Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347

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Applied Thermal Engineering

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a p t h e r m e n g

Research Paper

Advanced computational model for Peltier effect based refrigerators

A. Martinez a,b,*, D. Astrain a,b, A. Rodriguez a,b, P. Aranguren a,b
a Mechanical, Energy and Materials Engineering Department, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
b Smart Cities Institute, 31006 Pamplona, Spain

H I G H L I G H T S

Outperforms any other simulation model for thermoelectric refrigerators.

Transient state with temperature-dependent Seebeck, Peltier, Joule and Thomson.
Construction and testing of a prototype for model validation and verication.
10% of maximum deviation from experimental values of the main outputs.
Assessment of temperature-independent properties.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Computational models emerge as essential tools in the challenge of developing competitive thermo-
Received 6 August 2015 electric refrigerators for the domestic sector.
Accepted 8 November 2015 This paper presents a computational model for thermoelectric refrigerators that simulates the entire
Available online 1 December 2015
system under transient state, including the thermoelectric modules, heat exchangers, insulated com-
partments, and hot and cold reservoirs. Also, temperature-dependent Peltier, Seebeck, Thomson and Joule
Keywords:
effects are implemented.
Thermoelectric cooling
A prototype of a thermoelectric refrigerator has been built and tested to conduct the verication and
Thermoelectric refrigerator
Dynamic simulation model validation of the computational model. The most important outputs are predicted with deviations lower
Finite differences than 10%.
Experimental validation The effect on the outputs of temperature-independent properties has been assessed. Results indi-
cate that deviations are up to twice as high as those obtained for temperature-dependent properties, so
these simplications are invalid in the simulation of thermoelectric refrigerators under real operation.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction coolers, portable refrigerators, and high-quality beverage conser-

