International Journal of Green Energy

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A review on the progress and development of

thermoelectric air conditioning system

Manoj Sasidharan, Mohd Faizul Mohd Sabri, Sharifah Fatmadiana Wan

Muhammad Hatta & Suriani Ibrahim

To cite this article: Manoj Sasidharan, Mohd Faizul Mohd Sabri, Sharifah Fatmadiana Wan
Muhammad Hatta & Suriani Ibrahim (2023): A review on the progress and development
of thermoelectric air conditioning system, International Journal of Green Energy, DOI:
10.1080/15435075.2023.2195924

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Published online: 31 Mar 2023.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY
https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2023.2195924

A review on the progress and development of thermoelectric air conditioning system

Manoj Sasidharana, Mohd Faizul Mohd Sabria,b, Sharifah Fatmadiana Wan Muhammad Hattac, and Suriani Ibrahima
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; bCentre for Energy Sciences, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia; cDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Thermoelectric coolers (TECs) have a high potential to dominate traditional air conditioning and become Received 29 August 2022
the future of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). TECs offer several advantages over Accepted 9 February 2023
traditional air conditioning systems, most notably in terms of zero greenhouse gas emissions, a leak- KEYWORDS
free environment, and cost efficiency. Despite all these concerns, efficient cooling performance and Thermoelectric cooler;
energy consumption are two major barriers for the rapid adoption of TECs. This article provides greenhouse gases; global
a comprehensive literature review of recent developments and challenges in implementing TECs to warming
increase energy consumption and cooling performance. In particular, through the development of
components and physical parameters such as thermoelectric material, the effect of fluid flow and the
geometry of the heat sink of the thermoelectric cooling system. In addition, the articles will highlight the
significant opportunities for thermoelectric applications to achieve economic and environmental bene­
fits. Thermoelectric cooling with the latest conversion efficiency is technically practical and economical
for small and micro applications in the current scenario. If thermoelectric cooling is applied on a large and
medium scale in commercial practice, it would further develop green technology that improves environ­
mental conditions as well as the energy supply.

1. Introduction experienced rapid growth since the fundamentals of thermo­

electric materials have been well defined. A thermoelectric
Global warming and the rising energy costs associated with
cooler is commonly known as a cooling technology that uses
fossil fuels make the need for more clean and sustainable
thermoelectric modules. Its main advantage is that it contains
sources of energy are increasing global concern (Afshar et al.
no refrigerants or operating fluids and produces minimal
2012; Kalkan, Young, and Celiktas 2012; Omer 2008;
direct emissions of greenhouse gasses throughout its lifetime
Thirugnanasambandam, Iniyan, and Goic 2010; Xi, Luo, and
(Tsubota et al. 2008). Unlike compression refrigeration, ther­
Fraisse 2007). Globally, many countries are attempting to
moelectric refrigeration operates without mechanical vibra­
minimize their fossil fuel dependence and replace them with
tion, thanks to the Peltier effect. This results in equipment
green energy. From the source “(https://www.greenly.earth/
such as noiseless refrigeration.
blog-en/greenhouse-gases-by-sector-in-2022-who-is-pollut
Due to these advantages, thermoelectric cooling technology
ing-the-most),” the commercial and residential sector contri­
is becoming increasingly popular, with the increasing demand
butes to 13% of carbon dioxide of the world compared to other
sectors, an alarming threat to the climate. The top five coun­ for alternative energy sources spurring more research in ther­
tries emitting greenhouse gases account for more than 60% of moelectric. In 2005, much of the studies focused on electronic
global emissions in just five countries, while the rest of the cooling applications. In recent years, research in thermoelec­
world contributes only 39%, as provided in Figure 1. tric technology has also gained traction, especially in modify­
Among the possible technologies, thermoelectric energy ing geometric elements such as the size, shape, and flow
converters are gaining popularity because solid-state technol­ orientation in a heat transfer system (Twaha et al. 2016).
ogies can transform electrical to thermal energy for heating or Over the past 22 years, numerous articles have been published
cooling by exploiting the Peltier effect. The thermoelectric as per the web of science database in the field of thermoelectric
energy converter has numerous advantages over conventional cooling, as provided in Figure 2. The graph shows that the total
cooling and heating methods, such as its simplicity, lack of number of publications in the database has increased from 110
vibration, and scalability. However, thermal management for in 2001 to 1366 in 2022. This is especially true for the core
thermoelectric devices is always a problem due to the increas­ journals (from 109 in 2001 to 469 in 2022).
ing number of applications. Therefore, efficient cooling sys­
tems need to be improved to meet the growing demand for 2. The working principle of thermoelectric cooling
cooling. One possible solution to the existing problem of heat
dissipation is the use of thermoelectric coolers (Chang et al. The thermoelectric cooler comprises of a thermoelectric mod­
2009; Zhang 2010; Zhu, Tan, and Yu 2013) which have ule sandwiched between two heatsinks and an exhaust fan

CONTACT Mohd Faizul Mohd Sabri [email protected] Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
© 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 M. SASIDHARAN ET AL.

cooling. The heat is absorbed on the cold side and discharged

on the hot side of the heatsink.
Thermoelectric cooler achieves effective cooling results by
combining the Peltier effect, the Joule effect and heat conduc­
tion. Therefore, the thermal performance of a heat sink is
defined as the total energy input per unit area of the heatsink
required to heat and/or cool the heatsink to a minimum. This
is mathematically described as follows (Gillott, Jiang, and
Riffat 2009; Ma 2004):

