A temperature sensor, having a first conductor made of a first material comprising an end section, a second conductor made of a second material, which differs from the first material, comprising an end section, and a casing for receiving the end sections of the two conductors and for positioning in a process atmosphere or in a process fluid and/or on a surface of a process structure. According to the invention, a measuring point body structure is provided, which is arranged within the casing or on the casing, wherein the first conductor and the second conductor directly or indirectly form a thermocouple in or on the measuring point body structure and the measuring point body structure comprises a barrier material.

The invention relates to a method for producing a thermoelement for a thermoelectric component, in which method: with the aid of a plasma flame, a diffusion barrier made of nickel is applied to a thermoelectric active material; or, with the aid of a plasma flame, a contact-facilitating layer made of tin is applied to a diffusion barrier made of nickel. The invention also relates to a thermoelectric component comprising thermoelements which are produced correspondingly. The aim of the invention is to further develop the conventional plasma spraying technique such that it can be used to produce thermoelements on an industrial scale. To achieve this aim, nickel particles or tin particles are used, which particles conform to a particular specification with regard to their sphericity.

Disclosed are methods for the manufacture of n-type and p-type filled skutterudite thermoelectric legs of an electrical contact. A first material of CoSi.sub.2 and a dopant are ball-milled to form a first powder which is thermo-mechanically processed with a second powder of n-type skutterudite to form a n-type skutterudite layer disposed between a first layer and a third layer of the doped-CoSi.sub.2. In addition, a plurality of components such as iron, and nickel, and at least one of cobalt or chromium are ball-milled form a first powder that is thermo-mechanically processed with a p-type skutterudite layer to form a p-type skutterudite layer “second layer” disposed between a first and a third layer of the first powder. The specific contact resistance between the first layer and the skutterudite layer for both the n-type and the p-type skutterudites subsequent to hot-pressing is less than about 10.0 μΩ.Math.cm.sup.2.

The disclosure provides a thermoelectric conversion structure and its use in heat dissipation device. The thermoelectric conversion structure includes a thermoelectric element, a first electrode and an electrically conductive heat-blocking layer. The thermoelectric element includes a first end and a second end opposite to each other. The first electrode is located at the first end of the thermoelectric element. The electrically conductive heat-blocking layer is between the thermoelectric element and the first electrode.

The present disclosure provides a thermoelectric structure including a thermoelectric substrate and a barrier layer covering the thermoelectric substrate. A material of the barrier layer is metallic glass. The thermoelectric structure of the present disclosure may apply to a medium-temperature (about 400K to about 800K) thermoelectric module to effectively block the diffusion of the thermoelectric substrate.

Disclosed are a temperature sensor device using a thermopile, the total number n of thermocouples thereon can be increased without greatly increasing the internal resistance of the thermopile r, providing high output level and high S/N ratio, a highly sensitive radiation thermometer using the device, and production method of the device using organic material for thin films to form the thermopile. These provide a standardized inexpensive multi-layered thin film thermopile, a radiation thermometer with high sensitivity, and production method of these devices. The temperature sensor device is a device wherein a thermopile which is formed on a thin film thermally isolated from a substrate is place in a temperature sensing part, and the thin film is formed as a multi-layered thin film, a layered thermopile is formed on each layered thin film, the substrate functioning as a heat sink which is one junction of the reference temperature of the thermopile.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a bulk type thermoelectric element implemented so as to simplify the manufacturing process as well as to reduce the manufacturing cost. The method of manufacturing a bulk type thermoelectric element includes the steps of: preparing two types of P-type and N-type substrates by slicing a thermoelectric element material; bonding P-type pellets formed on the P-type substrate and N-type pellets formed on the N-type substrate to each other to alternately engaging with each other, and then polishing (grinding) the bottom of each substrate to form a P/N layer in which the P-type pellets and the N-type pellets are cross-formed; and assembling ceramic substrates with conductive electrode pads (PAD) on the top and the bottom of the P/N layer to complete a thermoelectric element.

A chip of thermoelectric conversion material may have a concave portion and may be capable of realizing high joining properties to an electrode. Such a chip of thermoelectric conversion material may have a concave on at least one surface of the chip of thermoelectric conversion material. The shape of such chips of may be rectangular parallelepiped, cubic, and/or columnar shape.

A thermoelectric conversion material contains a matrix composed of a semiconductor and nanoparticles disposed in the matrix, and the nanoparticles have a lattice constant distribution Δd/d of 0.0055 or more.

A thermoelectric module according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a first substrate; a thermoelectric element disposed on the first substrate; a second substrate disposed on the thermoelectric element and having a smaller area than the first substrate; a sealing part disposed on the first substrate and surrounding a side surface of the thermoelectric element; and a wire part connected to the thermoelectric element, drawn out through the sealing part, and supplying power to the thermoelectric element, wherein the sealing part has a through hole through which the wire part passes, and the through hole is disposed closer to the second substrate than the first substrate.