Thermoelectric elements
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsBernd W. Gotsmann, Siegfried F. Karg, Heike E. Riel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermoelectric element includes a body formed of a single thermoelectric material and extending in a first direction along which a thermal gradient is established in thermoelectric operation, wherein the body has at least first and second adjacent sections in the first direction; at least one of the sections is subject to stress which is applied to that section substantially all around a central axis of the body in the first direction; and the arrangement is such that the stress results in different strain in the first and second sections producing an energy barrier in the body to enhance thermoelectric operation.
Claims8
A thermoelectric element, comprising:
- a body formed of a single thermoelectric material and extending in a first direction along a central axis of the body in which a thermal gradient is established in thermoelectric operation,
- wherein the body has a first section, a second section, and a third section, each of the first section, the second section, and the third section sharing the same central axis as the central axis of the body, the first section and the second section being directly adjacent sections in the first direction and the second section and the third section being directly adjacent sections in the first direction, the first section, the second section, and the third section formed from only the single thermoelectric material, the first section and the third section have the same constant cross-sectional diameter in each of both directions perpendicular to the first direction, different from the cross sectional diameter of the second section in both directions perpendicular to the first direction and smaller than the cross-sectional diameter of the second section, and each of the sections has a length in the first direction in a range of about 1 to 1000 nanometers (nm).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.