeration units so I'm going to assume they haven't gotten even close to that efficiency. If they had I would assume they wouldn't shut up about the fact. Also one of the biggest if not the biggest downside of these chips is, unlike a split refrigeration circuit, the front gets cold while the…

One step at a time... it would be astonishing if any thermoelectric device can leapfrog mechanical compressors.

Also in the article, it is implied that there is no chance to replace mechanical compressors for great thermal powers, but for small thermal powers, from a few watt to a few hundred watt, thermoelectric devices may become preferable, due to small size, simplicity and reliability

Re: Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

#17

Post by adrian_b »

speed_spread wrote: post #10
Spivak wrote: post #2

So it's a better Peltier element? The article only seems to compare it to existing thermoelectric devices and not standard refrigeration units so I'm going to assume they haven't gotten even close to that efficiency. If they had I would assume they wouldn't shut up about the fact. Also one of the biggest if not the biggest downside of these chips is, unlike a split refrigeration circuit, the front gets cold while the…

> can't move the heat very far. Heat pipes (as in CPU heatsinks) can passively move the heat up to a feet away. Far enough to allow effective insulation between cold and hot side. From there you can move the heat further away with a fan.

Heat pipes only reduce the thermal resistance between 2 points. They cannot cool something below ambient temperature.

Thermoelectric coolers do not compete with heat pipes. They are useful only when you want to obtain a temperature lower than the ambient temperature. Otherwise, heat pipes or liquid flow cooling are the right solutions.

Re: Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

#18

Post by markhahn »

adrian_b wrote: post #16
porphyra wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One step at a time... it would be astonishing if any thermoelectric device can leapfrog mechanical compressors.

Also in the article, it is implied that there is no chance to replace mechanical compressors for great thermal powers, but for small thermal powers, from a few watt to a few hundred watt, thermoelectric devices may become preferable, due to small size, simplicity and reliability

just noting that household fridge/freezers are in that power range...

Re: Nano-engineered thermoelectrics enable scalable, compressor-free cooling

#20

Post by vlovich123 »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #7

Thermoelectric cooling needs as much research as possible. Mechanical cooling is extraordinarily space consuming. CHESS has the potential over the next 10 years to largely replace vapor compression in most systems other than the most extreme gradients or scales. They are small enough to incorporate into most devices and would allow smaller devices more thermal load. In some ways I think efficient TEC like CHESS could…

Nah. Heat pumps are ~10-100x more efficient than thermoelectric. Thermoelectric is just inefficient mechanism and is inherently difficult to scale up as the more electricity gets generated so does more heat which inhibits the temperature gradient you’re trying to utilize. There’s a reason water cooling is preferred instead of peltier to ferry heat away from electronic.

Magnetocaloric is super interesting though as an alternative to heat pumps. Likely the next big revolution in this space.

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