Advanced Energy Conversion.

Vol. 7, pp. 289-295.

Pergamon Press Ltd., 1968. Printed in Great Britain

OPTIMIZATION OF A THERMOELECTRIC HEAT PUMP

T H R O U G H CASCADING
PETER W. COWLING* and J. EDWARD SUNDERLAND~

(Received27 February 1967)

Abstraet--A study is presented for the optimization of the coefficient of performance of a thermoelectric
heat pump through the use of cascaded stages. Throughout the investigation it is assumed that the electrical
and thermal conductivities of the n- and p-type elements are the same and are constant. It is further assumed
that there are no electrical or thermal contact resistances and that the element is completely insulated except
at the hot and cold junctions. It is shown that small variations about the optimal interstage temperatures
have a negligible effect on the C.O.P. of the cascade. In addition it is shown that in many cases only limited
gains are made in the C.O.P. through cascaded thermoelectric heat pumps.
INTRODUCTION
EVEN though the discovery of Peltier cooling is over 200 years old, thermoelectric cooling was
impractical until the development of semiconductor materials. Even today thermoelectric
refrigeration is not practical for m a n y applications. This is due to the low C.O.P. attainable
for temperature differences exceeding 20K. There is obviously a great need for improving
the C.O.P. of thermoelectric heat pumps through the development of new semiconductors
and by using the best possible design with available materials. Various methods for improving
the design have been employed including varying the cross-sectional area of the elements
[1], constructing elements utilizing surface heat transfer [2] and using controlled spatial
property dependence [3].
Cascading is an important method which is used for increasing the C.O.P. and the
temperature difference for heat pumps. FOSTER [4] considered a two-stage cascade with the
following variations:
(a) The cascade has coupled stages of n and n + 1 couples respectively. (Stages are
parallel electrically and series thermally.)
(b) The cascade has two stages which are in series electrically and thermally.
F r o m a computer solution he found that for optimum C.O.P.,
T~

Tc

7h

~"

The coupled stage cascade was found to give better performance than the electrically insulated
cascade; however, the insulated cascade was more easily fabricated.
JAUMOT [5] concluded that cascading offered the greatest promise in refrigeration
applications. He further stated that cascading lowered the load capacity of each stage so
drastically that it had not, at that time (1958), proved practical to use more thart two stages.
CRtlMP [6] stated that by cascading, temperature differences of 100C can be obtained.
In cascading he postulated, as a rule of thumb, that each stage should have from 3 to 3
times as many junctions as the preceding stage. These stages were wired electrically in series
and had equal and constant cross-sectional areas.
* Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.
1 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.
289

290

PETER W. COWLING and J. EDWARD SUNDERLAND

O'BRIEN, WALLACE and LANDECKER [7] and GOLDSMID [8] studied two-stage cascades
in which both stages operated with equal temperature differences and C.O.P. Their results
showed improvement over single-stage performance.
It appears to the writers that the most sophisticated mathematical study of cascaded heat
pumps has been conducted by RITTNER [9]. He made an approximation for one of the terms
in the repeated product of the cascade C.O.P. equation and showed that under optimal
conditions each stage had the same C.O.P.
CLINGMAN [10] used irreversible thermodynamics and an entropy analysis to develop
integral expressions for the C.O.P. and figure of merit for a thermoelectric device. From
this he was able to develop expressions for the performance of a cascade of infinite stages.
However, in order to come up with a solution t 9 a particular problem, he was forced to
assume that the figure of merit was constant for each stage and to insert specific values for
the properties of the elements.
Although the papers mentioned do study the design and performance of cascaded
thermoelectric heat pumps, it is the intention of this paper to present a somewhat more
accurate analysis for predicting the C.O.P.
ANALYSIS
The coefficient of performance of a single-stage heat pump is given by GOLDSMID [8]:
C.O.P. : ~ n ~ T e I - 12R -- K(Th -- Te)

(1)

IZR + o~n~I(Th -- Tc)

Since Equation (1) involves the over-all thermal conductance and electrical resistance of a
couple, the C.O.P. depends on the geometry of both legs, Ln/An and Lp/Ap. If the geometry
and thermalproperties remain constant, the current can be varied to obtain the maximum
C.O.P. ALTENKIRCH [11] shows that the geometry which yields the maximum C.O.P. is
given by:
LpAn
LnA~

