Thermoelectric module sheet and thermoelectric module assembly including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019165235-A1
Application number	US-201815957592-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 19, 2018
Priority date	Nov 29, 2017
Publication date	May 30, 2019
Grant date	—

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; 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.

2 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are arranged at a predetermined interval in a width direction of the base substrate.

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

4 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 1 , wherein the base substrate has a sheet shape, and the surface of the base substrate is a sheet surface with a width and a height that are greater than a thickness of the base substrate.

5 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 4 , 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.

6 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of thermoelectric elements are arranged on the sheet surface such that: end portions of each thermoelectric element are located on a single straight line together with an end portion of the sheet surface, or the end portions of each thermoelectric element are spaced a predetermined distance apart from the end portion of the sheet surface in a direction toward a central portion of the sheet surface.

7 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 4 , wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of electrodes is either located on a single straight line together with an end portion of the sheet surface or disposed to protrude beyond the end portion of the sheet surface in a predetermined direction.

8 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined direction is a height direction of the plurality of thermoelectric elements.

9 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of electrodes includes a first part having at least a portion laminated on a heat source-side end surface or a cold source-side end surface of at least one predetermined thermoelectric element, among the plurality of thermoelectric elements, to protrude beyond the end portion of the sheet surface in the predetermined direction.

10 . The thermoelectric module sheet of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of electrodes further includes a second part having at least a portion laminated on another surface of the at least one predetermined thermoelectric element that extends from the heat source-side end surface or the cold source-side end surface.

11 . 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, a plurality of thermoelectric elements arranged on a surface of the base substrate, and a plurality of electrodes configured to electrically connect the plurality of thermoelectric elements by a predetermined connecting method.

12 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 11 , 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.

13 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 11 , 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.

14 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets and the plurality of insulation sheets each have a rounded shape with a predetermined curvature, and the housing has a rounded shape with a curvature corresponding to the predetermined curvature.

15 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 13 , further comprising:
an insulation layer stacked on the at least a part of the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets.

16 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of electrodes is either located on a single straight line together with an end portion of the one surface of the base substrate or disposed to protrude beyond the end portion of the surface of the base substrate in a predetermined direction, at least a part of the plurality of thermoelectric module sheets including the at least a portion of each of the plurality of electrodes.

17 . 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,
a plurality of thermoelectric elements arranged on a surface of the base substrate, and
a plurality of electrodes configured to electrically connect the thermoelectric elements by a predetermined connecting method, and
the at least one insulation sheet is interposed between one layer of the base substrate and another layer of the base substrate.

18 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 17 , 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.

19 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 18 , further comprising:
an insulation layer stacked on the at least a part of the at least one thermoelectric module sheet.

20 . The thermoelectric module assembly of claim 19 , wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of electrodes is either located on a single straight line together with an end portion of the one surface of the base substrate or disposed to protrude beyond the end portion of the one surface of the base substrate in a predetermined direction, the at least a part of the at least one thermoelectric module sheet including the at least a portion of each of the plurality of electrodes.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H01L35/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/02

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/30

  Electricity · mapped topic

• 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