FABRICATION TECHNIQUE DEVELOPMENT IN - LINE THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR MODULES

Abstract

Three basic areas of thermoelectric generator technology were investigated in the first phase of this program; bonding of positive polarity lead telluride, encapsulation of lead telluride and the heat transfer problems related to an 'in-line' module. Bonding studies of 'P' PbTe thermoelements indicated that further development effort is required to obtain a method giving low junction resistance and not causing stress induced cracking of the thermoelement. Of the methods studied the only promising results were with 'Metallic Rich' Lead Telluride which, while stress induced thermoelement cracking was not observed, suffered a serious decrease in Seebeck coefficient as a function of operating time. If this problem could be overcome then this material could provide useful 'P' thermoelements. The very limited development effort devoted to encapsulation demonstrated that the glass bonded synthetic mica/cement end seal encapsulant, while satisfactory in an inert atmosphere, did not provide thermoelement oxidation protection.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1963
Accession Number
AD0623763

Entities

People

  • R. E. Rush

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coefficients
  • Cycles
  • End Seals
  • Fabrication
  • Figure Of Merit
  • Generators
  • Heat Exchangers
  • Heat Transfer
  • Lead Tellurides
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Resistance
  • Semiconductors
  • Stainless Steel
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Thermal Conductivity

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Polymer Science and Engineering.
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.