QP ¼ 2αNITC (1)

where α is the average Seebeck coefficient that can be calcu­

lated for the thermoelectric material, N is the number of
thermocouples, and QP is the pumped heat (Peltier effect) on
the cold side of the thermoelectric module. From the relation­
ship, heat generates as current runs through a module.
However, the heat generated may contain other undesirable
heat sources. The following sections discuss these heat sources.
In the thermoelectric material, the current flow causes Joule
heating (QJ) or resistance. Joule heating is given by Eq. (2):

2ρNI 2
QJ ¼ (2)
G
In which, ρ is the thermoelectric material resistance. Factor of
geometry G is expressing the ratio in centimeters between the
height and the surface area of the semiconductor in the ther­
moelectric module. Heat is transferred through the thermo­
electric material from the hot side to the module’s cold side.
The rate of heat transfer by conduction is:
Figure 1. Greenhouse gases by (a) sector and (b) country in 2022. Qcond ¼ 2KNGΔT (3)

Where ΔT ¼ TH TC and K is really the thermoelectric mate­

positioned on each side of the heatsinks. The schematic in rial’s thermal conductivity. Eq. (3) demonstrates that the tem­
Figure 3 below illustrates the basics of a thermoelectric cooler. perature gradient across the module raises Qcond. It has been
The thermoelectric module uses the Peltier effect, which con­ found that the net energy acquired at thermoelectric module
verts electrical energy to thermal gradient in thermoelectric cold side comprises the Peltier effect, increases with

Figure 2. Thermoelectric cooling publications for the past 22 years.

 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 3

Figure 3. Schematic diagram of thermoelectric cooler.

�2 �
temperature difference across the module, where approxi­ αIT þ I ρ
KGΔT
mately 50% of the Joule heat flows to the cold end, and 50% QC H 2G
COPC ¼ ¼ �2 � (7)
flows to the hot end (Ma 2004) (Gillott, Jiang, & Riffat, 2009). QE I ρ
αIΔT
2G

1 For heating:
QC ¼ QP QJ Qcond
2
QH
� � COPH ¼ ¼ 1 þ COPC (8)
2
I ρ Q
¼ 2N αITC KGΔT (4) �2 � E �
2G Solving equations @ COP
@2 I
C
<0 and @COP @I
C
¼ 0, The following
equation yields an optimal current with the greatest COP for
Eq. (4) shows the performance of thermal module with a basic
cooling:
equation. This equation indicates that a thermoelectric module
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
stops operating (Qc = 0) when the total of half Joule heat 1 þ 1 þ ZTM
IOC ¼ KGΔT (9)
(0.5QJ) and the conducted heat (Qcond) equals the Peltier αTM
heat (QP). As a result, the electrical energy usage of the module � � 2�
Where TM = 12 ðTH TC Þ, Z ¼ αρk and the higher cooling
is given by:
performance coefficient will be:
�2 �
I ρ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
QE ¼ 2N αIΔT (5) TM 1 þ ZTM 1 1
2G COPCMAX ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ (10)
ΔT 1 þ ZTM þ 1 2
Eq. (5) indicates that the electrical input power of
Thus, the maximal COP is a function of the operating tem­
a thermoelectric couple serves to release Joule heat and
perature and the power factor of the thermoelectric module.
counter Seebeck effect. This creates power due to the
temperature variation between the two junctions of the
couple. Hence, the heat capacity of the thermoelectric 3. The need and motivation for thermoelectric
system is shown in Eq. (6). coolers
QH ¼ QC þ QE The growth of the air conditioning industry was expected to
increase an industry-wide consumption rate of 70% by 1980.
� � However, the usage of refrigerant was of great concern to the
I2ρ
¼ 2N αITH þ KGΔT (6) air conditioning industry. In 1989, the Montreal Protocol was
2G
introduced to protect the ozone layer as R12 had a higher
The coefficient of performance (COP) determines ozone depleting potential (ODP). Therefore, the air condition­
the material and size of the thermocouples, the tempera­ ing industry switched the refrigerant from R12 to R134a due to
tures of the hot and cold sides T H , T C and the global warming. At that time, R134a was the most prevalent
current consumption. For maximal COP, there is an refrigerant found in air conditioning systems. Then in 1997,
optimum current for various modules and operating tem­ the Kyoto protocol was introduced with the aim of controlling
peratures. The thermoelectric module’s COP is displayed the usage of refrigerant R134a due to the higher Global
below: Warming Potential (GWP) value. Later, the United Nations
For cooling: banned the use of current refrigerants that have a GWP value
4 M. SASIDHARAN ET AL.

