Low-cost and Efficient Cooling of on-Detector Electronics Using Conformal Thermoelectric Modules

Thermoelectric coolers (TECs) are a well-established technology. Solid-state TECs have no moving parts and provide more consistent, uninterrupted, maintenance-free, and environmentally friendly cooling when compared to traditional cooling systems such as vacuum-based refrigeration compressors. However, high costs and a slightly lower Coefficient of Performance (CoP < 1.0) relative to compression refrigeration have limited traditional TECs to niche applications such as automotive seat cooling, portable coolers, and biotech applications, though the total TEC market in 2019 exceeded $1B USD.1 Furthermore, conventional methods used in TE cooler manufacturing do not provide a means for production of large-area, conformal TECs to break into mainstream refrigeration, air conditioning, medical and commercial markets that include niche areas such as on-detector spectrometer electronics cooling needed desired by Department of Energy facilities such as the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) and Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) of Brookhaven National Lab. To address the limitation, Nanohmics Inc., working in collaboration with Prof. Mona Zebarjadi, Dr. Drew Wiesenberger, NovaCentrix and Capstan Technologies, proposes to continue advanced development of a novel large-area, conformal TEC technology using high-throughput, roll processing methods and demonstrate the utility of the method for high-performance Bi2Te3 and MgAgSb-based material cooling through construction of an on-detector electronics cooling prototype system delivered to the TJNAF at the end of the Phase II program. The Phase II alpha-prototype TEC cooling system will be designed and fabricated using methods developed in the Phase I program that led to a successful 3” x 6” conformal TEC unit with concept demonstration of consistent and reliable cooling below room temperature (< 20 °C). The device CoP and cooling power compared favorably to other competitive cooling systems such as vacuum compressors and Rankine coolers. Furthermore, price per square foot of these TECs will be on the order of ~$100-150, a significant reduction in the costs of present commercial modules even of low-end TE modules. When considering all the stated advantages, the proposed technology becomes cost-competitive compared to all other alternatives and immediately impact both cooling/heating (such as aerospace and defense, electronics, automotive, and biomedical cooling) as well as waste heat recovery markets (such as automotive and industrial waste heat).