Demands on heat flow detection at a plane wall via a thermoelectric module
have drawn researchers? attention to quantitative understanding in order to
properly implement the thermoelectric module in thermal engineering
practices. Basic mathematical models of both heat transfer through a plane
wall and thermoelectric effects are numerically solved to represent genuine
behaviors of heat flow detection by mounting a thermoelectric module at a
plane wall. The heat transfer through the plane wall is expected to be
detected. It is intriguing from simulation results that the heat rejected at
the plane wall is identical to the heat absorbed by the thermoelectric module
when the area of the plane wall is the same as that of the thermoelectric
module. Furthermore, both the area sizes of the plane walls and the
convective heat transfer coefficients at the wall influence amount of the
heat absorbed by the thermoelectric module. Those observational data are
modeled for development of sensing heat flow through a plane wall by a
thermoelectric module in practical uses.