Figure 4. Development of refrigerant and cooling methods.

greater than 150. The Kyoto protocol has resulted in improv­ contraction in a dead frog where a conductive lancet sent out
ing the current refrigerant (R134a) in the system while pre­ a spark from the nearby electrical machine when he tried to
venting leakage (Vaghela 2017; Vashisht and Rakshit 2021; touch its crural nerve (Beretta et al., 2019).
Yoo and Lee 2009). Alessandro Volta discovered the thermoelectric phenom­
However, given the higher GWP value of R134a, i.e.,1430. enon in 1794 and demonstrated the thermoelectric driving
Figure 4 provides the evolution of refrigerants and changes in force generated by temperature variations. Thomas Johann
cooling methods where there was a search for refrigerant-free Seebeck, a Baltic-German physicist, conducted experiments
cooling systems. A comparative study of different cooling with thermoelectric materials and revisited Volta’s concept in
systems illustrated the pros and cons of each system, as 1821. Oersted invented “thermoelectricity” and provided
shown in Figure 5. From the comparison in Figure 5, it is a correct physical justification for the theory where electric
evident that enhancing the efficiency and energy consumption charging voltage is due to heat.
will pave the way for refrigerant-free thermoelectric cooling. In the early 1950s and 1960s, extensive research was con­
ducted on semiconductors as thermoelectric materials, usher­
ing in the thermoelectric revival. Since the invention of high
4. Thermoelectric cooling efficiency thermoelectric materials in 2020, thermoelectric
technology has undergone rapid development as it differs
4.1. Thermoelectric module and its findings significantly from conventional power generators and coolers
The first evidence of direct thermal energy transfer to electrical (Cai et al. 2019). Figure 6 provides the outcomes of thermo­
energy dates from the early seventeenth century. Italian phy­ electric phenomena. The thermoelectric module consists of
sician Luigi Aloisio Galvani (Bologna, September 9, 1737 - modules connected thermally in parallel and electrically in
Bologna, December 4, 1798) discovered galvanism when he series, as provided in Figure 7. Conductors, legs, and substrates
conducted experiments on the effects of electricity on animals. are the three main components of the modules in which con­
In the late 1780s, Galvani accidentally noticed a muscle ductors electrically connects the legs together, while the

Figure 5. Comparative study on different cooling systems.

 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 5

Figure 6. History of thermoelectric.

Figure 7. Schematic diagram of thermoelectric module.

substrates serve as the interface between the compartment and reliability, and therefore they fail much less frequently com­
the environment (Lundgaard and Sigmund 2019). pared to conventional coolers and heaters (Hamid Elsheikh
The Peltier effect is defined as the absorption and emission et al. 2014). The Peltier device can theoretically reach
of excess heat beside different conductor junctions when a temperature as less as −80°C (−176°F) (Zheng et al.
a voltage passes through them (Lenz 1838). The connecting 2014). The thermoelectric cooler performance depends on
conductor cools and absorbs heat from the surroundings. several elements that promote the development of the ther­
When electrons flow from the low energy state of the p-type moelectric cooler (see Figure 8).
material through the connecting conductor to a high energy
state of the n-type material, heat is absorbed from the sur­
rounding (cooling). The absorbed heat is transferred to the 4.2. Thermoelectric material and its evolution
other ends of the junction via electron transport through the
semiconductor material and is released again when the elec­ The material in the thermoelectric cooling system plays a vital
tron returns to the low-energy state of the p-type material from role in improving cooling.
(Ma 2004; Riffat and Ma 2003). The study illustrates the evolution and recent development
The Peltier effect allows us to build heaters/coolers that of thermoelectric material. Figure 9 shows the evolution of
have no mechanical transmission parts so there is no wear, thermoelectric material. Thomas Johann Seebeck discovered
noise, vibration, less maintenance, long life, and high between 1821 and 1823 that in an electric circuit, the
6 M. SASIDHARAN ET AL.

devices, and heating systems/seat cooling (Beretta et al.

2019).

4.3. Materials performance: Figure of merits

The recent advances in thermoelectric material technology and
its high efficiency are the main factors for the vast expansion of
thermoelectric applications on a large/medium scale.
The main criterion for the merit ZT = α2σT/k, is that good
thermoelectric material should have higher electrical conduc­
tivity, low thermal conductivity and high Seebeck coefficient.
However, Harman in 2005 discovered that the highest ZT
value in the study was approximately 3 (Zhao & Tan, 2014).
Other best studied (Ma 2004) thermoelectric materials have
figure-of-merit values in the temperature range for thermo­
electric applications, as shown in Table 1. It is found that the
Figure 8. Segments in the development of thermoelectric cooler. thermoelectric cooler with a ZT value of 1.0 operates at only
10% of Carnot efficiency. A device with a ZT value of 4 can
achieve a Carnot efficiency of about 30% (similar to
temperature variations at the junction of two dissimilar metals
a household cooling system). Increasing the ZT value to 4
can deflect the compass magnet.
remains a formidable challenge (DiSalvo 1999). Bell (Bell,
Werner Haken published his findings on ZnSb and CdSb
2008) also shared that when the ZT average reaches 2, com­
in 1910 according to the principle of the figure of merit,
mercial solid-state heating domestic, ventilation and air-cool­
while Z.T. Abram Fedorovich Ioffe established a modern
ing systems can become practical with thermoelectric material.
theory in 1949 with thermoelectricity. H. Julian Goldsmid
Figure 10 shows the evolution of thermoelectric materials from
used thermoelements based on Bi2Te3 to demonstrate 00C
1950 to 2023.
cooling for the first time in 1954. From 1970 to 2000, the The low-dimensional thermoelectric materials have high
simplicity and reliability of thermoelectricity enabled ZT, although most of these materials are impractical due to
a niche application for solid-state technologies. In 1990, L. the slow process, large-scale commercial use, and high material
D. Hicks and Mildred Dresselhaus published a paper on cost. Commercially available thermoelectric modules are sum­
nano structuring that gave new hope for a higher ZT and marized in Table 2. It is strongly recommended to develop
the development of nanotechnology. Peltier coolers based technologies to fabricate nano structures and thermoelectric
on Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3 were well developed and used for various materials with high performance that can be used for com­
products, including small refrigerators, optoelectronic mercial purposes.

