3-D thermoelectric cooler analysis

Thermoelectric Coolers (TECs) have increasingly been utilized for the temperature control of electronic devices. A typical TEC package consists of a target mass, cold-side ceramic, Peltier pellet array, hot-side ceramic and a heat sink. In order to ensure temperature uniformity across the target mass, the heat sink must make adequate thermal contact with the hot-side ceramic and must maintain a uniform temperature distribution. This has become more difficult to accomplish as electronic packages grow smaller and their geometries become more complex. For many applications, such as in cooled and uncooled night vision systems, the temperature gradient across the target mass is critical. Currently TEC vendors use one-dimensional, resistance network solvers to perform their analysis. These solvers are inadequate for non-uniform temperature heat sinks or incomplete hot-side ceramic/heat sink contact. A one-dimensional analysis can provide many of the pertinent properties, but offers no information in the directions perpendicular to the TEC elements. This brings rise for the need of a transient, three-dimensional, TEC model with feedback control. An example will be provided, which will illustrate the importance of three-dimensional effects