THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE HAVING AN ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE LOCATED BETWEEN ITS HOT AND COLD SIDES

摘要

A thermoelectric device (100, 342) that includes at least one thermoelectric couple (118, 304) that contains a thermoelectric junction (156) between two dissimilar materials (P, N) that allow exploitation of either the Seebeck effect or Peltier effect of the junction. The thermoelectric couple includes two thermoelements (120, 124, 324, 326) that extend between the hot side (104) and cold side (108) of the device. Each thermoelement has a thermally insulating region (128, 132) that insulates the hot side from the cold side and an electrical energy storage device (136, 138, 308, 310) that stores electrical energy. When operating in a Seebeck mode, each storage device may be periodically discharged by harvesting circuitry (200, 300) so as to harvest the energy stored therein. When operating in a Peltier mode, each storage device may be periodically charged by charging circuitry (900, 1000) so as to induce a temperature change at the thermoelectric junction.