Ultra-efficient Thermoelectric Cooling Module for Satellite Thermal Management

ABSTRACT: Current waste heat management technologies from satellite payload including the sensor, control and actuators, are bulky and energy inefficient because they cannot provide on-demand site-specific cooling. Fluidic systems are not desirable for satellite applications due to leakage issues. High ZT thin film thermoelectric (TFTE) devices have the potential to overcome all these issues. However, earlier attempts to integrate these TFTE devices have shown poor system performance due to suboptimal heat flux management and integration issues such as high contact resistances. Sheetak proposes to develop a TFTE module based on its nanostructured high ZT TE material and hemispherical distributed devices. Implementing a large thin film device in terms of an array of small hemispherical devices with constricted contacts can lead to a 30-fold reduction in temperature drop in the underlying substrate compared to the large thin film device. Sheetak will demonstrate high efficiency on-demand and site specific cooling with system level ZT>1 which has never been demonstrated before for waste heat management from electronics/optoelectronics devices. The goal of this SBIR is to develop an actual satellite payload waste heat management system with hotspot heat flux>200 W/cm2, hotspot temperature<76 C and component power>50 W. BENEFIT: Higher performance computers, Improvement in sensors, actuators, communication hardware. Also, the technology can be used to generate power for the onboard electronics on a satellite. In general, the proposed technology can be used for refrigeration, heat pumping and waste heat to electricity generation