A special mechanism of thermoelectric transport is described, consisting of pulses of charge carriers which “fly” periodically through the external circuit from the hot end of the sample to the cold end, with a determined duration of the “on” and “off” times of the electric contacts, while maintaining continuously the thermal contacts. It is shown that such a “resonant” ideal thermogenerator may work cyclically, with the same efficiency quotient as the ideal efficiency quotient of the thermoelectric devices operated in the usual stationary transport regime but the electric flow and power are increased, as a consequence of the concentration of the charge carriers on pulses of small spatial extent. The process is reversible, in the sense that it can be operated either as a thermoelectric generator or as an electrothermal cooler.
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15 July 2010
Research Article|
July 26 2010
Pulsed thermoelectricity
M. Apostol;
M. Apostol
1Department of Theoretical Physics,
Institute of Atomic Physics
, Magurele-Bucharest MG-6, P.O. Box MG-35, Bucharest 077125, Romania
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M. Nedelcu
M. Nedelcu
2
Polytechnical Institute
, Bucharest, Romania
and Institute of Physics of Materials
, Magurele-Bucharest, P.O. Box MG-7, Bucharest 077125, Romania
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J. Appl. Phys. 108, 023702 (2010)
Article history
Received:
February 02 2010
Accepted:
May 22 2010
Citation
M. Apostol, M. Nedelcu; Pulsed thermoelectricity. J. Appl. Phys. 15 July 2010; 108 (2): 023702. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3456037
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