Experiment and simulation study on the specification parameters of finned heat sink for thermoelectric system in consideration of radiation among fins

Experiments and a self-built 3-D Multiphysics model are used to study the effects of the specification parameter of the finned heat sink on the heat dissipation and electrical performance of the thermoelectric system in consideration of radiation heat exchange among fins. The results show that fins number, root and tip width have certain effect on the heat dissipation capacity and the radiation simultaneously. The dissipation capacity increases the temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions, and therefore increases the electrical output of the system, while the radiation effect limits the unrestricted increase of the temperature difference, resulting in the suppression of the system performance. The system achieves optimal performance with fins number, root and tip width of 7, 4 mm and 4 mm respectively in most cases. Additionally, fin length and input temperature always devoted to facilitating the effect of the system. Two fins-optimized design schemes are proposed for thermoelectric system: the first scheme can boost the power density by 30% compared to the original one, while the second can provide an additional 50.83% of the electrical power while maintaining the original power density. This study provides a design reference for the finned heat sink for thermoelectric system.