THERMAL STRESS AROUND AN ELLIPTIC HOLE WEAKENED BY ELECTRIC CURRENT IN AN INFINITE THERMOELECTRIC PLATE

摘要

We propose effective strategies to manage thermal stress around an elliptic hole induced by electric current and heat flux in a thermoelectric material. Our results indicate that the thermal stress can be reduced dramatically, with little influence on conversion efficiency, by simply adjusting the value of the electric current. In fact, we find that additional electric current in the vertical direction can totally neutralize the thermal stress at a particular point, including the thermal stress singularity at a crack tip.