IJIRST –International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 2 | Issue 11 | April 2016 ISSN (online): 2349-6010 All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 674 A Review on Thermoelectric Cooler Balkrishan Arpit Gupta M. Tech Student UG Student Energy Centre Energy Centre M.A.N.I.T. Bhopal M.A.N.I.T. Bhopal Satish Chand Neeraj Kumar Patel UG Student UG Student Energy Centre Energy Centre M.A.N.I.T. Bhopal M.A.N.I.T. Bhopal Archana Soni Associate Professor Energy Centre M.A.N.I.T. Bhopal Abstract Energy disaster and environment pollution are the two major problems of 21 century. Thermoelectric devices are one of key solutions to these problems. These devices attract the researchers because of its solid state nature that converting the heat given off from vehicles, electrical instruments, etc. into the electricity. This paper contains the previous research on thermoelectric cooler and recent advance on it. Keywords: Thermoelectric Module, Thermoelectric Generator, Thermoelectric Cooler, Figure of Merit, Modelling _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. INTRODUCTION Excessive use of the fossil fuel has led to the serious atmospheric and environmental problems like global warming, green house emission, ozone layer depletion, acid rain climate change.to avoid such disaster, reducing the consumption of the conventional sources and using the renewable sources or technologies. Thermoelectric devices are one of the technologies to fulfil our goal. These are the solid state devices converting the heat given off from vehicles, electrical instrument, etc. into the electricity. The merit of thermoelectric (TE) is gas free emission, no moving part, no damage, no chemical reaction, maintenance free and long life span. This conversion can be reverse (converting the electricity into the thermal energy) depending upon the cooling and heating requirement. These devices have limited application because of its low energy conversion efficiency and high material cost. Researcher tries to discover out the better technology to increasing conversion efficiency of TE devices [1]. These module can also use with the solar energy as its input. The two most prominent solar energy technologies are photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP systems can provide electricity as well as thermal power. Because of solar energy it has attracted the attention of the researchers. When the voltage is applied to the thermocouple of different material, temperature gradient is developed. At the atomic scale, an applied these difference causes charged carriers in the substance to move from the hot side To the cold side .this effect was knows as PELTIER effect .Today we are able to see that it works in astronautic devices and automotive engine system [2] Thermoelectric cooler (TEC) has been frequently used for the cooling of devices such as sensor, infrared CPU, point reference in thermocouple thermometry, and refrigerators [3]. II. THERMOELECTRIC MODULE The basic unit of a TEM is thermocouple. As shown in fig. 1(a), a thermocouple consists of a p-type and an n-type semiconductor pellet joined by metal interconnects. These pellets of TE device are connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel and sandwiched between the two ceramic plates, as seen in fig. 1(b).on the other hand, whether the contribution of the metal interconnects is ignored, there is no loss of generality in analysing a single couple[4].the quality of a thermoelectric cooler depends on the parameters such as the electric current applied at the n-type and p-type couple, the temperature of the hot and cold side ,the thermal and electrical conductivities of the thermal elements, the thermal resistance of the heat sink on the hot side of thermoelectric cooler. The electrical contact resistance between the cold side and the surface of the device is shown in fig.2 [5].