Figure 9. Evolution of thermoelectric material.

 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 7

Table 1. The thermoelectric materials characteristics available.

TEG material Type ZT (maximum) Temperature
SiGe p,n 0.6–1.0 700–900
LaTe p 0.4
Bi-doped PbSeTe/PbTe (QDSL) n 3 500–700
CeFe4Sb12 p 1.1
CoSb3 n 0.8
Zn4Sb3 p - 150–500
PbTe p, n 0.7–0.8
TeAgGeSb(TAGS) p 1.2
Bi2Te3 p 0.8 <150
Bi2Te3 n 0.8

Figure 10. Evolution ZT (Thermoelectric material performance evaluated from figure of merit) for n-type and p-type silicides, chalcogenides, clathrate, skutterudites,
heusler, zintls, oxides, composites and organic(beretta et al., 2019).

Table 2. Commercially available thermoelectric modules.

Dimensions ΔTmax Qmax
Reference (mm) (C) (W) Module type Company
(Esfahani, Rahbar, and Lavvaf 2011) 40x40x3.8 66 50 TEC1–12706 HB Corp
(Du and Wen 2011; Rahbar and Esfahani 2012) 40x40x4.1 66 71 TEC1–12708 HB Corp
(Vián and Astrain 2008, 2009) 40x40x3.9 66 50 6L Marlow Ind.
(Milani et al. 2011) 15.7x15.7x1.3 72 83.2 TECA 980–127 TECA Corp.
(Xu, Dessel, and Messac 2007) 40x40x4.1 67 32 PT4-12-40 Melcor Corp.
(Zhang 2010) 40x40x3.5 67 72 HT8-12-40 Melcor Corp.
(Cosnier, Fraisse, and Luo 2008; Min and Rowe 2006; Zhu, Tan, and Yu 2013) 62x62x4.6 67 120 CP2–127-06L Melcor Corp.
(Zhang 2010) 62x62x4.6 68 120 CP2-127-06 Melcor Corp.
(van Dessel and Foubert 2010) 10x10x3.8 68 2.8 CP.1.4–7-06L Melcor Corp.
(Ahamat and Tierney 2011; Chein and Chen 2005; Tsubota et al. 2008; Wang, Yu, and Ma 2013; 40x40x3.8 67 51.4 CP.1.4–127-06L Melcor Corp.
Zhang 2010)
(Pérez-Aparicio, Palma, and Taylor 2012) 40x40x3.8 75 72 CP.1.4-127-045 Melcor Corp.
(Lee 2013) 30x3x3.2 67 34.3 CP.10-127-05 Laird Tech.

4.4. Performance of heatsink in thermoelectric cooler temperature with the help of the exhaust fan. Figure 11 shows
the heat exchanger or heat sink that dissipates the heat in
Thermoelectric material that has a greater ZT value is more
a thermoelectric cooling system and releases it to the
important for a thermoelectric cooling system. On the other
environment.
hand, a heat exchanger or heatsink is required for better cool­
The transfer of hot or cold temperature from the module to
ing performance and heat transfer where the heat and cold
the heat sink is represented mathematically as follows:
waves are transferred through the heatsink on both sides. In
the process, heat and cold waves mix with the air and room Q ¼ KAðTh Tc Þ (11)
8 M. SASIDHARAN ET AL.

Figure 11. Thermoelectric cooling system.

Q is the heat transferred to the surface A, K is the thermal

conductivity, Th and Tc are the temperatures of the various
solids. The heatsink transfers the cold or hot temperature to
the room temperature and mathematically provides an energy
equation for fluids and solids (Japar, Sidik, and Mat 2018).
� �
@TF @TF KF @ 2 TF @ 2 TF @ 2 TF @TF
u þv ¼ þ þ w
@x @y PF Cp @x2 @y2 @z2 @z
(12)
� �
@ 2 TS @ 2 TS @ 2 TS
0 ¼ KS þ þ (13)
@x2 @y2 @z2
Thermoelectric cooling system applications usually work with
plate-finned heatsinks or pin-finned heatsinks. The experi­
mental results with the plate-finned heat sink geometry show
the importance and significance of plate-finned heatsinks and
their role in improving heat transfer rate and cooling perfor­
mance. On the other hand, many studies on the geometrical Figure 12. Heat sink geometry (Height H, Width W, Length L, Fin Height HF, Fin
thickness TF, Fin Spacing B).
dimensions and cross-sectional shapes have been carried out
for the pin finned heatsink (Pandey et al. 2021). Figure 11
shows a detailed schematic diagram of the thermoelectric cool­
ing system. sinks along the length of the fins with height. In the experi­
ment, the fin height varied between 5, 15, and 25 mm. Assume
4.4.1. Heatsink geometry based on dimensions that the other parameters are kept constant while the height of
Figure 12 shows geometrical parameters of the heatsink based the fins is increased, as the surface area of the fins increases, the
on dimensions such as the fin spacing, thickness, height, convective heat transfer rate also increases (Micheli, Reddy, &
length, heat sink base thickness, and the number of fins. Mallick, 2015). According to the experiment’s results, the
According to a study on the thermal performance of heat thickness of the boundary layer increases along the entire
exchanger with optimized pin fin and plate-fin heat sinks, length of the heat sink. As a result, the average heat transfer
the efficiency decreases when the total heat dissipation in the coefficient is influenced by the length of the heat sink. Due to
fin decreases due to a smaller fin thickness (Karami, Yaghoubi, the thinner boundary layer, the heat transfer coefficient
& Keyhani, 2018). increases as the length decreases. Increasing the heat transfer
Optimal fin spacing increased with decreasing Prandtl area on the other hand lengthens the heat sink and increases
number (Hong and Chung 2016). In the experiment where convective heat transfer (Micheli et al., 2015). Three finned-
the height of the fins increases, the boundary layer at the basal- tube exchangers with an array of square fins were subjected to
surface also changes due to the interaction between the surface an investigation. Fin spacing of 5, 9, and 14 mm were investi­
boundary layer and the individual fins. At ambient tempera­ gated. In each experiment, the other dimensions of the fins are
tures, fresh air is channeled through the inlet to channel heat the same. Throughout the experiment, the ambient
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 9