- -

(:)

~l \ppknl

Thus, from Equation (1),

C.O.P.max = -

Tm
~/(1 + ZTm) -- 1 __ .
Tn -- Te ~/(1 + ZTm) + 1

(3)

From Equation (1) it cart be seen that a value exists for (Tn -- To) at which the C.O.P.
becomes zero. This value corresponds to the no-load temperature difference and provides
the upper bound for the capability of a couple. Temperature differences greater than this
value can be achieved through the use of cascading.
The coefficient of performance for a cascade with n stages is given by JOFFE [12],
1 +

1
C.O.P.

1 +
i

1]

(4)

C.O.P.i

where IF[ represents a repeated product. Now if each stage is designed so that it is operating
at its peak efficiency, Equation (3) can be substituted into Equation (4) with the following
result:
1
_ fi [2Tm~['X/(1 + ZTm~) -- 1] + ATI[V'(1 + ZTmO + 1)]
(5)
1 -k- C.O.d.
i=l[2Tm~[~/(1+ ZTmO -- 1] -- AT~[C'(1 + ZTmO + 1]

Optimization of a Thermoelectric Heat Pump Through Cascading

291

where AT~ represents the temperature difference across stage i. In terms of the interstage
temperatures, this becomes

'

1+

-- l-~ [ Z l / [ l

C.O.P.

"q- Z ( z , - ~ - Zlsx)] --

Zi-1]

~-=,[~-~ J-I-1 + _~r~ _.kT~_:)]: ~[ "

t-

/~tL

.~,

(6)

.-I

When the C.O.P. is a maximum, 1 + - - is at a minimum. Thus to find the interstage

C.O.P.
temperatures which give the optimal performance of the cascade,
0 l+c~.p
" =0forl<i<n+l
(7)
0T~
where T1 is the cold junction temperature and T~+I is the hot junction temperature. F r o m
Equation (7), (n -- 1) simultaneous equations can be obtained which, upon solution, yield
the interstage temperatures. The actual solution to these equations is quite difficult.
RITT~R [9] solved Equation (5) after making the approximation that ~/(I + ZTm~) is a
constant and with the constraining relation AT = ~ ATe. The eventual consequence of

i=1

assuming ~/(1 + ZTm~)is constant is that the C.O.P. of each stage is the same under optimal
interstage temperatures. This reduces the repeated product of Equation (4) to the following
power form for an n-stage cascade:
1

1 + C.O.P.

--

1 --k

')"

C.(LP.n

(8)

'

where C.O.P.n is the C.O.P. of each stage.

In order to determine the interstage temperatures that would give the maximum over-all
C.O.P. a numerical optimization process was used to solve Equation (6). The optimization
was done for a system which had a source temperature of 300K and a sink temperature of
250K, and for systems with 2, 3 and 4 stages. The details of these calculations are given in
[13]; the results are shown in Tables 1-3.
TABLE1. C.O.P. ANDIN'r~SSrAGE

TEMPERATURESFOR TWO STAGES

Z 103

T~(K)

C.O.P.

1
2
3
4
5

272"8
273"0
273"0
273'0
273'0

0-0201
0'202
0'393
0"566
0"719

TABLE2. C.O.P. AND INTERSTAGETEMPERATURES

FOR THREE STAGES

Z 103

T~(K)

Ts(K)

C.O.P.

1
2
3
4
5

265-0
264.8
265.0
265.0
265-0

281.8
281.4
281.6
281.6
281.6

0-037
0.217
0-405
0.576
0.728

292

PETER W. COWLING and J. EDWARD SUNDERLAND

TABLE 3. C.O.P. AND INTERSTAGETEMPERATURES FOR FOUR STAGES

Z 10a

T~(K)

Ta(K)

T4(K)

1
2
3
4
5

261-2
261.0
261.0
261-0
261-2

273.4
273.0
273-0
273.0
273.6

286.0
286.0
286"0
286"0
286-6

C.O.P.
0.0435
0.223
0"410
0-579
0"731

R E S U L T S AND C O N C L U S I O N S
From these results it is possible to conclude that the interstage temperatures are practically insensitive to the figure of merit. In other words, at optimal conditions, the same
interstage temperature will be found for any realistic value of the figure of merit. Also
notice what happens when the following arbitrarily selected equation is solved for each of
the systems:

T2 Ta
Tz-- T z - - ' " :

Tn+l
Tn-"

(9)

For two stages, with T1 ---- 250 and 7"3 = 300K, this equation gives 7"2 ---- 273"9K. This
compares very favorably with the values found for T2 in Table 1. Similarly for three stages
operating between the same source and sink temperatures, the interstage temperatures are
T2 = 265"6K and 7"3 = 282"3K. Again this compares favorably with the values found in
Table 2. Next for four stages Equation (8) also gives results which agree within 1 K with
the results of Table 3.
Therefore, on the basis of the information given in Tables 1, 2 and 3, the optimal value
for the C.O.P. of a cascade of n stages cart be obtained from Equation (9), since it turns out
the over-all C.O.P. does not vary much as the interstage temperature is varied about its
optimal value. This fact is illustrated for a two-stage cascade in Fig. 1.
In order to compare the results obtained in optimizing the C.O.P. of a cascade system by
the numerical method just presented with Rittner's method, consider an example for a

0"5

I
0-4
Z A T-=0-18

f..,,

I
0'3

q
f
0.2

Z A T=0-14

f
r
Z A T=0.10

0.1
T= Th_Tc,

4"6

4"7

4"8

4!9

Th+T~=300*K
2
51"0
5"1

5'2

5"3

54

8 = intermediate temperature [O =(~+Tc ) / 2 A T ]

FIG. 1. C.O.P. vs. dimensionless interstage temperature for a two-stage cascade.

Optimization of a Thermoelectric Heat Pump Through Cascading

293

two-stage system. Let Tc -----250K, Tn = 300K, and Z---- 2 10-a K-L Numerical
optimization yields C.O.P.1 = 0.651 and C.O.P.2 = 0"738, so that a variation of greater
than 13 per cent exists between the stage C.O.P.'s. For Rittner's case, the stage C.O.P.'s are
identical and equal to 0"695. However, when the overall C.O.P. for the cascade is found
from Equation (4), the numerical value and Rittner's value are virtually the same.
One of the large disadvantages of cascading is that each successive stage must remove
all of the heat resulting from work done to the preceding stages, as well as the heat removed
from the source. Also there is a rapidly diminishing gain in C.O.P. as successive stages are
added to the system. Coupled with this, as the figure of merit (Z) increases, there is not much
to be gained by any type of cascading when compared to a single-stage device. More simply
stated this says
Lim C'O'P'case~de ~ 1.
z-~o~C.O.P. Single Stage
These limitations are pointed out for a typical case in Fig. 2.
2'2
4 stages
24)
~=250K

,%
1.8

=D_
C)

1.6

u.

n.

o
(j

i.z

I'01

Z x I0,3

I/*K

FIG. 2. C.O.P.cascade/C.O.P.slngle stage VS. Z for two- and four-stage cascades.

For these reasons, it would be advantageous to develop an expression which would

easily yield a value for C'O'P'si"g]e Stage without going through the rigors of solving the
C.O.P.ca~eaae
repeated product expression in Equation (4) for the optimal value of the C.O.P. Since the
C.O.P. decreases as AT approaches ATmax, it would seem that ATmax would be a good
parameter to consider in developing this expression. An approximate expression derived
in reference [13] shows that
C'O'P'single Stage~,

C'O'P'caseade

2AT

ATmax

1A

-- ATmax-- AT (ATmax + I AT)n-- (ATmax-- 1-AT)

n

where
ATmax =

2Tin ~/(1

V/(1 +

ZTm)

-- 1

ZZm) +

1'

(10)

294

PETER W. COWLINGand J. EDWARDSUNDERLAND

and AT is the total temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions. This expression yielded values within 3 per cent of the exact values for the figure of merit ranging from
0"002K -1 to 0"004K -1, for a cold junction temperature of 250K and a hot junction
temperature of 300K, and for 2, 3 and 4 stage thermoelectric coolers.
NOMENCLATURE

Units
A
C.O.P.
I

cross-sectional area of semiconductor element

coefficient of performance of a heat pump
current
knAn

kpAp

thermal conductance, ~

L
P

length of semiconductor element

electron "donor" type element (electron or negative type)
electron "acceptor" type element (hole or positive type)

electrical resistance, A n

T
Tc
Th
T~
Tm
Z

temperature
cold junction temperature
hot junction temperature
interstage temperature
mean temperature of hot and cold junction, (Ta -t- Tc)
figure of merit for a thermocouple,

pnLn

Lp

cm 2

A
W/K
cm

ppLp

+ A~-

Otnp2

oK
oK

oK
oK
oK

OK-1

[(p,kp) 1/2 + (pnkn)l/2] 2

OLnp

AT
K

II
p

Seebeck Coefficient at a junction of "n" and "p" type elements

temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions of the heat
pump
thermal conductivity
repeated product
electrical resistivity

V/K
K
W/K cm
~ cm.

REFERENCES
[1] C. N. ROLLINGERJ., Heat Transfer 87, 259 (1965).
[2] L. J. YaARRONDOand J. E. SUNDERLAND,Advd Energy Conversion 4, 71 (1964).
[3] L. J. YBARRONDOand J. E. SUNDERLAND,Advd Energy Conversion 5, 383 (1965).
[4] A. R. FOSTER, Trans. Am. Soc. Heat. Refrig. Air Condit. Engrs 70, 312 (1964).
[5] F. E. JAUMOT,J. Proc. Inst. Refrig. 46, 538 (1958).
[6] R. CRUMP,Product Engng 34, 81 (1963).
[7] B. J. O'BRIEN, C. S. WALLACEand K. LANDECKER,J. appl. Phys. 27, 820 (1956).
18] H. J. GOLDSMID,Applications ofThermoelectricity. Methuen, London (1960).
[9] E. S. RITTNER,J. appl. Phys. 30, 702 (1959).
[10] W. H. CL1NGMAN,Advd Energy Conversion 1, 61 (1961).
[11] E. ALTENKmCH,Phys. Z. 12, 920 (1911).
[12] A. F. IO~E, Semiconductor Elements and Thermoelectric Cooling. Infosearch Ltd., London (1957).
[13] P. W. COWLING,Optimization of Thermoelectric Cooling by the Use of Cascades, Ph.D. Thesis, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia (1966).

Optimization of a Thermoelectric Heat Pump Through Cascading

295

R6sum6---On pr6sente une 6tude de l'optimalisation du coefficient de fonctionnement (CdF) d'une pompe ~t
chaleur thermo61ectrique par remploi d'6tages disposes en cascade. Tout au long de ce travail, on suppose
que les conductivit6s thermiques et 61ectriques des 616ments de type n e t p sont les m6mes et sont constantes.
On suppose en outre que les r6sistances thermiques et 61ectriques de contact sont nulles et que l'616ment
est parfaitement isol6 sauf aux jonctions chaudes et froides. On montre que de petites variations, par rapport
aux valeurs optimales, des temp6ratures aux 6tages interm6diaires ont une influence n6gligeable sur le CdF
de l'ensemble. De plus, on montre que dans la plupart des cas la mise en cascade d'616ments ne procure
qu'un gain limit6 sur le CdF des pompes ~t chaleur thermo61ectrique.
Zusammenfassung--Es wird eine Studie fiber die Optimierung des Wirkungsgrades einer thermoelektrischen
W~irmepumpe durch den Gebrauch von Kaskadenstufen vorgelegt. In der Untersuchung wird angenommen,
dab die elektrische Leitf'~ihigkeit und die W~irmeleitf~ihigkeit der n- und p-Typ Elemente denselben Wert
haben und konstant sind. Es wird weiter angenommen, dal3 keine elektrischen und auch keine thermischen
Kontaktwiderst~inde vorhanden sind und dab das Element mit Ausnahme der heigen und kalten L6tstellen
vollst/indig isoliert ist. Es wird gezeigt, dab kleine Xnderungen fiber die optimalen Zwischenstufentemperaturen hinaus eine vernachl/issigbare Wirkung auf den Wirkungsgrad der Kaskade haben. Zus~itzlich wird
gezeigt, dab in vielen F/illen nur begrenzte Gewinne im Wirkungsgrad durch die Kaskadierung von thermoelektrischen W/irmepumpen erhalten werden.