Accurate Measurement and Thermal Correction of Cooling Performance for Thermoelectric Cooling Devices: Heat...

The thermoelectric coolers (TECs) have widespread applications in areas such as optical communication, infrared detection, integrated circuits, and so forth. However, accurately evaluating key performance parameters of cooling temperature difference (ΔT) and cooling capacity (Q_c) remains challenging due to the inevitable heat loss through conduction and radiation, especially in multi-stage and micro-scale modules. This work estimates the magnitude of heat loss from various components for the heat compensation method and the resulting underestimation of ΔT for devices with different numbers of thermoelectric leg pairs. These results were corroborated by finite element simulations, leading to the development of a correction method to reduce the measurement deviation of ΔT and Q_c in theory for the top single-pair stage from ∼20% to <5% and ∼70% to <2%, respectively, with respect to a loss-free simulated reference when the hot side is 200 K. The accuracy and feasibility of this method were further validated through practical measurements on a three-stage TEC device. Given that heat loss becomes more significant with lower cooling temperatures or fewer leg pairs, the proposed method is particularly valuable for the practical characterization of multi-stage and micro-scale TEC devices.