| 摘要 |
A thermopile (10) formed of conductor elements of dissimilar materials, the junctions (11-11) of the dissimilar materials being much larger in cross-section than the normal cross-sectional area of the conductor elements (12-12, 14-14, 15-15), and junctions in one temperature zone being much larger than the corresponding junctions in the other temperature zone. If the thermopile is used to generate electricity, the heated junctions will be much larger in cross-section than the normal cross-sectional area of the conductor elements and they will also be much larger in cross-section than the junctions in the cooler zone. If the thermopile is to be used as a cooling device rather than an electric generating device and electricity is applied to the thermopile, then the cold junctions will be much larger in cross-section than the warm junctions and the cold junctions cross-sectional area will also be much larger than the cross-sectional area of conductor elements of the thermopile. In a variation of the thermopile the conductor elements are made of materials which are dissimilar to the larger cross-sectional area junctions and to each other, also, the junctions having a smaller cross-sectional area may be made of materials dissimilar to the materials from which the conductor elements are made. A method of making such thermopiles utilizing thin-film technology is also shown. |
