Review Thermoelectrics: a review of present and potential applications S.B. Riffat * , Xiaoli Ma Institute of Building Technology, School of the Built Environment, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK Received 23 August 2002; accepted 20 December 2002 Abstract 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 re- frigerators, 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. Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Keywords: Thermoelectric device; Application Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................. 914 2. Applications of thermoelectric devices as coolers ....................................... 918 2.1. Cooling electronic devices ................................................... 919 2.2. Refrigerator and air conditioner ............................................... 921 2.3. Specific applications ....................................................... 922 2.4. Current thermoelectric cooling products ......................................... 923 3. Application of thermoelectric devices for power generation ................................ 925 3.1. Low power generation ...................................................... 925 3.2. High power generation ..................................................... 926 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-115-951-3158; fax: +44-115-951-3159. E-mail address: saffa.riffat@nottingham.ac.uk (S.B. Riffat). 1359-4311/03/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. doi:10.1016/S1359-4311(03)00012-7 Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 913–935 www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng