Double-sided metal clad laminate based flexible thermoelectric device and module

A method comprising:

• sputter depositing pairs of N-type thermoelectric legs and P-type thermoelectric legs electrically in contact with one another on both metal clad surfaces of a double-sided metal clad laminate, the double-sided metal clad laminate serving as a flexible substrate;
• forming a thin-film based thermoelectric module with the sputter deposited pairs of the N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs on each of the metal clad surfaces;
• rendering the formed thin-film based thermoelectric module flexible based on choices of fabrication processes with respect to layers of the formed thin-film based thermoelectric module including the sputter deposited N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs;
• wrapping and bending an array of thin-film based thermoelectric modules, each of which is equivalent to the thin-film based thermoelectric module formed on the each of the metal clad surfaces, completely around a system element from which the array of the thin-film based thermoelectric modules is configured to derive thermoelectric power in accordance with the flexibility thereof;
• and
• improving performance of a thermoelectric device comprising the formed thin-film based thermoelectric module on the each of the metal clad surfaces of the double-sided metal clad laminate based on the formed thin-film based thermoelectric module on the each of the metal clad surfaces utilizing a temperature difference between both the metal clad surfaces compared to the thermoelectric device comprising the formed thin-film based thermoelectric module on only one metal clad surface of the double-sided metal clad laminate.

A method comprising:

• sputter depositing pairs of N-type thermoelectric legs and P-type thermoelectric legs electrically in contact with one another on both metal clad surfaces of a double-sided metal clad laminate, the double-sided metal clad laminate serving as a flexible substrate;
• forming a thin-film based thermoelectric device out of an array of thermoelectric modules, each of which is formed with the sputter deposited pairs of the N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs on each of the metal clad surfaces;
• rendering the formed thin-film based thermoelectric device flexible based on choices of fabrication processes with respect to layers of the each thermoelectric module including the sputter deposited N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs, the flexibility enabling the formed thin-film based thermoelectric device to be completely wrappable and bendable around a system element from which the formed thin-film based thermoelectric device is configured to derive thermoelectric power;
• and
• improving performance of the formed thin-film based thermoelectric device based on the each thermoelectric module of the array of thermoelectric modules with the sputter deposited pairs of the N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs on the each of the metal clad surfaces utilizing a temperature difference between both the metal clad surfaces compared to the each thermoelectric module with the sputter deposited pairs of the N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs on only one metal clad surface of the double-sided metal clad laminate thereof.