•Before the cooler or heat sink can be selected, the cooling
requirements must be defined. This includes
–determining the amount of heat to be pumped. This includes the
heat load from whatever you are trying to cool, the Joulean heat of
the TEC, and parasitics from the hot side to the cold side.
•Note: additional parasitics from the hot side to the final thermal
sink (e.g.- radiator) must be added for the total heat rejection
load. Convection/radiation from the hot side to the cold side,
along with back conduction through the TEC itself.
•Minimizing the heat load allows the cooler to achieve colder
temperatures or reduces the power required to reach the defined
cooling level.
•For heating/cooling applications, focus first on the cooling side.
–If you have enough capacity for cooling, you should have plenty
for heating.
•Calculate/estimate total heat loads
–Active load
–Passive load
•Define temperatures
–TEC hot side
–TEC cold side
–ΔT
•Define constraints
–Available TEC power
–Physical (space, weight, etc.) limitations
•Determine number of stages required
•Select an appropriate TEC
