Abstract: A temperature conditioning apparatus for the human body includes a vest or other clothing unitary with a thermoelectric or Stirling cycle heat pump worn by the user. The unit is powered by a battery source worn on the user's belt or other part of his or her body, or by an externally-mounted electrical energy source, for example, in a vehicle. The vest has front and rear panels with an air flow layer and permeable inside layer that accept and release conditioned air to the user. The vest may be used with body armor or other protective layers, that is, the vest may be worn underneath body armor or body armor may be built into the vest, or the vest may be used without body armor to cool the user in an exceptionally hot environment such as a non-air conditioned space in hot weather.

Abstract: A thermoelectric semiconductor couple or module (10) includes a plurality of semiconductor pellets (14, 18) having Peltier characteristics are mechanically interconnected and arranged in an electrical series circuit with heat transferring means (12, 16, 20) with all interconnections being directly made. The means (12, 16, 20) can be of platelike construction with an L-shaped cross-section or, alternatively, with a U-shaped cross-section. A large number of modules (10) can be arranged in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional stack (30) with adjacent lines or planes of modules electrically interrelated by end segment connectors (32). In a further version, one side of a modular plane has heat exchanger fins (44-50) while the other side is electrically connected by ceramic segments (58) with deposited conductors (56). In yet another version, the modules are mounted onto rotating discs (94, 96) so as to act as a fluid impeller moving therepast enhancing thermal efficiency.