KR101670229B1 - Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same Download PDF

Info

Publication number
KR101670229B1
KR101670229B1 KR1020150042493A KR20150042493A KR101670229B1 KR 101670229 B1 KR101670229 B1 KR 101670229B1 KR 1020150042493 A KR1020150042493 A KR 1020150042493A KR 20150042493 A KR20150042493 A KR 20150042493A KR 101670229 B1 KR101670229 B1 KR 101670229B1
Authority
KR
South Korea
Prior art keywords
thermoelectric material
thermoelectric
sintered
type
type thermoelectric
Prior art date
Application number
KR1020150042493A
Other languages
Korean (ko)
Other versions
KR20160115240A (en
Inventor
백승협
김진상
현도빈
권범진
김성근
강종윤
최지원
Original Assignee
한국과학기술연구원
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by 한국과학기술연구원 filed Critical 한국과학기술연구원
Priority to KR1020150042493A priority Critical patent/KR101670229B1/en
Publication of KR20160115240A publication Critical patent/KR20160115240A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of KR101670229B1 publication Critical patent/KR101670229B1/en

Links

Images

Classifications

    • H01L35/32—
    • H01L35/02—
    • H01L35/14—
    • H01L35/34—

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thermoelectric module that can simplify resistance matching by minimizing a resistance difference between a sintered thermoelectric material and a single crystal thermoelectric material in combination with a sintered thermoelectric material and a single crystal thermoelectric material to form a thermoelectric module, The thermoelectric module according to the present invention includes a plurality of thermoelectric cells comprising a p-type thermoelectric material and an n-type thermoelectric material, and one of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material includes a sintered thermoelectric material Wherein one of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material includes a sintered thermoelectric material, a diffusion preventing layer provided on both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material to prevent solid phase diffusion of the material, And a metal block layer provided on at least one of the diffusion preventing layers of the metal block layer, And has a lower electrical resistance value than the sintered thermoelectric material.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a thermoelectric module and a manufacturing method thereof,

The present invention relates to a thermoelectric module and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a thermoelectric module in which a sintered thermoelectric material and a single crystal thermoelectric material are combined to minimize a resistance difference between a sintered thermoelectric material and a single crystal thermoelectric material, And a thermoelectric module capable of improving thermoelectric performance and a method of manufacturing the thermoelectric module.

The thermoelectric module utilizes the Peltier effect or the Seebeck effect of a thermoelectric element and is used as a cooling device utilizing a Peltier effect in which one end generates heat and the other end absorbs heat when electricity is applied to the thermoelectric element And when the temperature difference is applied to both ends of the thermoelectric element, it can be used as a power generation device utilizing the Seebeck effect in which an electromotive force is generated. 1, the thermoelectric module includes a p-type thermoelectric material 111 and an n-type thermoelectric material 112, which are electrically connected in series and thermally connected in parallel .

The performance of the thermoelectric module is directly determined by the thermoelectric properties of the thermoelectric material as well as the structure of the module (figure of merit). The temperature at which the thermoelectric performance index is optimized differs for each thermoelectric material, and bismuth-tellurium (Be-Ti) type alloy is known to exhibit the best thermoelectric performance index at room temperature. Accordingly, a single crystal type bismuth-tellurium series alloy is widely used as a thermoelectric material. However, the single crystal thermoelectric material has the following problems. First, monocrystalline bismuth-tellurium-based alloys have Van der Waals bonds and are fragile. This is a high probability of cracking during processing of thermoelectric materials and module assembly, which causes the defect rate to increase. Secondly, a zone melting method is generally used in the production of a single crystal. The ingot formed by the joining method has a compositional deviation, which cuts the upper part and the lower part, .

In order to overcome the problems of such a single crystal thermoelectric material, a method of using a thermoelectric material of a sintered body instead of a single crystal thermoelectric material has recently been proposed. At present, the p-type thermoelectric material produced by the sintering method exhibits characteristics close to that of the single crystal p-type thermoelectric material, and the n-type thermoelectric material produced by the sintering method is known to have a much lower thermoelectric characteristic than the single crystal n-type thermoelectric material. Therefore, a method using a sintered thermoelectric material for the p-type and a single crystal thermoelectric material for the n-type is proposed as an alternative. Even if p-type thermoelectric materials are used, sintered thermoelectric materials can increase price competitiveness.