temperature, humidity, and temperature difference between

the base and the environment were recorded. Their research
showed that the coefficient of convection heat transfer
increases as the distance between the fins increases (Karami,
Yaghoubi, & Keyhani, 2018). In addition, the effect of fin
spacing on convective heat transfer coefficient has also been
the subject of experimental research (Micheli, Reddy, and
Mallick 2015). The fin spacing on the heat sinks used ranged
from 0.2 mm to 0.8 mm.
According to the results of the experiment of (Micheli
et al., 2015), the heat transfer coefficient increases as the
distance between the fins increases. The study of how the
fin spacing affects the convection heat transfer coefficient
shows that the convection rate increases with increasing fin Figure 13. Different cross-sectional shapes.
spacing. The heat sink fin thickness increases the solid’s
high-conductive volume relative to the air’s low-conductive
volume. The result is an increase in thermal conductance. 4.5. Effect of fluid flow in the performance of
(Tari and Mehrtash 2013) investigated variations in fin thermoelectric cooler
height of 5, 15, and 25 mm. The interaction between The flow behavior and characteristics play an important role in
boundary layers of the individual fin surfaces and the determining the performance of thermoelectric cooling (Ma
boundary layer of the base surfaces increases with the 2004). Table 3 shows various approaches that make extensive
height of the fin. As a result, more fresh air is drawn in use of experimental and numerical methods while using other
and more heat is consequently released into the environ­ methods. Some studies have used conserved laminar flows in
ment. Furthermore, as the height of the fins increases, the the micro channel heat sinks and turbulent flows in the feed
extended surface area increases which then accelerates heat tubes (manifolds) (Baby and Balaji 2013). The review found
transfer. Karami, Yaghoubi et al. (Karami et al., 2018) that studies with the laminar flow were the most prevalent.
studied the performance of heatsink when the fin height Figure 14 compares studies with laminar flow to those with
is varied. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient laminar-turbulent or turbulent flow. It is generally understood
decreases with increasing fin height. In their study on that heat sink performance is better with laminar flow because
thermal analysis of cylindrical heat sinks, Jeong, Hah the heat sink channel cannot be short enough with turbulence.
et al. (Jeong et al. 2020) found that increasing the heat The laminar Reynolds number ranges from 100 to 2300, and
sink fins height lowers the thermal resistance, and conse­ several studies have investigated the turbulent flow. According
quently, the heat sink temperature. to some studies, heat sinks perform better in turbulent flows
Tari and Mehrtash (Tari and Mehrtash 2013) found that the and a strong pump is required.
larger the surface area in contact with the environment, the
higher the heat transfer coefficient will be as the fin length 4.5.1. Scheme of fluid flow
increases. Castelan, Cougo et al. (Castelan et al. 2019) per­ To achieve optimal thermoelectric cooling performance, the
formed 3D analytical modeling of heatsink with plate-fins and excess temperature must be dissipated to the environment
found that the thermal resistance of the heat sink decreases as through a heat sink, depending on thermal resistance.
the thickness of the heat sink base increases. They found that Table 4 lists the experimental methods for determining ther­
heat sinks with a thicker base have a 7% lower thermal resis­ mal resistance, including the methods with, without and with
tance than those with a thinner base. two heat sinks, and their advantages and disadvantages.
A typical heat sink thermal performance calculation appara­
4.4.2. Heatsink geometry based on cross-sectional shapes tus consists of a research-grade wind tunnel, velocity/pressure
Sahiti et al. (Sahiti et al. 2006) developed an analysis method and temperature sensing apparatus, as well as heating elements.
for comparing performance in terms of geometric variation. A typical device for calculating the heat sink thermal perfor­
They studied the heat transfer rate with the desired pumping mance consists of a wind tunnel for research purposes, tempera­
power of the outer surfaces of the heat transfer system. ture, velocity/pressure measurement devices. Figure 15 shows
It was possible to compare the thermal performance of a pictorial representation of the hardware configuration most
different new heat sink geometry and create a tool to predict often cited in literature. (Similarly,Figure 16 (Kim and Kim 2009;
how the pin X-section of the pins affects the ability to dissipate Ma 2004) shows schematic representations of the various heat
heat. Pin geometries include square, drop form, circular, sink heating systems. A review of the available literature shows
NACA, lancet, and elliptical pin geometries, as shown in that notable experiments have been conducted on heat transfer
Figure 13. The main finding of the study was that staggered and flow characteristics of super heat pool geometry. There were
elliptical cross sections performed better than simple cross both numerical data and analytical/experimental data. The work
sections. Additionally, the circular cross section outperformed of the researchers can be divided into two categories. Due to the
the other cross sections in the inline arrangement, while the lack of credible computational tools, early research focused on
NACA shape did not appear to perform better. experimental investigations and analytical strategies. However,
10 M. SASIDHARAN ET AL.

