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How can I make my own peltier?

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Tyl0r

Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2003
Location
OKC
Well, the title says it all. How can I make my own peltier? Is it hard? Has anyone here done it, or know of any good links for it? It doesn't look like a whole lot is involved in making one, but if there is, is there any tricks to making one?


I've looked around, but keep coming up with just prices and such and that's not really what I'm looking for. Thanks for any help! :)
 
good luck....not in a mean or sarcastic way but really...good luck cause i think that will be quite hard...i may be wrong though
 
Honestly I don't think making one would be worth the effort if your looking to save money. I just checked ebay just now and there are lots of pelts available for cheap (eg: 130w=$9.99US). If you are trying to save money you would probably have a better time making your own powersupply for a pelt, those can cost an arm and a leg. If you're looking to make a pelt just for the experience/educational value of doing it well all I can say is 1) good luck, 2) keep accurate notes, it could make for a great front page article!
 
Actually, it's not saving money I'm looking for, I just want to see how hard it is to make one, and what all it involves. I asked a buddy of mine who was awake who has had some electrical engineering classes but he didn't know anything about them. We talked a little about the use of a phase change cooling system, but I just want to see if I can make my own peltier. I figure I have class monday, and I know a few more people I can ask, and at least I'll have access to the stacks(library) so I can dig around in the books. :D
 
You would need about 100 small cubes of doped Bismuth Telluride - doped to obtain p and n type properties. 50 of each. You would then need two ceramic plates with solder points on them to connect all the ends of the cubes up in one long series circuit. Then you would need to stick it in the oven under a slight amount of pressure, and hey presto, a Peltier!

I think that you would only be able to buy such metals in 1000kg quantities and you need a sintering machine for the ceramic plates, and an automatic oven to boot. This is why it is not too cost effective, but probably not too hard :D
 
I manged to find out a little more how a peltier is constructed, and I noticed the ceremic plate needed, and that there was something sandwiched between them. I was thinking I could use a set of two tiles for it. It's for testing purposes, so size isn't going to be an issue. Only power consumption and heat generation is my major concern, I don't want to make a fire on one side/ice on the other side ball playing with it.:p

Bismuth Telluride, what's another name for it? Like mercury is quicksilver, etc, or is there one? Do you happen to know off hand any other element base pair that could be combined to form a comperable substrate? And does it have to be cubes, it seems like using small balls/marbles could produce the same effect and be cheaper to produce then a cube.

I have access to lab equipment at school, so that's kind'vea plus on my behalf, and I'm not afraid to mess with stuff. :D Any reason why I'd have to obtain 1000Kg? That's like 2000lbs of stuff there...and seems like a bit much for a small project.

I also found lots of peltiers for sale cheap, and I'm thinking of getting one and bandsawing it in half just to see what's inside of it.

...you should have seen my poor Loligo(squid) after lab...poor little guy...looked like he'd been put in a Ginsu blender ten times over. :D
 
The plates that ppl say are ceramic are made from aluminium oxide. Easily also found as electrical isolators for transistors.
If you look you can probably by them as ready made plates, though they can be a bit too thick.

Somehow you need to bond a thin film of copper to the plate so you can develop and etch the traces. Developing and etching is a standard circuitboard prodedure.

Finding these bismuth / telluride pellets will be a tough one. LOL! I would ask a TEC manufacturer for samples!!

Once you have the etched alu-oxide plates and the pellets you need to solder it together with a low-meltingpoint(80-100C) solder. I guess the low temp is needed to avoid serious thermo mechanical stress on the unit. You know the hot/cold expand/shrink effect.

It is quite problematic to home-brew TECs..... I have access to a ton of mechanical equipment like cnc mills and drills. Ialso have access to a complete electrical laboratory... and some chemical knowledge... still I wouldn't even try to make TECs even though I find them MOST intresting.
 
The reason for squares is that thy can pack more of the plates in them theirs about 15 rows of connection’s in most pelts thy also stacked several hi in 50mm x 50mm Tec its Ben awhile sense I seen one apart
 
btw, Making a power supply will cost you almost as much as buying one. I recently made one, 12v 25A. costed close to $70 for all the parts and whatnots.

Jon
 
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