Study on the Measuring Method of Electrical Properties for Single-arm Thermoelectric Components

The low-power thermoelectric component with single-arm is a transition component between thermoelectric materials and devices. The properties of both thermoelectric materials and devices can be characterized by those of the transition component. In this paper, the measuring method for the electrical properties of the thermoelectric component is studied at simulation working conditions. The thermoelectric properties of an N type Ca_{0. 9}Ce_{0. 1}MnO₃ component with single arm are measured by using voltammetery method, improved constant-current source method and standard resistance method respectively. The test results show that the improved constantcurrent source method has high measurement precision when the temperature difference is small; the voltammetery method can be used for higher output power occasion while the standard resistance method with high precision and efficiency is almost no limit for the output power measuring of thermoelectric component, and can be used for commercial measurement.