Fabrication and Experimentation of a Thermally Efficient Multi-Stage Thermoelectric Cooler for Lightweight Cooling Wearables

Abstract

Current commercial off the shelves Thermoelectric coolers (TECs) are commonly used for electronics and they usually require big and bulky heat sinks to dissipate the heat generated. TECs are however attracting attention in recent years to provide localized cooling to humans, potentially reducing energy wastage while providing adequate thermal comfort outdoors. In this work, we show that by optimizing the internal structure of the TEC, namely its fill factor (FF), aspect ratio (AR) of the semi-conductor legs, as well as the number of stages, a thermally efficient TEC that can provide a cooling sensation of up to -10 ℃ can be fabricated without the need for any heatsink. To further investigate its suitability for human comfort, we integrated this TEC to a vest, resulting in a lightweight and ergonomically comfortable cooling vest prototype. This work also presents a quick prototyping methodology with simple laboratory equipment to fabricate the selected TEC for experimental validation.