Heat exchange for a thermoelectric thin film element

摘要

A heat exchanger for at least one thermoelectric thin film element, having a hot and a cold side arranged on opposite longitudinal sides of the thin film element. The hot side is connected to a coupling element on a warm source and the cold side is connected to a heat sink. The heat exchanger connects in a simple and active manner to the thermoelectric thin film element and improves the efficiency of the attached thermoelectric thin film element. Especially flexible thin film elements spread out between the coupling element and the heat sink of the heat exchanger and support the load between the coupling element and the heat sink by a thermally insulating support structure.

主权项

1. A heat exchanger comprising:
at least one thermoelectric thin film element having opposing surfaces and a hot side and a cold side extending along opposing long sides of the at least one thermoelectric thin film element; a connecting element configured to connect the at least one thin film element to a heat source and including at least two profiled connecting element sections having substantially parallel outside connecting element surfaces, the outside connecting element surfaces of two adjacent ones of the at least two profiled connecting element sections abut the opposing surfaces at the hot side of one of the at least one thermoelectric thin film element so that the hot side is disposed therebetween; a heat sink including at least two heat sink sections having substantially parallel outside heat sink surfaces, the outside heat sink surfaces of two adjacent ones of the at least two heat sink sections abut the opposing surfaces at the cold side of the one of the at least one thermoelectric thin film element so that the cold side is disposed therebetween; and a support structure, the at least two connecting element sections and the at least two heat sink sections being connected by the support structure to form opposing pairs so that the outside connector element surfaces and the outside heat sink surfaces of each of the opposing pairs are aligned with each other and held a certain distance apart.