Thermoelectric refrigeration is the part of thermoelectrics that
involves the use of Peltier effect to transform electricity into heat
for cooling and/or heating [1]. A simple review of the literature in-
dicates that current research on thermoelectrics is mostly focussed
on thermoelectric generation heat is transformed into electrici-
ty by Seebeck effect given the promising future of this technology
on the eld of waste heat recovery for electricity generation.
However, the fact remains that the thermoelectric application with
the most signicant impact on the civil market up to now is the ther-
moelectric refrigerator [2]. Unlike niche applications developed for
military and medical sectors, and other emerging ones for solar-
hybrid and electronic cooling, the thermoelectric refrigerator has
already found a stable place in the civil market, emerging as a re-
liable alternative in the eld of low-power refrigeration. Car-seat
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 948 169309; fax: +34 948 169099.
E-mail address: alvaro.martinez@unavarra.es (A. Martinez).
vators are among these applications [2,3].
Compared to other refrigeration technologies, such as the most-
used systems based on vapour-compression and the emerging ones
based on Stirling cycles, a thermoelectric refrigerator presents im-
portant advantages [4]. The lack of moving parts and uids makes
them much more robust and reliable. Furthermore, the interior tem-
perature is easily governed by simple electronic controllers that
reduce its uctuation to less than a degree Celsius [5,6]. On the other
hand, the low eciency in the electricity-to-heat conversion is
keeping this technology from expanding towards more ambitious
elds [24]. In this sense, the development of a domestic refriger-
ator, based exclusively on thermoelectrics, and able to compete in
the civil market with those based on vapour-compression, would
boost thermoelectrics to a level never before experienced.
To progress to this stage, increased research efforts are neces-
sary in order to improve the cited eciency, not only on advanced
thermoelectric materials but also on enhanced heat transfer between
the system components. It is here where computational models
emerge as essential tools for design and optimization [13].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.11.021
1359-4311/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
340 A. Martinez et al./Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347
A common thermoelectric refrigerator is composed of thermo-
electric modules, a heat exchanger at either side of the modules and
an insulated compartment. In order for a computational model to
be a valid design and optimization tool for thermoelectric refrig-
erators, it must include all the system components and all the
temperature-dependent thermoelectric effects (Peltier, Seebeck,
Thomson and Joule). Furthermore, it must be able to simulate the
refrigerator under transient state, since this is the usual working
condition for most commercial thermoelectric refrigerators [5,7].
Up to now, no computational model meets all these demands.
On the one hand, literature indicates that models that include
transient conditions and temperature-dependent properties sim-
ulate only either the thermoelectric modules or the system composed
of modules and heat exchangers [715], thus excluding the insu-
lated chamber. These models have been used to study and optimize
the internal architecture of thermoelectric modules, with success-
ful results indeed. To conduct so, they always require as input
either the heat absorbed by the modules or the temperature at
the cold reservoir. In a real refrigerator, none of these parameters
are known beforehand, so they cannot be used as inputs. In fact,
they change over time during normal operation, and their varia-
tion rate is highly inuenced by the insulated compartment and
its interaction with the hot and cold reservoirs. Therefore, these
models are invalid to simulate a real thermoelectric refrigerator
under real operation.
On the other hand, those models that include all the compo-
nents have been forced to introduce signicant simplications in
the simulation of the thermoelectric modules. Temperature-
independent properties [1619], the exclusion of the Thomson effect
[1619] or no transient-state simulation [17,18] are the most
common simplications, thus rendering these models also invalid,
as demonstrated in section 5.2.
Therefore, the main objective of this work is to develop a com-
putational model for thermoelectric refrigerators that meets all the
cited requirements, namely inclusion of all the system compo-
nents, temperature-dependent thermoelectric properties, and
transient state.
The model is described in section 2. In parallel, section 3 pres-
ents the construction and testing of a prototype of thermoelectric
refrigerator that provides the experimental data used for the sub-
sequent verication and validation. The methodology for this process
is presented in section 4, and the results are presented in section
5. Finally, the main conclusions are set out in section 6.
2. Computational model: theory and application
2.1. Governing equations
Given a set of M thermoelectric modules, each one composed
of N thermoelectric pairs, connected electrically in series but ther-
mally in parallel, when electric voltage is applied, heat is absorbed
at the cold ends, whereas heat is emitted at the other ends, ac-
cording to the Peltier effect. Equation (1) presents this effect [20].
At the same time, heat is generated by the action of the Joule
effect, according to Eq. (2), the term in parentheses being the
electrical resistance of a thermoelectric pair with electrical con-
tacts [21]. In parallel, heat is either emitted or absorbed by the
Thomson effect, as indicated in Eq. (3) [22]. Peltier and Thomson
coecients of n-doped and p-doped legs are respectively derived
from Seebeck coecient by Kelvin relationships [20], presented by
Eqs. (4) and (5).
Q Peltier = I (n p )NM
Q Joule = I 2 ( pL p S p + nL n S n + 2 ps S p + 2 ns S n )NM
 
( )
Q Thomson = I Thot T cold ( p n )NM (3)
n,p = T n,p (4)
d n,p
n,p = T (5)
dT
Current intensity owing through the modules is calculated with
Eq. (6), the term in parentheses in the numerator being the voltage
created by Seebeck effect in each pair [22]. Finally, Eq. (7) pro-
vides the electric power consumed by all the thermoelectric modules.
V + (( p n )hot Thot ( p n )cold T cold (p n ) (Thot T cold ))N M
I=
(pLp S p + nL n S n + 2 sp S p + 2 sn S n )NM
(6)
W = VI (7)
Conduction heat transfer between all solid components is gov-
erned by the 3-d Fouriers law, whereas Newtons cooling law
describes the convective heat transfer. These are presented by Eqs. (8)
and (9) respectively [23].
T
k 2T + q c =0 (8)
t
q h T = 0 (9)
Finite difference is the method selected to build the computa-
tional model [24]. In particular, implicit nite difference is used,
which has proven reliability in the simulation of thermoelectric
systems [2528]. This method transforms Eqs. (8) and (9) into the
corresponding nite-difference expressions. In parallel, the system
is transformed into its electrical analogy (Fig. 1), which is com-
posed of 27 nodes, resistances, capacities and sources. A node
represents a system component or a part of it; resistances set the
heat transfer between nodes; capacities determine temperature vari-
ation rates; and sources introduce either generated or absorbed heat
ow rates.
2.2. Insulated compartment
This compartment is composed of the insulation structure, rep-
resented by the rst node on the left, and the interior air, represented
by the second one. Under normal operation, heat enters from the
outside through the thermal resistance Rins, and is extracted by the
thermoelectric modules. This thermal resistance is composed of
the conductive thermal resistance of the insulation material and the
inner and outer convective thermal resistances. The correspond-
ing surface area, thickness and thermal conductivity of the insulation
material, as well as inner and outer convective thermal coe-
cients, are inputs of the computational model. In addition, mass and
specic heat of the insulation structure and those of the interior
air determine the corresponding thermal capacities Cins and Cair.
2.3. Thermoelectric modules
As can be seen in Fig. 1, the thermoelectric modules are repre-
sented by 22 nodes, so as to capture its complex performance with
enough accuracy. All the n-doped legs are grouped into a single
branch, since they all are expected to exhibit equal temperature dis-
tributions. The same occurs with the p-doped legs. Each branch
presents 10 nodes, number proven to be large enough to provide
(1)
high accuracy on capturing the complex thermoelectric phenom-
ena, but small enough to entail short simulation time [2528]. A
(2) detailed description of thermal resistances, capacities and heat ow
 A. Martinez et al./Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347 341

rates that determine the performance of the thermoelectric modules normal operation temperature is around 0.025 W/mK, similar to that
can be found in Reference 28. Finally, Eq. (10) provides the current of common insulation materials. Therefore, no signicant heat ow
intensity owing through the legs once an external voltage is applied. rate is expected through this path.
This expression is obtained by including in Eq. (6) the correspond-
ing nodes of Fig. 1.
2.4. Heat exchangers
Tp1 Tp2
( p1 n1 )T1 ( p10 n10 )T10 p1 The cold-side heat exchanger comprises all the elements that
2 transfer heat from the interior air to the thermoelectric modules,
T T T T T T whereas the hot-side heat exchanger is composed of those that trans-
V + MN + n 1 n1 n 2 p10 p9 p10 + n10 n9 n10
2 2 2 fer heat from the modules to the ambient. Fig. 1 displays a nned
9
Tp( j1) Tp( j+1) Tn( j1) Tn( j+1) heat sink at either side of the modules, although heat pipes,
p( j)

2
n( j)
2
thermosyphons or simple plane plates could be mounted. The char-
I= j=2 (10)
L p 9 p1 p10 9 s acterization of these systems is complex, since convection,
+ + p( j) + 2 p conduction, contact and constriction take place, along with the pres-
S 2 2 S
MN
p j=2 p
ence of phase-change uids. That is the reason why a single node
s
L 9 9
represents each heat exchanger in the electrical analogy, and the
+ n n1
+ n10 + n( j) + 2 n
S n 2 2 j=2 S n thermal resistances (Rhe,hot; Rhe,cold) are directly model inputs. An ex-
perimental procedure is performed to calculate them, presented in
The model considers 1-d heat conduction across the legs, thus sections 4.1.3 and 4.1.4.
neglecting convective heat transfer between ceramic plates. The In parallel, specic heat and mass of each heat exchanger are the
reason is that the gap between plates in a module is so short com- model inputs that determine the thermal capacities (Che,hot; Che,cold).
pared to length and width that air between them does not ow Finally, thermal resistance Rinter is introduced to simulate the
and virtually behaves like a solid [29]. Air thermal conductivity for heat transferred directly from the hot to the cold heat exchanger,

Fig. 1. General schematic and electrical analogy of a thermoelectric refrigerator.

342 A. Martinez et al./Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347
bypassing the thermoelectric modules through the insulation ma-
terial between exchangers.
2.5. Model structure
Equations (8) and (9) are transformed into nite-difference equa-
tions and subsequently solved to calculate all the temperatures for
time instant t. Then, temperature-dependent properties (Seebeck
coecient, thermal conductivity and electric resistivity of semi-
conductor legs) are updated and used to update the electrical
parameters (Eqs. (7) and (10)), heat ow rates (Eqs. (1)(3)), thermal
resistances and thermal capacities. Then, temperatures for t + t are
derived again with Eqs. (8) and (9). Each time step represents the
real system status, so transient operation of the thermoelectric re-
frigerator is simulated. Fig. 2 displays the model owchart. Matlab
is the language used to create the code.
The input parameters are initial temperatures and ambient tem-
perature; thermal conductivity of the insulation material and
convective coecients; temperature-dependent functions for thermal
conductivity, Seebeck coecient, electrical resistivity and surface
electrical resistivity of the legs; dimensions of all the compo-
nents, specic heat and density; number of thermoelectric modules
and pairs per module; electric voltage supplied to the modules;
thermal resistances of the heat exchangers.
The model provides as outputs the time evolution of all tem-
peratures and heat ow rates, current intensity, electric power
consumption and coecient of performance.
Fig. 2. Flowchart of the computational model.
Fig. 3. Prototype of a thermoelectric refrigerator and detail of the hot side heat
exchanger.
3. Prototype of a thermoelectric refrigerator
Fig. 3 presents the thermoelectric refrigerator. It comprises an
insulation compartment with inner height = 0.360 m, outer
height = 0.503 m, inner width = 0.425 m, outer width = 0.560 m, inner
depth = 0.405 m, and outer depth = 0.552 m. Two Marlow RC12-
6L thermoelectric modules [30], with 40 40 mm2 of base area, are
mounted between two heat exchangers, and connected in series to
a Grelco GVD electric power supply [31].
The heat exchanger at the hot side includes a nned heat sink
and two Sunon KDE1208PTS1-6 axial fans [32], with up to 5.2 W
of electric power consumption. On the other end, the heat ex-
changer comprises a nned heat sink, under natural convection, and
a cold extender. Both heat sinks are made out of aluminium and
present a base of 155 155 12 mm3. Additionally, 23 ns with di-
mensions 155 23 1.5 mm3 are mounted over them. The cold
extender is a 60-mm-long aluminium prism, with 40 80 mm2 of
base area. Finally, Ahlborn T190-0 NiCr-Ni thermo-wires [33] are
used as temperature sensors, which are connected to an Ahlborn
Almemo 5690-1M09 data acquisition system [34].
4. Methodology for model verication and validation (V&V)
The main objective of V&V is to assess whether or not the per-
formance of the prototype is predicted by the model, and estimate
the deviations from experimental values of the main outputs [35].
To conduct this process, rstly, section 4.1 presents the values of
the inputs used to simulate the prototype. All of these are either
derived from the literature or calculated analytically, except for the
thermal resistance of the heat exchangers and that of the insula-
tion compartment, which require prior experimental tests. Then,
the V&V criterion is presented in section 4.2. The uncertainty anal-
ysis applied to the experimental study can be seen in the Appendix
[36]. For all the experimental tests, 95% of condence level is applied.
The input variables used in all the experimental tests are the tem-
peratures (T) measured by the NiCr-Ni sensors, and the voltage (V)
and electric current (I) supplied by the power source. After the cor-
responding calibration, the systematic uncertainties turn out to be
respectively BT = 0.3 C, BV = 0.1 V and BI = 0.05 A.
4.1. Simulation of the thermoelectric refrigerator
4.1.1. Marlow RC12-6L modules
Table 1 presents the values of the input parameters concerning
the thermoelectric modules and the corresponding sources of
information.
4.1.2. Insulation compartment
As indicated in section 2.2, the model requires the thermal ca-
pacity of the enclosed air (Cair) and that of the insulation material
(Cins), as well as the thermal resistance of the compartment (Rins).
 A. Martinez et al./Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347 343

