Thermoelectric module sheet and thermoelectric module assembly including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10930835-B2
Application number	US-201815957592-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2018
Priority date	Nov 29, 2017
Publication date	Feb 23, 2021
Grant date	Feb 23, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a thermoelectric module sheet that includes a base substrate, a plurality of thermoelectric elements laminated on a surface of the base substrate, and a plurality of electrodes, each of which is laminated on at least one surface of at least one of the plurality of thermoelectric elements to electrically connect the plurality of thermoelectric elements by a predetermined connecting method.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermoelectric module sheet comprising:
a base substrate having a sheet shape;
a plurality of thermoelectric elements laminated on a sheet surface of the base substrate, the sheet surface having a width and a height greater than a thickness of the base substrate; and
a plurality of electrodes, each of which is laminated on at least one surface of at least one of the plurality of thermoelectric elements to electrically connect the plurality of thermoelectric elements by a predetermined connecting method,
wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are arranged on the sheet surface such that a height direction of the plurality of thermoelectric elements is parallel to a height direction of the base substrate,
wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are spaced apart from each other in a width direction of the base substrate, and
wherein each of the plurality of electrodes includes:
a first part extending in a thickness direction of the base substrate and being in contact with a thickness surface of the base substrate; and
a second part extending from the first part in the height direction along a side end portion of the base substrate and a side end portion of the at least one of the plurality of thermoelectric elements so as to form an L-shaped section together with the first part, the L-shaped section being in contact with a plurality of surfaces of the at least one of the plurality of thermoelectric elements including a sheet surface of the at least one of the plurality of thermoelectric elements.

2. The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 1 , wherein the base substrate is formed of an elastically deformable material.

3. A thermoelectric module assembly comprising:
a plurality of thermoelectric module sheets stacked in a predetermined stack direction; and
a plurality of insulation sheets, each of which covers one of the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets,
wherein each of the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets includes:
a base substrate having a sheet shape,
a plurality of thermoelectric elements arranged on a sheet surface of the base substrate, the sheet surface having a width and a height greater than a thickness of the base substrate, and
a plurality of electrodes configured to electrically connect the plurality of thermoelectric elements by a predetermined connecting method,
wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are arranged on the sheet surface such that a height direction of the plurality of thermoelectric elements is parallel to a height direction of the base substrate,
wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are spaced apart from each other in a width direction of the base substrate, and
wherein each of the plurality of electrodes includes:
a first part extending in a thickness direction of the base substrate and being in contact with a thickness surface of the base substrate; and
a second part extending from the first part in the height direction along a side end portion of the base substrate and a side end portion of at least one thermoelectric element of the plurality of thermoelectric elements so as to form an L-shaped section together with the first part, the L-shaped section being in contact with a plurality of surfaces of the at least one thermoelectric element including a sheet surface of the at least one thermoelectric element.

4. The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of insulation sheets is installed to cover at least a part of the plurality of thermoelectric elements and a part of the plurality of electrodes of a given thermoelectric module sheet in the stack direction.

5. The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 3 , further comprising:
a housing in which the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets and the plurality of insulation sheets are accommodated,
wherein the housing has at least one opening through which at least a part of the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets is exposed to the outside.

6. The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets and the plurality of insulation sheets each have a rounded shape with a predetermined curvature.

7. The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 5 , further comprising:
an insulation layer stacked on the at least a part of the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets.

8. A thermoelectric module assembly comprising:
at least one thermoelectric module sheet; and
at least one insulation sheet stacked on the at least one thermoelectric module sheet,
wherein the at least one thermoelectric module sheet includes:
a base substrate folded to have a multi-layer structure, the base substrate having a sheet shape,
a plurality of thermoelectric elements arranged on a sheet surface of the base substrate, the sheet surface having a width and a height greater than a thickness of the base substrate, and
a plurality of electrodes configured to electrically connect the thermoelectric elements by a predetermined connecting method,

wherein the at least one insulation sheet is interposed between one layer of the base substrate and another layer of the base substrate,
wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are arranged on the sheet surface such that a height direction of the plurality of thermoelectric elements is parallel to a height direction of the base substrate,
wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are spaced apart from each other in a width direction of the base substrate, and
wherein each of the plurality of electrodes includes:
a first part extending in a thickness direction of the base substrate and being in contact with a thickness surface of the base substrate; and
a second part extending from the first part in the height direction along a side end portion of the base substrate and a side end portion of at least one thermoelectric element of the plurality of thermoelectric elements so as to form an L-shaped section together with the first part, the L-shaped section being in contact with a plurality of surfaces of the at least one thermoelectric element including a sheet surface of the at least one thermoelectric element.

9. The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 8 , further comprising:
a housing in which the at least one thermoelectric module sheet and the at least one insulation sheet are accommodated,
wherein the housing has at least one opening through which at least a part of the at least one thermoelectric module sheet is exposed to the outside.

10. The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 9 , further comprising:
an insulation layer stacked on the at least a part of the at least one thermoelectric module sheet.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Kwak Jin Woo
• Kim Byung Wook
• Noh Su Jung
• Lee Hoo Dam

Classifications

• H10N10/81

  Structural details of the junction · CPC title

• H10N10/17 Primary

  characterised by the structure or configuration of the cell or thermocouple forming the device · CPC title

• H01L35/30

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/02

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic