Heating and cooling unit with semiconductor device and heat pipe

摘要

Aspects of the invention support simultaneous operation of a cooling side and a heating side of an apparatus to change the temperatures of a cooling serving surface and a heating serving surface, respectively. A cooling semiconductor device (which may comprise one or more Peltier devices) transfers heat from its top to its bottom while a heating semiconductor device (which may similarly comprise one or more Peltier devices) transfers heat from its bottom to its top. A heat pipe transfers waste heat from the cooling semiconductor device's bottom to the heating semiconductor device's bottom and waste cold from the heating semiconductor device's bottom to the cooling semiconductor device's bottom.

主权项

1. An apparatus having a cooling side for changing a first measured temperature of a cooling serving surface and a heating side for changing a second measured temperature of a heating serving surface, the apparatus comprising:
a cooling semiconductor device transferring heat from a first top to a first bottom of the cooling semiconductor device; a heating semiconductor device transferring heat from a second bottom to a second top of the heating semiconductor device; the cooling serving surface thermally coupled with the first top of the cooling semiconductor device; the heating serving surface thermally coupled with the second top of the heating semiconductor device; and a heat pipe comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion thermally coupled with the first bottom of the cooling semiconductor device, the second portion thermally coupled with the second bottom of the heating semiconductor device, the heat pipe transferring waste heat from the first bottom of the cooling semiconductor device and transferring waste cold from the second bottom of the heating semiconductor device.