Table 1 The thermal resistance (Rhe,hot) is obtained experimentally based on

Characteristics of the Marlow RC12-6L thermoelectric module.
M 2 - N 127
Sp = S n 1.4 1.4 mm Measured Sce,hot = Sce,cold 40.1 40.1 mm
L p = Ln 1.5 mm Measured Lce,hot = Lce,cold 0.8 mm
p = n 7530 kg/m3 [37] ce,hot = ce,cold 3570 kg/m3
cp = c n 544 J/kgK [37] cce,hot = cce,cold 837J/kgK
sp = sn 108 m2 [18] kce,hot = kce,cold 35.3W/mK
p = n 106(0.002025T 2 + 1.423448T 44.953611) V/K
kp = k n 0.000029 T2 0.019593T + 4.809677 W/mK
p = n 106(0.043542T 2.754139) m
The rst value is easily calculated, given that the inner volume
is 0.062 m3, and the density and specic heat of air at refrigera-
tion temperatures (around 010 C) are respectively 1.25 kg/m3 and
1003 J/kgK [23]. As for the second, volume of insulation material
is 0.093 m3, composed basically of polyurethane with density of
40 kg/m3 and specic heat of 1674 J/kgK.
Finally, the compartment thermal resistance cannot be calcu-
lated analytically, given the special complexity and wide range of
variations of the convective coecients [23], the existence of a mag-
netic joint at the door, etc. The uncertainty introduced by all these
elements could lead to such uncertainty in the outputs that wrong
conclusions could be drawn from the V&V process. For this the
reason, the following experimental procedure is used.
A heating resistor is introduced inside the original cooling com-
partment (that is, before installing the modules and exchangers).
This resistor is connected to the electric power supply to intro-
duce a controllable heat ow rate. Then, two sensors measure the
temperature of the inner air, whereas another one measures the
ambient temperature. The thermal resistance is calculated with
the general expression presented by Eq. (11) [23]. The test is rep-
licated twice and the results are shown in Table 2.
R = T
VI
the following procedure.
Measured Two heating resistors, equal in size to two Marlow thermoelec-
Measured tric modules, are attached to the base of the heat sink and connected
Measured to the power supply. The bottom part of the assembly is thor-
[37] oughly insulated. In parallel, two sensors measure the temperature
[37] at the interface, whereas another measures the ambient tempera-
[37]
[37]
ture. The thermal resistance is calculated with Eq. (11). The test is
[37] replicated twice and the results are shown in Table 3 on the left.
[37] Finally, the thermal resistance of the hot side heat exchanger turns
out to be 0.091 0.005 K/W, quite similar to that obtained in pre-
vious works [38,39], where an analogous heat exchanger is
experimentally analysed.
4.1.4. Cold side heat exchanger
In the rst place, the joint mass of the heat sink and cold ex-
tender (1.483 kg) and the specic heat of the aluminium provide
the thermal capacity of this heat exchanger (Che,cold).
Secondly, the thermal resistance (Rhe,cold) is obtained by adding
the thermal resistance of the nned sink to that of the extender.
The latter turns out to be 0.093 K/W, given its dimensions and the
thermal conductivity of the aluminium (202.4 W/mK). As for the
former, an experimental test is set up, similar to that presented
in section 4.1.3. The results are shown in Table 3 on the right,
which gives a thermal resistance of the nned heat sink of
1.305 0.079 K/W, in accordance with previous experimental works
with similar heat exchangers [40]. Therefore, the thermal resis-
tance of the cold-side heat exchanger gives 1.398 0.079 K/W.
Finally, the bypassing thermal resistance (R inter ) becomes
105.948 K/W, since 0.029 W/mK is the thermal conductivity of poly-
urethane, 0.064 m is the thickness of the polyurethane layer between
exchangers, and 0.02083 m2 is the base area of a heat sink less the
(11) base area of two thermoelectric modules.

