| 摘要 |
An apparatus and method for recovering power dissipated by a semiconductor integrated circuit (12) includes a thermoelectric generator (50) which converts the heat generated by the integrated circuit (12) into electrical energy. The electrical energy is used to drive a fan (42) or other airflow generating device to cause heated air to be moved away from the integrated circuit (12) and cooler air to be drawn to the integrated circuit (12) to absorb further heat from the integrated circuit (12). In the described embodiment, the thermoelectric generator (50) is a Peltier cooler positioned between the integrated circuit (12) and a heatsink (60). The Peltier cooler is operated in the Seebeck mode to generate power in response to the temperature differential between the integrated circuit (12) and the heatsink (60). The fan (42) is positioned proximate to the heatsink (60) to cause airflow over the heatsink (60) thereby reducing the temperature of the heatsink (60) and thus reducing the temperature of the integrated circuit (12) by causing more heat to be transferred from the integrated circuit (12) to the heatsink (60). |
