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Coupled Thermal and Electrical Transport in Unconventional Metals for Applications in Solid-State Cooling

Saini, Abhishek
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2781-8027
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1659517795344165

Abstract Details

2022, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Engineering and Applied Science: Mechanical Engineering.
The central idea of the present work is the study of thermoelectric (TE) transport phenomena in nonconventional materials including topological metals, shape memory alloys (SMA), and magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMA) to see how these properties evolve in such unusual materials. Topological materials are known for having unique transport properties because of their exotic band structures, while SMAs and MSMAs have structural and magnetostructural transformation respectively. TE and other related transport properties can provide insight of the underlying physics of transport in conducting materials, which becomes useful when potential applications of these materials are considered. For example, TE properties directly relate to the performance of these materials in TE power or cooling devices through a figure of merit. In (M)SMAs, TE properties can be used to directly find the structural and/or magnetic phase transformation temperatures, which in turn, dictate potential cooling applications: elastocaloric and magnetocaloric cooling in SMAs and MSMAs respectively. Hence, this work aims to investigate the characterization of TE properties in the aforementioned classes of materials. Each of the aforementioned cooling technologies have the potential to replace conventional vapor-compression technology in the future by eliminating the need for potentially harmful hydrofluorocarbons and many other refrigerants with high global warming potentials. Additionally, TE cooling devices provide solid-state, noiseless operation without any moving parts. However, this technology is still in its infancy and only low power TE cooling devices have been commercialized to this date. Major challenges in these non-conventional techniques include high material and device cost, and low energy efficiency. This demands significant improvements in both material development and model design of such non-conventional techniques to be able to compete with conventional systems. Finally, as a case study, last section of this work shows the theoretical and experimental design of a TE air cooling device which is based on a TE effect called Peltier effect. This effect is the conversion of electrical energy into thermal energy. This section shows a detailed optimization of TE properties, TE device geometry, heat transfer and flow modeling. The objective of this section is to achieve a large coolingii capacity and coefficient of performance (COP), and compare it with the cooling performance of a conventional vapor compression system. To summarize, by investigating TE transport properties in unconventional materials mentioned above, the cooling performance of these materials in their respective applications such as TE, elastocaloric and magnetocaloric cooling can be determined. All these cooling non-conventional technologies have the potential to replace existing vapor compression systems due to the advantages discussed above. A case study of a TE cooling device presented in the final portion of this work reinforces the present idea.
Je-Hyeong Bahk, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Raj Manglik, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Kishan Bellur, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Sarah Watzman, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
135 p.
Mechanical Engineering
Thermoelectric cooling; Topological metals; Shape memory alloys; Magnetic shape memory alloys; Thermoelectric properties characterization; Non-conventional cooling

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Saini, A. (2022). Coupled Thermal and Electrical Transport in Unconventional Metals for Applications in Solid-State Cooling [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1659517795344165

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Saini, Abhishek. Coupled Thermal and Electrical Transport in Unconventional Metals for Applications in Solid-State Cooling. 2022. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1659517795344165.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Saini, Abhishek. "Coupled Thermal and Electrical Transport in Unconventional Metals for Applications in Solid-State Cooling." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1659517795344165

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1659517795344165
211
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.