An average value of 2.406 K/W and a standard deviation of

0.008 K/W are obtained. Coverage factor of 4.303 is applied to a
t-distribution with 2 degrees of freedom and a 95% condence level
[36]. The maximum value of 0.152 is taken for the systematic un-
certainty. Then, the thermal resistance of the original compartment
turns out to be 2.406 0.157 K/W. Once the modules and exchang-
ers are installed (so that a block of insulation material with a base
area of 155 155 mm2 is removed), the thermal resistance Rins turns
out to be 2.443 0.157 K/W.
4.1.3. Hot side heat exchanger
The thermal capacity of this component (Che,hot) is derived from
its mass (0.981 kg) and the specic heat of aluminium (900 J/kgK).
Table 2
Calculation of the compartment thermal resistance.
V (V) I (A) Taverageair (C) Tamb (C) Rins (K/W)
4.2. V&V criterion
As indicated in section 1, the computational model must sim-
ulate the performance of a thermoelectric refrigerator in both steady
and transient states, so the outputs used to conduct the V&V must
include variables connected to both of them. The following proce-
dure is proposed.
The prototype is put into a climatic chamber and the ambient
temperature and humidity are set respectively at 25 C and 50%. The
fans of the hot exchanger are supplied at maximum power. Once
all the components are at ambient temperature, the thermoelec-
tric modules are powered with a constant voltage. All temperatures
gradually stabilize until steady state is reached, completing the
experiment.
The parameters used for the V&V are:
Electric power supplied to the modules once steady state is es-
tablished ( W ).
BRins (K/W)

5.00 1.02 37.8 25.6 2.390 0.151

5.02 1.03 37.9 25.4 2.418 0.151
Temperature difference between the interior air and the ambient
in steady state (Tamb Tair).
5.00 1.02 37.9 25.6 2.412 0.152
Time required by this last variable to reach 10 C (t10).

Table 3
Calculation of the thermal resistance of the nned heat sink.

Forced convection Natural convection

V (V) I (A) T (C) R (K/W) BR (K/W) V (V) I (A) T (C) R (K/W) BR (K/W)

30.01 3.00 8.1 0.090 0.005 10.01 1.01 13.2 1.306 0.078
30.02 3.01 8.3 0.092 0.005 10.00 1.01 13.2 1.307 0.078
30.01 3.01 8.2 0.091 0.005 9.98 1.00 13.0 1.303 0.079
344 A. Martinez et al./Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347

See that outputs one and two are directly connected to steady
state, whereas the last one relates to transient performance. The test
is conducted for 8, 16 and 24 V of voltage applied to the modules
and is replicated twice. It should be remembered that the modules
are connected electrically in series and each one is able to operate
at a maximum voltage of 12 V.
The V&V uses the uncertainty analysis presented in the Appen-
dix and establishes that the model is accepted provided that all the
simulated values fall within the corresponding 95%-condence in-
terval for the mean, formed by the three experimental values.
Equation (A1) is used to obtain these condence intervals.
5. Results
5.1. System validation
power consumption of the thermoelectric modules with 95% of de-
viations lying on the global condence interval [7.31; 1.99].
Similarly, 95% of deviations for the temperature difference
between the inner air and the ambient provide a global con-
dence interval of [7.54; 4.15], whereas those for the time required
to reduce the temperature of the interior by 10 C lie on the global
condence interval of [5.58; 9.95]. Therefore, a general value of
10% can be established to indicate the accuracy of the computa-
tional model.
Coecient of operation (COP) can be calculated with Eq. (13),
becoming 0.33 0.05, 0.19 0.02 and 0.09 0.01 for the experi-
mental tests with 8, 16 and 24 V respectively. The corresponding
simulated values are 0.34, 0.17 and 0.09. As expected all these are
extremely low compared to vapour compression systems, and de-
crease with applied voltage [2,3,5].

