2004 Volume 51 Issue 1 Pages 10-15
A segmented p-type thermoelectric module of AgSbTe2-(Bi, Sb)2Te3 was fabricated by a Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) process and its performance was evaluated with both calculations and measurements. Each powder of AgSbTe2 and (Bi, Sb)2Te3 was consolidated by the SPS process. Various temperature distributions in the two-segmented module were simulated by solving an unsteady one-dimensional equation of heat conduction based on the obtained data of thermoelectric properties. An optimum junction point of two elements was predicted from numerical changes in the performances with the connecting position of two materials. Several materials for the electrodes were tested to find better bonding condition between the thermoelectric material and the electrode by SEM-EDX. Finally, the performances of the fabricated module were measured. It was found that the performances predicted by the calculation were in fairly good agreement with the measured ones.
