Abstract: A thermoelectric power generation device includes: a high-temperature plate having an upper face; a low-temperature plate having a lower face; a thermoelectric module disposed between the upper face and the lower face; a sealing portion disposed between the upper and lower faces, the sealing portion sealing the thermoelectric module at a circumferential portion of the upper face and a circumferential portion of the lower face; a first positioning portion disposed at the circumferential portion of the upper face; and a second positioning portion disposed at the circumferential portion of the lower face. The first positioning portion positions the sealing portion at the circumferential portion of the upper face, and the second positioning portion positions the sealing portion at the circumferential portion of the lower face.

Abstract: Aspects of this disclosure relate to a methodology and process of hot junction formation and sheath closure for a dual-wall mineral insulated thermocouple cable. The new methods are required to maintain the integrity of both the inner and outer sheaths or inner and outer walls of a dual-walled thermocouple design. As the inner and outer sheaths are different materials, they may require closure separately with no mixing of the sheathing materials during welding.

Abstract: A health monitoring system of an aircraft includes a plurality of sensors and interfaces that are non-invasively installed in a system of the aircraft. Further, the health monitoring system includes a data concentrator unit that is coupled to the plurality of sensor and interfaces. The data concentrator unit receives data associated with various components of the aircraft system from the plurality of sensor and interfaces. Responsively, the data concentrator unit processes the received data to generate a single output data stream that is transmitted to a configurable data receiver unit of the aircraft. The configurable data receiver unit transmits the received single output data stream to a ground server and an on-board display to monitor and determine a health and/or performance of the aircraft system.

Abstract: The present invention aims at providing a thermoelectric device which can be prevented from being destroyed by thermal stresses, and a thermoelectric module using a plurality of such thermoelectric devices. The thermoelectric device in accordance with the present invention comprises an element for transforming energy between thermal energy and electric energy and a pair of electrodes connected to both end parts of the element, while the element is provided with a stress alleviating part for alleviating a stress caused by a temperature difference between the both end parts. Therefore, when generating electricity by using the thermoelectric device, the stress alleviating part can alleviate the stress caused by the temperature difference between both end parts of the element and restrain the element from being destroyed by the thermal stress.

Abstract: A thermoelectric power generating module incorporates compliance into the module using a three-dimensional flexible connector. The flexible connector may relieve thermal stress and improve reliability for thermoelectric modules. In addition, the connector may provide a buffer layer (e.g., cushion) to damp mechanical vibrations. In further embodiments, a thermal interface structure for a thermoelectric device includes a thermally conductive body comprising a first compliant surface for directly interfacing with a first component of the thermoelectric device and a second compliant surface, opposite the first surface, for directly interfacing with a second component of the thermoelectric device.

Abstract: A position detection device includes a thermoelectric conversion portion which includes a magnetic layer and a plurality of electrodes. The magnetic layer has magnetization. The plurality of electrodes are formed of a material having spin-orbit interaction, and are formed on the magnetic layer so as to extend in a direction which intersects with the magnetization direction of the magnetic layer. When an arbitrary location on the layer-surface of the magnetic layer is heated, the thermoelectric conversion portion modulates the effective temperature in the magnetic layer and induces a spin Seebeck effect. As a result, the thermoelectric conversion portion generates, from the plurality of electrodes, a voltage corresponding to the heated position as position information.

Abstract: An electronic device includes a bottom housing, a heat-generating component placed on the bottom housing, and a thermoelectric cell module placed on the bottom housing and corresponding to the heat-generating component. The thermoelectric cell module includes a first thermoelectric sheet sensing a temperature of the heat-generating component, a second thermoelectric sheet sensing a temperature of the bottom housing, and a conductive member electrically connecting the first thermoelectric sheet and the second thermoelectric sheet.

Abstract: Disclosed is a thermoelectric module, including: a first substrate; a plurality of thermoelectric elements arranged on a first surface of the first substrate; and a temperature detector disposed on the first surface or a second surface of the first substrate via a thermal transfer member.

