Abstract
Thermoelectric heat control systems based on the Peltier effect offer highly attractive capabilities compared to conventional heat pump systems. Due to the absence of moving parts, such systems are essentially free of mechanical vibration and noise, are highly reliable, and can be easily miniaturized. This paper proposes a new topology optimization method for the design of heat transfer control systems composed of thermoelectric materials and heat conductors. First, a nonlinear finite element method is introduced to analyze the nonlinear coupling effect of thermal and electric fluxes. Next, the thermal conductor portion of the heat transfer control system is set as the design domain, and the homogenization method is used for its relaxation. A topology optimization problem is formulated based on the thermal potential energy concept, and an optimization algorithm is constructed using sequential linear programming. Finally, several numerical examples are presented to confirm the utility of the proposed method.