Table 4 shows the experimental values of the three outputs, the
corresponding averages and overall uncertainties, and the simu-
lated values provided by the computational model. Deviations
between simulated and experimental values are provided by Eq. (12).
Again, Eq. (A1) is used to obtain the condence intervals for the
deviations.
exp-sim
Deviation = 100
sim
Firstly, the V&V is successfully achieved, since the nine con-
dence intervals include the corresponding simulated value. As
expected, increasing voltages lead to higher electric power con-
sumptions of the thermoelectric modules and higher air-to-
ambient temperature differences. Likewise, less time is required to
lower the interior temperature by 10 C.
Secondly, regarding the electric power consumption of the ther-
moelectric modules, condence intervals for the deviations between
simulated and experimental values are 2.78 4.53, 0.00 1.99 and
0.74 1.59, for 8, 16 and 24 V, respectively, as the last columns in
Table 4 indicate. The lowest value is 7.31, which corresponds to the
lowest value obtained for 8 V, whereas the highest value is 1.99,
which corresponds to the highest value obtained for 16 V. There-
fore, the computational model can be said to simulate the electric
(T amb T air )
R ins
COP = (13)
W + W fan
5.2. Thermoelectric module validation: inuence of
temperature-dependent parameters
(12) Additionally, a specic test for V&V of the thermoelectric module
has been conducted, since this is the most complex element in the
thermoelectric refrigerator, and its performance might be masked
in the V&V of the global system.
All the nodes, resistances and capacities are removed from the
model, except for those representing the thermoelectric module.
Its hot side temperature is set to 50 C; then 4, 8 and 12 V are sup-
plied. Simulated values of current intensity (I), temperature difference
between ends (Tm), and heat ow rate extracted by the modules
(Q ext ) are compared to those provided by the manufacturer [30]
under two scenarios: Q ext = 0 , and T = 0.
Table 5 provides the results, where deviations are calculated
with Eq. (12). Since the manufacturer does not provide con-
dence intervals for these outputs, the highest deviation determines
whether or not the model predicts with enough accuracy the per-
formance of the thermoelectric module. Since all deviations fall

Table 4
Results of the verication and validation.

Experiment Deviations (%) Simulation Deviations (%)

Mean O Mean O

8V W (W) 10.5 10.4 10.6 10.50 0.49 10.8 2.78 4.53

Tamb Tair (C) 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.60 0.49 13.1 3.82 3.72
t10 (min) 126 128 123 125.7 6.3 120 4.72 5.23
16 V W (W) 44.5 44.3 44.4 44.40 0.88 44.4 0.00 1.99
Tamb Tair (C) 20.5 20.2 20.4 20.37 0.57 20.1 1.33 2.82
t10 (min) 55 56 55 55.3 1.5 57 2.92 2.66
24 V W (W) 98.9 98.3 98.2 98.47 1.58 99.2 0.74 1.59
Tamb Tair (C) 22.6 22.2 22.3 22.37 0.63 22.2 0.75 3.00
t10 (min) 49 50 48 49.0 2.5 47 4.26 5.39

Table 5
Results of the verication and validation for the thermoelectric module Marlow RC12-6L.

Manufacturer Simulation Deviations

I (A) Tm (C) Q ext (W) I (A) Tm (C) Q ext (W) I (%) Tm (%) Q ext (%)
4V Q ext 1.00 30.0 - 0.99 29.2 - 1.0 2.7
Tm = 0 1.60 25.0 1.59 - 25.5 0.6 2.0
8V Q ext 2.40 52.0 2.26 50.6 - 6.2 2.8
Tm = 0 3.10 44.0 3.15 44.3 1.6 - 0.7
12 V Q ext 3.70 67.0 3.76 62.8 - 1.6 6.7 -
Tm = 0 4.50 55.0 4.65 56.0 3.2 - 1.8
 A. Martinez et al./Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347 345

Table 6
Results of the verication and validation for the thermoelectric module Marlow RC12-6L with constant properties.