Abstract: The invention is a split-thermo-electric structure for cooling, heating, or stabilizing the temperature of an object or for electric power generation. The structure of the invention is comprised of one or more legs comprised of two or more layers of thermo-electric material and a connection layer between each pair of successive layers of thermo-electric material. A layer of thermo-electric material at one end of each of the legs is located at the heat absorption side of the structure and a layer of thermo-electric material at the other end of each of the legs is located at the heat dispersion side of the structure. The structure is characterized in that the layer of thermo-electric material located at the heat absorption side of the structure and the layer of thermo-electric material at the heat dispersion side of the structure are asymmetric, i.e.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for thermal adaptation, comprising at least one surface element arranged to assume a determined thermal distribution, said surface element comprising a first heat conducting layer, a second heat conducting layer, said first and second heat conducting layers being mutually thermally isolated by means of an intermediate insulation layer, wherein at least one thermoelectric element is arranged to generate a predetermined temperature gradient to a portion of said first layer. The invention also relates to an object such as a craft.

Abstract: A thermoelectric conversion component includes a substrate having a cavity. An insulating film is formed on the upper surface of the substrate. A small heat-capacity region is formed in the center of the insulating film, and a large heat-capacity region is formed in the outer peripheral portions of the substrate and the insulating film. A thermoelectric pattern is formed on the upper surface of the insulating film so that hot junctions and cold junctions are respectively placed on the small heat-capacity region and the large heat-capacity region. Thermosensitive resistor patterns are formed on the outer peripheries of the cold junctions of the thermoelectric pattern.

Abstract: A spark plug temperature sensor adaptor which is removably attached to a spark plug to provide a temperature reading of conditions in an internal combustion engine cylinder. The temperature sensor adaptor has a hollow cylindrical shape with a hexangular cross-section to mate with the hexangular shape of a spark plug and a thermocouple to sense the temperature of a spark plug.

Abstract: A thermoelectric array, such as a thermocouple array, includes a pair of dissimilar conductors disposed adjacent to each other at a plurality of locations. A switch is provided which selectively electrically couples and decouples the conductors at each such location, and an effective thermoelectric element is formed at the location where a switch is closed. The switches may be easily controlled to ensure that only the switch at the desired location is closed to form an effective thermoelectric element. Switches may include MOSFET pairs in series or dual-gate MOSFETs, and arrays of such switched thermoelectric elements may be integrated and fabricated on a common semiconductor substrate.

Abstract: A thermocouple assembly for attachment to surfaces by welding which includes a solid metal head formed with a knife edge and receiving sheathed thermocouple conductors, the ends of which are disposed at the knife edge and are junction welded. The head is economically fabricated on a mass-production basis, and the sheathed conductors are attached in a simple manner to minimize the overall production costs of the assembly. The disposition of the junction and the connection between the sheath and the solid head coacts with the weldments mounting the assembly on a surface to control the heat energy path such that the effective junction permits the junction to accurately function with respect to sensing the temperature of the surface on which the assembly is mounted.

Abstract: An improved thermocouple and method for making the thermocouple and installing same on the fireside of heat exchanger tubes or the like for monitoring surface temperature which includes a thermocouple assembly made from mineral oxide insulated metal sheathed thermocouple wires where a pair of thermocouple wires or conductors extend through a metal sheath in spaced apart and insulated relation from each other and from the sheath and are connected together at an end to define a hot junction member adapted to be mounted in engagement with the surface being measured, which hot junction is defined by a disk or bar-shaped member extending from the end of the sheated conductor assembly beyond the insulation and sheath but not in contact with the sheath. Installation on a heat exchanger tube includes welding the sheath to the tube which pressurizes the hot junction against the temperature measured surface and defines a heat energy path that bypasses the hot junction.

