About Thermoelectric Cooling Assemblies

Thermoelectric cooler assemblies are compact units that control the temperature of a wide variety of applications, such as laser diode packages in active optics, lasers in medical and industrial instrumentation, electronic enclosures, sample storage chambers in medical diagnostics and analytical instruments and batteries in various automotive and telecom applications. Thermoelectric cooler assemblies have a cooling capacity spectrum ranging from approximately 10 to 400 Watts, and can cool by removing heat from control sources through convection, conduction, or liquid means.

Advantages

Thermoelectric cooler assemblies offer several advantages over other cooling technologies. For example, conventional fan trays do not cool below ambient temperatures and require an air exchange with the outside environment. On the other hand, thermoelectric cooler assemblies can cool to well below ambient and protect electronics inside enclosures from outside contaminants, and also limit moisture exposure from the outside environment. Thermoelectric cooler assemblies also offer precise temperature control, accurate to within 0.01˚C under steady-state conditions.

Advantages over conventional compressor-based systems:

• Compact size
• Lower weight
• Lower noise and vibration
• Mountable in any orientation
• Environmentally friendly, as thermoelectric cooler assemblies do not use CFCs and are RoHS compliant
• Little to no infield maintenance
• Lower total cost of ownership

Benefits for Designers

Engineers must now consider thermal management early in the product design process. Simple thermal management solutions, such as adding a fan or heat sink, are no longer typically viable to meet required performance and reliability specifications.

A standard thermoelectric cooler assembly allows the designer to start with a basic set of building blocks that mate fans and thermoelectric coolers to heat exchangers. Laird Thermal Systems  has conducted several decades worth of design and validation testing on various combinations of thermal components to optimize cooling power and efficiency at various heat loads. This results in engineers saving time with redesign and validation testing a thermoelectric cooler assembly that has already been perfected by Laird Thermal Systems.

Below is a summary of inherent benefits of initiating a thermal design with a standard thermoelectric cooler assembly versus a custom solution:

• Reduce product development time by initiated product at thermoelectric cooler assembly level vs thermoelectric cooler level
• Reduce costs by utilizing components that are already established in the supply chain
• Long history of proven infield performance
• Product enhancements are captured through market evolution

Laird Thermal Systems offers the industry’s widest selection of thermoelectric cooler assemblies. Products are designed and manufactured to strict process control standards and pass/fail criteria. Our standard product portfolio includes an extensive array of thermal management solutions that cover a wide range of cooling capacities with compact form factors and high coefficient of performance.

Standard operating voltages are 12 and 24 VDC, with 48VDC available on some models. The standard product offering includes heat transfer mechanisms designed to absorb and dissipate heat by convection, conduction, or through liquid heat exchangers. All products are manufactured in an ISO 9001:2015 certified facility and are designed to meet the cooling needs of many thermal management applications in the medical, analytical, industrial and telecom markets.

There are seven distinct thermoelectric cooler assembly product families designed for a specific cooling capacity range, temperature differential range or tight space constraint.