On the other hand, the resistance of the sintered thermoelectric material is higher than that of the single crystal thermoelectric material, and resistance matching is required when the sintered thermoelectric material is applied. Specifically, since the thermoelectric module is a structure in which a p-type thermoelectric material and an n-type thermoelectric material are serially connected, the voltage applied to each of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n- It is proportional to the resistance of each material. The resistance of the p-type thermoelectric material and the resistance of the n-type thermoelectric material are different, and the thermoelectric performance is degraded when the voltages applied to the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material are different. FIG. 2A shows resistance and performance characteristics of a thermoelectric module using only a single crystal thermoelectric material, and FIG. 2B shows resistance and performance characteristics of a thermoelectric module using a sintered thermoelectric material (p) and a single crystal thermoelectric material (n). Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, when the sintered thermoelectric material p and the single crystal thermoelectric material n are mixed, the resistance between the thermoelectric materials is different and the performance of the thermoelectric module is deteriorated. For this reason, a resistance matching process is required in which the resistance of the p-type thermoelectric material and the resistance of the n-type thermoelectric material are designed to be the same. For such resistance matching, a method of redesigning the area of the thermoelectric module, the area of the metal wiring, the area and the height of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material is conventionally adopted.

Korean Patent Publication No. 2008-93512 Korea Patent Publication No. 2010-116749 Korea Patent Publication No. 2013-35016

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems and it is an object of the present invention to simplify the resistance matching by minimizing the resistance difference between the sintered thermoelectric material and the single crystal thermoelectric material in constituting the thermoelectric module by combining the sintered thermoelectric material and the single crystal thermoelectric material And to provide a thermoelectric module and a manufacturing method thereof that can improve the thermoelectric performance together.

The thermoelectric module according to the present invention includes a plurality of thermoelectric cells each made of a p-type thermoelectric material and an n-type thermoelectric material, and one of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material includes a sintered thermoelectric material Wherein at least one of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material includes a sintered thermoelectric material, a diffusion preventing layer provided on both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material to prevent solid phase diffusion of the material, And a metal block layer provided on at least one of the diffusion preventing layers at both ends, wherein the metal block layer has a lower electrical resistance value than the sintered thermoelectric material.

Wherein one of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material includes a sintered thermoelectric material and the other is made of a single crystal thermoelectric material, and the geometric shape of the metal block layer is controlled, The difference in resistance of the thermoelectric material can be controlled.

Type thermoelectric material in the thermoelectric cell and the n-type thermoelectric material in the thermoelectric cell, and the first metal wiring electrically connects the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material in the thermoelectric cell, 2 metal wiring electrically connects the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material of the adjacent thermoelectric cell.

When the metal block layer is provided at one end of the p-type thermoelectric material, the metal block layer is connected to the first metal wiring or the second metal wiring. When the metal block layer is provided at both ends of the p- And when the metal block layer is not provided, the diffusion preventing layer is connected to the first metal wiring or the second metal wiring.

The metal block layer may be made of any one of Cu, Ni, and Al, and the diffusion preventing layer may be made of Ni or a Ni-based alloy.

A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric module according to the present invention is a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric module including a plurality of thermoelectric cells comprising a p-type thermoelectric material and an n-type thermoelectric material, wherein one of the p- Wherein at least one of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material comprises a thermoelectric material; Forming a diffusion preventing layer on both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material; And forming a metal block layer on at least one of the diffusion preventing layers at both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material.

The thermoelectric module according to the present invention and its manufacturing method have the following effects.

In forming the thermoelectric module by using the sintered thermoelectric material and the crystalline thermoelectric material, the metal block layer for resistance matching is provided on one side of the sintered thermoelectric material to minimize the resistance difference between the sintered thermoelectric material and the crystalline thermoelectric material, Performance can be improved.

1 is a configuration diagram of a conventional thermoelectric module.
Figure 2a shows the resistance and performance characteristics of a thermoelectric module using only a single crystal thermoelectric material.
Fig. 2b shows the resistance and performance characteristics of the thermoelectric module using the sintered thermoelectric material (p) and the single crystal thermoelectric material (n).
3 is a configuration diagram of a thermoelectric module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4A to 4C are schematic views of a p-type thermoelectric material including a sintered thermoelectric material according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method of forming a p-type thermoelectric material and an n-type thermoelectric material by using a sintered thermoelectric material and a single crystal thermoelectric material, respectively, wherein a sintered thermoelectric material and a single crystal thermoelectric material A technique for minimizing the resistance difference is presented. Hereinafter, a thermoelectric module and a method of manufacturing the same according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

3, the thermoelectric module according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of thermoelectric cells 30. The thermoelectric cell 30 includes a p-type thermoelectric material 310 and an n-type thermoelectric material 320, . The plurality of thermoelectric cells 30 are repeatedly disposed adjacent to each other so that the p-type thermoelectric material 310 and the n-type thermoelectric material 320 are repeatedly arranged alternately.

The p-type thermoelectric material 310 and the n-type thermoelectric material 320 constituting the thermoelectric cell 30 are electrically connected to each other through the first metal wiring 331 and are electrically connected to each other through the second metal wiring 332 Type thermoelectric material 320 and the p-type thermoelectric material 310 of the thermoelectric cells 30 adjacent to each other. That is, the first metal interconnection 331 is provided on one end side of the thermoelectric cell 30 and the second metal interconnection 332 is provided on the other end side, and the first metal interconnection 331 is provided in the thermoelectric cell 30 The p-type thermoelectric material 310 and the n-type thermoelectric material 320 are electrically connected to each other. The second metal wiring 332 electrically connects the p-type thermoelectric material 310 and the n- 320 are electrically connected.

One of the p-type thermoelectric material 310 and the n-type thermoelectric material 320 includes a sintered thermoelectric material 311 and the other is made of a single crystal thermoelectric material. In one embodiment, the p-type thermoelectric material 310 may include a sintered thermoelectric material 311, and the n-type thermoelectric material 320 may be a single crystal thermoelectric material. The sintered thermoelectric material 311 is manufactured by sintering thermoelectric powder, and the single crystal thermoelectric material means a thermoelectric material having a single crystal structure. As the method of manufacturing the sintered thermoelectric material 311, any one of a cold compression method, a hot compression method, and a spark plasma sintering method may be used. In the following description, the p-type thermoelectric material 310 includes the sintered thermoelectric material 311, and the n-type thermoelectric material 320 is made of a single crystal thermoelectric material.

The p-type thermoelectric material 310 including the sintered thermoelectric material 311 has the following structure. 4A to 4C, the p-type thermoelectric material 310 includes a sintered thermoelectric material 311, a diffusion preventing layer 312, and a metal block layer 313.

The diffusion barrier 312 is provided on both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material 311 and the metal block layer 313 is formed on at least one of the diffusion preventing layers 312 at both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material 311 Is provided on at least one diffusion prevention layer 312. The diffusion preventing layer 312 and the metal block layer 313 are sequentially stacked on the sintered thermoelectric material 311. The metal block layer 313 is formed on one side of the p- (See Figs. 4B and 4C) or at both ends (see Fig. 4A).

The metal block layer 313 is connected to the first metal wiring 331 or the second metal wiring 332 when the p-type thermoelectric material 310 is provided at one end of the p- And is connected to the first metal interconnection line 331 and the second metal interconnection line 332, respectively. When the metal block layer 313 is not provided, the diffusion preventing layer 312 is connected to the first metal wiring 331 or the second metal wiring 332.

The diffusion preventing layer 312 serves to prevent solid state diffusion of the material and includes a solid phase diffusion or sintering thermoelectric material 311 between the sintered thermoelectric material 311 and the metal wiring and a metal block layer 313 To prevent diffusion of the solid phase between the cathode and the cathode. The diffusion preventing layer 312 may be made of Ni or a Ni-based alloy, and may be formed on the sintered thermoelectric material 311 through electroplating.

The metal block layer 313 is made of a material having a lower electrical resistance than the sintered thermoelectric material 311 to lower the overall electrical resistance of the p-type thermoelectric material 310. For the Bi-Te based thermoelectric material sintered 311, approximately 10 -3 Ω o has a specific resistance value of cm, In the metal blocking layer 313 is preferably made of a material having a smaller specific resistance than 10 -3 Ω cm o And may be made of any one of Cu, Ni, and Al as one embodiment. For reference, the resistivity of Cu, Ni, Al, etc. is about 10 -5 Ω · cm. The metal block layer 313 may be formed on the diffusion preventing layer 312 by soldering using tin (Sn), or by a method such as screen printing or sputtering.