Abstract: A surface thermocouple assembly and method of making same, characterized by a sheathed thermocouple cable having a sensing end including a preformed segment of solid metal welded to the end face of the sheath. The preformed metal segment has a contact face extending the full length thereof substantially parallel to the adjacent axial portion of the cable and adapted for contiguous intimate contact with the skin or external surface of the member whose temperature is to be monitored. Axially inwardly spaced a short distance from the end face of the sheath is a measuring junction which is formed by welding the ends of the thermocouple wires to the inside diameter of the sheath. Insulation material completely surrounds the measuring junction, and the end face of the sheath is closed by an end closure of weld metal which is ground flat to provide a uniformly flat attachment surface for attachment of the preformed segment thereto as by butt welding around the entire periphery of such surface.

Abstract: A temperature sensor is fixedly attached to a thin, flexible disc-like metal plate with sufficient flexibility to conform to the general shape of a surface. The sensor may be thermocouple, a resistor, a semiconductor or other structure. This thin metal member has a low thermal capacity or mass and a relatively high degree of thermal conductance. A tubular insulating and elastic member is fixedly attached to the periphery of the plate and to a tubular housing having an attached handle. The housing functions as a support and an enclosure for the temperature sensitive unit, flexible connecting leads and the like. The elastic member permits the plate to pivot about the housing to move into complete surface engagement with the surface being monitored. The electrical wires connected to the temperature sensitive unit are relatively fine to minimize the thermal mass and capacity added to the unit. The wires are also flexible such that they do not interfere with movement of the plate.

Abstract: A thermocouple grill probe has a hollow fluorocarbon body that is solder filled for increased weight necessary to flatten a double bowed leaf spring mounted in a recess formed under the body by a depending peripheral skirt. A thermocouple junction is mounted to the leaf spring and is connected to a thermocouple connector by a pair of thermocouple wires. The probe is self-supporting and stands on the peripheral skirt which controls the deflection of the spring and protects the junction from circulating air currents.

Abstract: A tube skin thermocouple assembly and method of making same, characterized by a sheathed thermocouple cable having an angularly disposed sensing end terminating in an end face extending substantially parallel to the axis of the adjacent axial portion of the sheath. A measuring junction of the conductors is formed in an end cavity in the sensing end substantially free of insulating material and filled with filler metal embedding the measuring junction therein, the filler metal thus providing an end closure having an exposed face substantially flush with the end face and forming therewith a contact face adapted for contiguous intimate contact with a tube surface. The end closure may be of a large mass of filler metal for direct welding of the sensing end of the assembly to the tube, and the contact face may be either flush with or slightly offset from the outer diameter of the adjacent axial portion of the sheath, respectively, for flush or radially spaced axial mounting of the assembly on the tube.

Abstract: A flexible layered tubular sleeve which surrounds a thermoelectric element force application spring. The sleeve is electrically insulated from the thermoelectric element and provides a thermal path between the cold end junction of the thermoelectric element and a heat rejection system. The sleeve comprises a plurality of bowed flexible strips which bend outwardly when an axial compressive force is applied to the sleeve thus causing these strips to collapse. The sleeve provides a thermal path between the thermoelectric element and the heat rejection system without interfering with the operation of the force application spring.

Abstract: An improved thermocouple and method for making the thermocouple and installing same on the fireside of heat exchanger tubes or the like for monitoring surface temperature which includes a thermocouple assembly made from mineral oxide insulated metal sheathed thermocouple wires where a pair of thermocouple wires or conductors extend through a metal sheath in spaced apart and insulated relation from each other and from the sheath and are connected together at an end to define a hot junction member adapted to be mounted in engagement with the surface being measured, which hot junction is defined by a disk or bar-shaped member extending from the end of the sheated conductor assembly beyond the insulation and sheath but not in contact with the sheath. Installation on a heat exchanger tube includes welding the sheath to the tube which pressurizes the hot junction against the temperature measured surface and defines a heat energy path that bypasses the hot junction.