Introduction to TEC Thermoelectric Cooler for Laser Diodes

TEC (Thermo Electric Cooler) is a thermoelectric cooler or thermoelectric cooler. It is also called a TEC refrigeration chip because it looks like a chip device.

Semiconductor thermoelectric refrigeration technology is an energy conversion technology that uses the Peltier effect of semiconductor materials to achieve refrigeration or heating. It is widely used in optoelectronics, electronics industry, biomedicine, consumer appliances and other fields. The so-called Peltier effect refers to the phenomenon that when a DC current passes through a galvanic couple composed of two semiconductor materials, one end absorbs heat and the other end releases heat at both ends of the galvanic couple.

working principle:

Thermoelectric refrigeration devices are usually composed of several pairs of p and n-type semiconductor thermocouples connected in series. When a DC power supply is connected, the temperature of one end of the thermoelectric cooling device will decrease, while the temperature of the other end will increase at the same time. By using various heat transfer methods such as heat exchangers to continuously dissipate heat from the hot end of the refrigeration device, the cold end of the device will continue to absorb heat from the working environment. It is worth noting that this phenomenon is completely reversible, simply changing the direction of the current can cause the heat to be transferred in the opposite direction. Therefore, both cooling and heating functions can be achieved simultaneously on one thermoelectric refrigeration device.

The TEC thermoelectric cooler is composed of internal semiconductor P pole, semiconductor N pole and conductive metal, as well as a ceramic substrate for temperature exchange on the top and bottom layers. The cooling capacity of a single thermoelectric refrigeration pair is limited, and TEC is generally composed of a dozen to dozens of refrigeration pairs. The temperature difference between the hot and cold ends of a single TEC can reach 60~70°C, and the cold end temperature can reach -20~-10°C. If you want to obtain a larger temperature difference and lower cold end temperature, you can stack multiple TECs. TECs of various shapes are available on the market depending on the usage scenarios and methods.

Classification:

TEC has a wide range of thermoelectric refrigeration products, including single-stage thermoelectric refrigeration devices, multi-stage thermoelectric refrigeration devices, micro thermoelectric refrigeration devices, annular thermoelectric refrigeration devices and other types.

1. Single-stage series: According to different production processes, it is divided into conventional series, high-power series, high-temperature series and recyclable series products. Single-stage series products are standard TEC products, which have higher performance, higher reliability, and a variety of Available in a wide range of cooling capacity, geometry and input power, they are mainly used in industrial, laboratory equipment, medical, military and other fields.

2. Multi-stage series: Mainly used in areas with large temperature differences or low temperature requirements. This type of TEC has small cooling power and is suitable for occasions that require small and medium refrigeration power and large temperature differences. Typically used in IR-detection, CCD and photoelectric fields. The design of different stacking methods can meet the needs of deep refrigeration. This type of refrigerator can achieve a larger temperature difference than a single-stage TEC.

3. Micro series: Designed and developed to meet high temperature and small space environments. Products developed using advanced manufacturing processes of high-performance thermoelectric materials. Products typically used in laser transmitters, optical receivers, pump lasers and other products in the optical communication industry.

4. Ring series: Suitable for medium cooling power applications. This series of products has a circular hole in the center of the hot and cold side ceramics to accommodate protrusions for optical, mechanical fastening or temperature probes. Typically used in industrial, electrical equipment, laboratory and optoelectronic equipment and other fields

Compared with traditional mechanical refrigeration methods, thermoelectric refrigeration technology does not require any refrigerant and is an environmentally friendly solid-state refrigeration method. It has small size, light weight, no vibration, no noise, precise temperature control, high reliability, and can be With advantages such as working at any angle, thermoelectric technology is one of the important technical solutions even in certain application fields.

Active cooling: Thermoelectric cooling is an active cooling method that can cool objects below the ambient temperature, which is impossible with ordinary radiators. By using multi-stage thermoelectric coolers in a vacuum environment, even lower temperatures can be achieved, down to -100°C.

Point-to-point refrigeration: Thermoelectric refrigeration has a compact structure and can achieve precise temperature control in a small space or range, and can even achieve point-to-point refrigeration, which cannot be achieved by other refrigeration methods.

High reliability: Thermoelectric refrigeration does not have any moving parts, has high reliability and can work for a long time without maintenance. It is suitable for systems that are not easy to disassemble after installation or require a long service life.

Precise temperature control: Thermoelectric refrigeration is a DC power supply, and the cooling capacity is easy to adjust. By adjusting the input current, precise control of the cooling capacity and temperature can be achieved, achieving a temperature control stability better than 0.01°C.

Cooling/heating: Thermoelectric technology has both cooling and heating functions. The same system can achieve both cooling and heating modes by simply changing the direction of the current.