Table 3. Comparison evaluation of forced convection published studies of cooling systems.

Flow Cooling Analysis Optimization Cooling
Nature of study and year Heatsink geometry condition Mechanism method scheme Final outcomes performance Authors
Numerical 2022 Rectangular Laminar water 3D 3D Stimulation Plot HOT (Kose, Yildizeli, and Cadirci
microchannels Numerical 2022)
Numerical 2021 Helical Laminar water-silver 3D Numerical 3D Stimulation Plot HOT (Hasani, Baniasad Askari, and
microchannel nanofluid Shahsavar 2022)
heat sink
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin Turbulent Air Thermal Numerical Plot, HOT (Chu et al. 2020)
2020 Resistance Correlation
Numerical, Analytical 2020 Fishbone-Shaped fin Laminar Air, Water 3D Numerical Numerical Plot HOT (Chen et al. 2020)
Experimental, Numerical Pin fin Turbulent Air, Water, Thermal Numerical Plot COLD (Wiriyasart and Naphon 2019)
2019 Nanofluid Resistance
Numerical, Analytical 2019 Plate fin Turbulent Air 3D Numerical Numerical Plot HOT (Saravanakumar and Senthil
Kumar 2019)
Numerical 2019 Plate fin Turbulent Air 3D Numerical Numerical Plot HOT (Hussain et al. 2019)
Experimental, Stimulation Plate fin, Pin fin Laminar/ Air, Water, Stimulation 3D Stimulation Plot HOT (Al-Damook and Alkasmoul
2018 Turbulent Nanofluid 2018)
Experimental, Numerical, - - Air, Water Numerical Comparative Tabulated, Plot COLD/HOT (Sajid, Hassan, and Rahman
Analytical 2017 study 2017)
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin Laminar Air Thermal Comparative Plot HOT (Chingulpitak et al. 2016)
2016 Resistance study
Experimental, Numerical, Plate fin, Pin fin - Air Numerical Comparative Plot HOT (Sahoo, Das, and Rath 2016)
Analytical 2016 study
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin, Pin fin Turbulent Air, Water Numerical Comparative Plot COLD/HOT (Chingulpitak and Wongwises
2015 study 2015)
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin - Air, Water Numerical Comparative Tabulated COLD/HOT (Zhao and Tan 2014)
2014 study
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin - Air 3D Numerical Comparative Plot COLD/HOT (Enescu and Virjoghe 2014)
2014 study
Numerical 2013 - - Air 3D Numerical 3D Stimulation Tabulated, Plot COLD (Zhu et al. 2013)
Numerical 2012 Plate fin - Air, Water Numerical Numerical Plot COLD (Zhou and Yu 2012)
Numerical 2012 Plate fin Laminar Air Numerical Numerical Plot COLD/HOT (Wang, Hung, and Chen 2012)
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin Laminar/ Air Numerical Numerical Plot HOT (Wu et al. 2011)
2011 Turbulent
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin Laminar - Thermal Numerical Plot, HOT (Mahmoud et al. 2011)
2011 Resistance Correlation
Experimental, Numerical, Plate fin - Air, liquid Thermal Numerical Plot COLD/HOT (Zhang, Mui, and Tarin 2010)
Analytical 2010 Resistance
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin - Air Thermal Numerical Plot HOT (Li and Chao 2009)
2009 Resistance
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin Laminar Air Thermal Numerical Plot COLD (Vián and Astrain 2008)
2008 Resistance
Numerical 2007 - - - Numerical Numerical Plot COLD/HOT (Lee and Kim 2007)
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin - Air, Water Numerical Numerical Plot COLD/HOT (Cosnier, Fraisse, and Luo
2006 2008)
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin Laminar Air Numerical Numerical Plot COLD/HOT (Astrain, Vián, and Albizua
2005 2005)
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin Laminar/ Air Numerical Numerical Plot HOT (El-Sayed et al. 2004)
2004 Turbulent
Experimental, Numerical Plate fin - water Numerical Numerical Plot COLD/HOT (Huang, Chin, and Duang
2000 2000)

over time, the focus shifted to numerical investigations with the 5.1. Thermoelectric cooler as domestic air conditioner
advance of authoritative software such as CFD.
Thermoelectric air conditioners are dependable, eco-friendly,
and easy to use. They are easy to install and do not require
complicated plumbing and switching between heating and
5. Thermoelectric cooler applications cooling. However, these technologies are currently prohibi­
Thermoelectric coolers, also known as Peltier coolers, are tively expensive (Shen et al. 2013). They are also small and
effectively sold for high-performance niche cooling systems quiet, although they have a relatively low coefficient of perfor­
requiring accurate heat-flux dissipation to low temperatures. mance which limits their applicability for residential cooling.
Peltier coolers are excellent for applications where traditional On the other hand, they have significant market potential as
air cooling cannot disperse heat fluxes at an acceptable rate. air conditioners in tiny enclosures such as automobiles and
The general design goals of thermoelectric cooling include submarine cabins where power utilization is minimal, and
excellent reliability, integration, packaging flexibility, and safety and reliability are critical (Hamid Elsheikh et al. 2014).
light weight (Putra, Yanuar, & Iskandar, 2011). As a result, Maneewan et.al 2010 evaluated the thermal comfort and cool­
thermoelectric cooling applications in HVAC are presented. ing performance of the compact thermoelectric aircon. The
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 11