In the thermoelectric module according to an embodiment of the present invention, the p-type thermoelectric material 310 includes the sintered thermoelectric material 311 and the metal block layer 313, The material 320 is made of a single crystal thermoelectric material and the p type thermoelectric material 310 includes a metal block layer 313 having a lower electrical resistance than the sintered thermoelectric material 311, The total electrical resistance value of the sintered thermoelectric material 311 can be adjusted by controlling the length (or the geometric shape) of the sintered thermoelectric material 311. The overall electrical resistance of the sintered thermoelectric material 311 can be controlled by controlling the geometry of the metal block layer 313 by controlling the geometry of the metal block layer 313, And the resistance of the n-type thermoelectric material 320 can be adjusted to be substantially equal to each other. In the conventional case, the area of the thermoelectric module, the area of the metal wiring, the area of the p-type thermoelectric material 310 and the area of the n-type thermoelectric material 320 for resistance matching between the p-type thermoelectric material 310 and the n- The area and the height of the metal block layer 313 are required. However, in the case of the present invention, resistance matching can be performed only by geometric shape control of the metal block layer 313.

In the above description, the vertical type thermoelectric module has been described as one embodiment. However, the thermoelectric module according to the present invention may be applied to both the horizontal thermoelectric module in which thermoelectric cells are horizontally arranged, and the tubular thermoelectric module in which thermoelectric cells are arranged in a cylindrical shape. Can be applied.

30: thermoelectric cell 310: p-type thermoelectric material
311: sintered thermoelectric material 312: diffusion preventing layer
313: metal block layer 320: n-type thermoelectric material
331: first metal wiring 332: second metal wiring

Claims (11)

a plurality of thermoelectric cells comprising a p-type thermoelectric material and an n-type thermoelectric material,
Wherein the p-type thermoelectric material comprises a sintered thermoelectric material, the n-type thermoelectric material is composed of a single crystal thermoelectric material,
The p-
Sintered thermoelectric material,
A diffusion preventing layer provided on both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material to prevent solid phase diffusion of the material,
And a metal block layer provided on at least one of the diffusion preventing layers at both ends of the sintered thermoelectric material,
Wherein the metal block layer has a lower electrical resistance value than the sintered thermoelectric material,
Wherein a resistance difference between the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material is controlled by controlling the geometry of the metal block layer.
delete 2. The thermoelectric conversion device according to claim 1, wherein a first metal wiring is provided on one end side of the thermoelectric cell and a second metal wiring is provided on the other end side, And the second metal interconnection electrically connects the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material of the neighboring thermoelectric cells.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the metal block layer is connected to a first metal interconnection or a second metal interconnection when the metal block layer is provided at one end of the p-type thermoelectric material, And a second metal wiring,
Wherein the diffusion preventing layer is connected to the first metal wiring or the second metal wiring when the metal block layer is not provided.
The thermoelectric module according to claim 1, wherein the metal block layer is formed of any one of Cu, Ni, and Al.
The thermoelectric module according to claim 1, wherein the diffusion preventing layer is Ni or a Ni-based alloy.
delete delete delete delete delete
KR1020150042493A 2015-03-26 2015-03-26 Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same KR101670229B1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR1020150042493A KR101670229B1 (en) 2015-03-26 2015-03-26 Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR1020150042493A KR101670229B1 (en) 2015-03-26 2015-03-26 Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
KR20160115240A KR20160115240A (en) 2016-10-06
KR101670229B1 true KR101670229B1 (en) 2016-10-28

Family

ID=57164816

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
KR1020150042493A KR101670229B1 (en) 2015-03-26 2015-03-26 Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same

Country Status (1)

Country Link
KR (1) KR101670229B1 (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR20200032838A (en) * 2018-09-19 2020-03-27 경희대학교 산학협력단 Self-powered Mask Pack generating Micro-current and Manufacturing Method
KR102396156B1 (en) 2021-01-22 2022-05-09 정재한 Method for manufacturing thermoelectric module and thermoelectric module manufactured thereby

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR102336649B1 (en) * 2019-05-16 2021-12-08 한국전력공사 Thermoelectric module having single crystal thermoelectric material and fabrication method for thereof
KR20220020092A (en) * 2020-08-11 2022-02-18 엘지이노텍 주식회사 Thermoelectric module

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2006027970A (en) 2004-07-20 2006-02-02 National Institute Of Advanced Industrial & Technology Method for manufacturing multiple oxide sintered compact
JP2009260173A (en) * 2008-04-21 2009-11-05 Tokyo Univ Of Science Thermoelectric conversion element, and thermoelectric module equipped with the same

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR100889946B1 (en) 2007-04-17 2009-03-20 한국기계연구원 Manufacturing method of thermoelectric module
KR100996299B1 (en) 2009-04-23 2010-11-23 한국기계연구원 Thermoelectric module and Manufacturing method of it
KR20130035016A (en) 2011-09-29 2013-04-08 삼성전기주식회사 Thermoelectric module
KR102094995B1 (en) * 2012-10-08 2020-03-31 삼성전자주식회사 Thermoelectric module, thermoelectric device comprising the same, and process for preparing the thermoelectric element

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2006027970A (en) 2004-07-20 2006-02-02 National Institute Of Advanced Industrial & Technology Method for manufacturing multiple oxide sintered compact
JP2009260173A (en) * 2008-04-21 2009-11-05 Tokyo Univ Of Science Thermoelectric conversion element, and thermoelectric module equipped with the same

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR20200032838A (en) * 2018-09-19 2020-03-27 경희대학교 산학협력단 Self-powered Mask Pack generating Micro-current and Manufacturing Method
KR102169320B1 (en) * 2018-09-19 2020-10-23 경희대학교 산학협력단 Self-powered Mask Pack generating Micro-current and Manufacturing Method
KR102396156B1 (en) 2021-01-22 2022-05-09 정재한 Method for manufacturing thermoelectric module and thermoelectric module manufactured thereby

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
KR20160115240A (en) 2016-10-06

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
EP2377175B1 (en) Method for fabricating thermoelectric device
US8841540B2 (en) High temperature thermoelectrics
US9012760B2 (en) Thermoelectric device, electrode materials and method for fabricating thereof
KR101670229B1 (en) Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same
JP2006156993A (en) Thermoelectric conversion module, apparatus and method for thermoelectric generation using it, exhaust heat recovery system, solar heat using system, peltier cooling/heating system, nuclear thermoelectric generation system, and biomass system
US20100326487A1 (en) Thermoelectric element and thermoelectric device
KR101782440B1 (en) Thermoelectric power generation module
KR102067647B1 (en) Manufacturing method of thermoelectric device and cooling thermoelectric moudule using the same
WO2007081483A2 (en) Thermoelectric tunnelling device
US20120145209A1 (en) Thermoelectric element and thermoelectric module including the same
KR20140045188A (en) Thermoelectric module, thermoelectric device comprising the same, and process for preparing the thermoelectric element
EP2975660B1 (en) Thermoelectric conversion module
KR102022429B1 (en) Cooling thermoelectric moudule and method of manufacturing method of the same
CN109065697B (en) Annular thermoelectric power generation device
KR102120270B1 (en) Thermoelectric module and manufacturing method thereof
KR102510123B1 (en) Thermoelectric element
RU2604180C1 (en) Thermoelectric energy converter
CN105765749A (en) Thermoelectric conversion module
KR102311803B1 (en) Anti-diffusion layer of thermoelectric material and manufacturing method thereof
KR102380106B1 (en) Thermo electric element and cooling apparatus comprising the same
KR102456680B1 (en) Thermoelectric element
KR20180128186A (en) Thermoelectric module
TW201804637A (en) Thermoelectric conversion module
KR101304428B1 (en) Thermoelectric leg, method for manufacturing thereof and thermoelectric module for generation
KR102382321B1 (en) Thermo electric device and method of fabricating the same

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
A201 Request for examination
E902 Notification of reason for refusal
E701 Decision to grant or registration of patent right
GRNT Written decision to grant
FPAY Annual fee payment

Payment date: 20190925

Year of fee payment: 4