Thermoelectrics: a review of present and potential applications

Thermoelectric devices are solid state devices. They are reliable energy converters and have no noise or vibration as there are no mechanical moving parts. They have small size and are light in weight. As refrigerators, they are friendly to the environment as CFC gas or any other refrigerant gas is not used. Due to these advantages, the thermoelectric devices have found a large range of applications. In this paper, basic knowledge of the thermoelectric devices and an overview of these applications are given. The prospects of the applications of the thermoelectric devices are also discussed.