Figure 14. Comparative study on work done on types of flow and cooling performance.

Table 4. Thermoelectric experimental arrangements.

Scheme Explanation Advantages Shortcoming
Ducted The entire air stream must pass via the The experimental setup is relatively simple. As Thermal resistance data obtained through this scheme is
heat sink. There is no room to higher-quality data is obtained, this scheme is positive and should not be used for un-ducted
bypass flow. becoming more popular. schemes.
Un- Overheat source is mounted as a heat Simple Setup acquisition. Thermal parameters are A more advanced test rig is required. Because of the by-
Ducted sink, allowing bypass flow inside the simple to describe. More practical and logical pass flow, heat data from the sink must be handled
wind tunnel. outcomes. with extreme caution.
Dual-Heat Inside the wind tunnel, two or more Minimal heat loss. Not widely accepted in a variety The test rig setup is fairly complex. The input data is
Sink sinks with a heat source in between of applications. a little hazy.
are suspended.

compact thermoelectric air conditioner comprises of three that the device can lower the ambient air temperature by up to
thermoelectric modules. Figure 17 shows how the hot and 7.8°C. However, this cooling system is still in development.
cold sides of TE modules link with rectangular finned heat The TEAAC system’s small size and adaptability allow it to
sinks and fans. The COP was calculated, and it is found to be be used for both heating and cooling. The effectiveness and
0.34 (Maneewan, Tipsaenprom, and Lertsatitthanakorn 2010). COP of this air conditioning system are poor and are affected
by temperature changes between the hot and cold heat sinks.
However, the environmentally friendly TEAAC system can
5.2. Thermoelectric cooler in automobile avoid serious negative impacts such as the greenhouse effect
Thermoelectric air conditioning (TEAC) is a system that uses and ozone layer depletion, and this system may be better suited
electricity to operate and is based on the Peltier effect. Since the for electric vehicles (Vashisht and Rakshit 2021).
thermoelectric system has no moving parts except the circulating
fluid pump, it is classified as an active air conditioning system in
6. Thermoelectric cooler future and challenges
the reviewed study (Bentrcia, Alshitawi, and Omar 2018). The
TEAC system schematic diagram is provided in Figure 18 The The challenge of thermoelectric cooling systems is to avoid
temperature differences between the hot and cold heat sinks affect high energy consumption and increase the cooling perfor­
the TEAC system’s performance and efficiency. There have also mance based on thermoelectric material. Many researchers
been studies that (Attar and Lee 2016; Attar, Lee, and Weera 2014; are working to increase the ZT to improve thermoelectric
Chen et al. 2020; Raut and Walke 2012; Vashisht and Rakshit efficiency. The challenge is to develop an advanced thermo­
2021) have dealt with the TEAC system in automobiles. electric material that optimizes the opposing properties. In
(Attar, Lee, and Weera 2014) investigated experimentally addition, the miniaturization of thermoelectric devices has
and analytically the optimal designs for thermoelectric auto­ been enabled by the improvement of thermoelectric materials
mobile air condition (TEAAC) systems. Their results showed research. This has led to the fabrication of micro thermoelec­
that the improved TEAAC has a 30% higher COP. Continuing tric devices that are used in various applications such as micro­
the previous work (Attar and Lee 2016), experimental and processor cooling, watches, medical microdevices, etc. As the
analytical validation for the TEAAC with counter flow air comparative study in Figure 19 shows, the current demand for
was performed. The predicted and experimental COP values thermoelectric systems is increasing.
have a relative error of approximately 4.5%. Moreover, the The status of thermoelectric cooling for various applications
demonstrated results of the COP system are 1.27 when 400 from the year 1997 to the present is shown in Table 5. As the
W of power is applied to the system (Chen et al. 2020). For study in Figure 19 shows, almost 43% of cooling systems are
elevator vehicles, the TEAC system was designed. The experi­ used for cooling electronic equipment and 22% for refrigeration.
mental findings indicate that the highest air-cooling power is The scope of research on a medium and large-scale applica­
324W and the COP is 1.24. A traditional elevator air condi­ tion is large and economically feasible for future aspects with
tioning unit weights 38 kg, whereas the TEAC system weights green technology. In air conditioning, for sensors and other
only 10 kg (Raut and Walke 2012). The testing findings reveal applications, the scope of research aspects is high. Hence,
12 M. SASIDHARAN ET AL.

Figure 15. Multiple arrangements in heat sink testing (a) Ducted (b) Unducted (c) Dual heatsink.

Figure 16. Experimental setup configuration.

 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 13

7. Conclusions
The historical development of thermoelectric cooling systems,
and in this context, geometric adjustments, thermoelectric
material, and flow conditions, are three important factors in
the overall performance of thermoelectric cooling systems.
However, this review primarily focuses on cooling systems
and examines work on thermoelectric materials, heat sink
geometry, and fluid flow to provide a comprehensive picture
of thermoelectric technology and applications. Thermoelectric
applications are financially viable where efforts are being made
to improve existing thermoelectric materials with enhanced
performance characteristics, and this present review provides
an overview of the thermoelectric materials available to date.
The difficulty in achieving breakthroughs in materials research
Figure 17. Experimental setup ConfigurationSchematic view of the compact TE
and developments in manufacturing, commercialization and
air cooler. design are major factors that have limited the application of
thermoelectric to certain areas, despite continued efforts. Due
to new geometric developments, designers have explored dif­
thermoelectric technology has found more applications in ferent materials and shapes that can improve the overall effi­
recent years due to increased research. Many modeling techni­ ciency of heat sinks and the thermoelectric cooling system.
ques are used to analyze the effect of thermoelectric and improve From 2000 to 2021, flow conditions and other parameters
the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. From our study, experi­ are considered and analyzed. Researchers prefer the laminar
mental and numerical methods are the most popular methods flow for cooling systems because of the flow conditions
for developing and analyzing thermoelectric effects. described. Due to the benefits of having long life, no moving
In recent years, the efficiency of thermoelectric devices parts, and silent operation, the thermoelectric module is used
has greatly improved thanks to geometrical improvements in many applications, including automotive, aerospace, man­
and thermoelectric materials. However, the efficiency of ufacturing, and in the household. However, due to their lack of
thermoelectric cooling is lower, hence further research is cost-effectiveness, they are not as widely and intensively used
needed for improvements. To further improve the perfor­
mance of thermoelectric cooling, various structures of
thermoelectric devices have been reported. The improve­
ment of thermoelectric performance was mainly demon­
strated by segmenting different thermoelectric materials to
form thermoelectric modules, designing an integrated
thermoelectric device (iTED) with each alternating elec­
trical and thermal connections in series and parallel, and
introducing a thermal switch to reduce temperature fluc­
tuations. Therefore, further structural improvements to
thermoelectric cooling will be the subject of research
advances to improve the overall efficiency and
performance. Figure 19. Comparative study of thermoelectric cooling application.

Figure 18. Basic layout of automotive thermoelectric based air conditioning system.
14 M. SASIDHARAN ET AL.

Table 5. Summary of the use of thermoelectric cooling application device.

Applications Nature of study Reference
Cooling electronic devices Reduced thermal resistance (Zhang, Mui, and Tarin 2010)
Increase in heat flux (Putra, Iskandar, and Iskandar 2011)
Thermal management (Saidur et al. 2012)
Performance of thermoelectric cooling material (Hamid Elsheikh et al. 2014)
Theoretical model (Chang et al. 2009)
Experimental thermal performance using conventional water-cooling device (Huang et al. 2010)
Overall performance of a cooling system (Zhou and Yu 2012)
Portable electronic devices (Mahmoud et al. 2013)
Air-cooled parallel plate-fin heat sink (PPFHS) in Aerospace application (Elsayed et al. 2020)
Refrigerators Rapid cooling (Abdul-Wahab et al. 2009)
Outdoor purposes operated with solar cells (Meng & Sun, 2012)
Bulk single-phase material (Luo et al. 2013)
Cooling load and coefficient of performance are numerically studied. (Hamid Elsheikh et al. 2014)
Coefficient of performance (Hamid Elsheikh et al. 2014)
Air conditioners Maximum coefficient of performance (COP) (Cherkez 2012)
Air-cooled condensers (Kharangate et al. 2020)
Sensors Fluid flow sensor (Nguyen 1997; Stachowiak et al. 1998)
Infrared sensors (Xu et al. 2017)
Ultrasonic intensity sensor (Salah and Abuhelwa 2020)
Other applications Medical Application (Chen et al. 2012)
Automobile Application (Zheng et al. 2014)
From Figure 19, only 9% is used for the air conditioning industry, hence the research and development in the air conditioning industry is very important. Even today,
cooling and electronic cooling are only used on a small scale.
The authors are grateful for the
financial support provided by the
as expected. The energy efficiency of thermoelectric coolers is Acknowledgements Malaysian Ministry of Higher
far too low to compensate for the system cost, and they are
The author is grateful for the financialEducation, FRGS
assistance provided Grant
by the FRGS
only suitable for a few specialized areas or small/micro appli­ Grant (FRGS/1/2019/TK10/UM/02/4) (FRGS/1/2019/TK10/UM/02/4).
cations. Research on advanced materials, geometric adjust­
ments and parameters for flow conditions must be financially
viable. Nevertheless, the research results obtained in the Disclosure statement
laboratory show enormous potential and prospects. The authors received partial
Therefore, cooling applications and the importance of green financial
No potential conflict of interest was reported support
by the authors. provided
by the
energy solutions can now be seen moving from the research Malaysian Ministry of Higher
phase to the commercial stage. Education, FRGS Grant
Funding
(FRGS/1/2019/TK10/UM/02/4).
The work was supported by the fundamental research grant scheme
Nomenclature [FRGS/1/2019/TK10/UM/02/4].

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