Manufacturer Simulation Deviations

I (A) Tm (C) Q ext (W) I (A) Tm (C) Q ext (W) I (%) Tm (%) Q ext (%)
4V Q ext 1.00 30.0 1.1 29.3 9.1 2.4
Tm = 0 1.60 25.0 1.73 24.5 7.5 2.0
8V Q
ext 2.40 52.0 2.36 51.0 1.7 2.0
Tm = 0 3.10 44.0 3.46 42.2 10.4 4.3
12 V Q
ext 3.70 67.0 3.80 64.6 2.6 3.7
Tm = 0 4.50 55.0 5.19 52.9 13.3 4.0

Fig. 4. Absolute value of deviations for temperature-dependent properties (cross)
and constant properties (dot).
within 10% the highest being 6.7% the V&V of the model is suc-
cessfully achieved.
Furthermore, Table 6 presents a similar test but introduces the
thermoelectric properties as temperature-independent. Seebeck co-
ecient, thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity are set
respectively at 200 V/K, 1.54 W/mK and 0.01 mm, provided by
the corresponding equations in Table 1 at 300 K. Thomson effect dis-
appears, as Eq. (5) indicates.
When absolute values of all deviations are plotted together, as
Fig. 4 shows, one can see that deviations generally increase when
constant properties are considered, being up to twice as high as
those obtained for variable (temperature-dependent) properties.
Furthermore, this fact gains relevance as the supplied voltage in-
creases and large temperature gradients appear in the legs. In this
regard, it must be noted that the most used control system for the
interior temperature of a thermoelectric refrigerator is the on/off
[5,17]. This controller introduces a pattern for the voltage sup-
plied to the modules, alternating periods at maximum voltage
and periods at zero voltage. Therefore, temperature-independent
properties could lead to incorrect predictions when simulating
the performance of real thermoelectric refrigerators under normal
operation.
6. Conclusions
This paper goes in line with this objective and presents a com-
putational model for thermoelectric refrigerators that outperforms
any other model in this eld. It simulates the thermoelectric modules,
heat exchangers, insulated compartments, and hot and cold
reservoirs, including the temperature-dependent Peltier, Seebeck,
Thomson and Joule effects. Furthermore, it simulates the entire
system under transient state, thus standing out as a valid design
and optimization tool for thermoelectric refrigerators.
A prototype of thermoelectric refrigerator has been built and
tested to obtain experimental data for verication and validation
of the computational model. The corresponding statistical analy-
sis indicates that the model predicts the most important parameters
with deviations lower than 10%. Specically, 95% of the devia-
tions between experimental and simulated values of the electric
power consumption of the thermoelectric modules come within the
interval [7.31%; 1.99%]; likewise, the interval [7.54%; 4.15%] in-
cludes 95% of the deviations between experimental and simulated
values of the temperature difference between the interior air
and the ambient; additionally, the interval [5.58%; 9.95%] does so
for the time required to lower the temperature of the inner air by
10 C.
The model has been used to assess the effect on the outputs of
considering temperature-independent properties. It has been dem-
onstrated that deviations are even twice as high as those obtained
for temperature-dependent properties, so these simplications are
invalid in the simulation of thermoelectric refrigerators under real
operation.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy
and Competitiveness and FEDER Funds (DPI2014-53158-R) for sup-
porting this work.
Appendix
Every output experimental variable Y, depending on X1, X2, ,
Xn uncorrelated input variables, is provided along with its overall
uncertainty (OY) to form the corresponding condence interval, as
shown in Eq. (A1). The overall uncertainty is a combination of the
systematic uncertainty (BY) and the random uncertainty (PY), the
former being calculated with Eq. (A2), whereas the latter is pro-
vided by Eq. (A3). In this equation, t represents the coverage factor
corresponding to the t-distribution for N replications, whereas S Y
stands for the standard deviation for the average, calculated with
Eq. (A4).

Y O Y = Y B Y2 + PY2 (A1)
Up to now, the thermoelectric application with the most signif-
icant impact on the civil market is the thermoelectric refrigerator, 2 2 2
exhibiting high reliability and robustness for low-power demand. Y 2 Y 2 Y 2
B Y2 = B + B ++ B (A2)
The challenge now is the development of thermoelectric refrigera- X 1 X1 X 2 X2 X n Xn
tors able to compete with vapour-compression ones in the domestic
PY2 = (tS Y )
2
sector. (A3)
346 A. Martinez et al./Applied Thermal Engineering 95 (2016) 339347

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