THERMOELECTRIC CONVERTER Russian patent published in 1999 - IPC

FIELD: instrumentation engineering; direct heat-to-electricity conversion for DC power supply. SUBSTANCE: converter has thermopile of series-connected thermocouples. Each thermocouple is made in the form of three-layer panel carrying layers of hot junction, circuits, and cold junction placed one on top of other. Junctions are arranged over entire surface of pair of circuits. Length of thermocouple circuits equals layer thickness; circuits are isolated from each other by means of thermoelectric insulating insert. Cold junction of each thermocouple is divided into two parts by means of thermoelectric insulating insert to form switching buses. Thermocouple is, essentially, multilayer structure assembled of parallel-connected three-layer panels placed one on top of other at certain displacement and assembled of series- connected thermocouples. Displacement pitch equals half the cross- sectional area of one thermocouple. Three-layer panel is formed by sequential evaporation or electrolysis of layers. EFFECT: improved power capacity and efficiency due to reduced internal resistance of thermocouples. 8 cl, 3 dwg