Experimental and theoretical study of microthermocouple used as cooling device

This paper describes an experimental study and a numerical model of a microthermocouple used as a cooling device. The operating principle is based on the cooling of a thermocouple junction by the Peltier effect. The main objective is to determine a compromise between the thermoelectrical couple, wire diameters, and injected current in order to obtain the largest temperature drop. The experimental setup consists of two microthermocouples glued together and electrically isolated from each other. The first one, excited by a current, cools down due to the Peltier effect. The second one is used to measure the temperature variations of the system. The numerical model is based on several phenomena as heat conduction into the wires, heat exchange with ambiance through convection, heat exchange with its surroundings through radiation and the Joule and Peltier effects. The results are very close to those obtained during the experiment, thereby reasonably validating this model.