Patent ID: 7629531

Claim:
A thermoelectric generator, comprising: a top plate and a bottom plate disposed is spaced parallel relation to one another, each one of the top and bottom plates being thermally conductive and having a generally circular shape; a spirally wound foil segment captured between and thermally interconnecting the top and bottom plates, the foil segment comprising: an elongate substrate having top and bottom edges and a thickness in the range of from about 7.5 microns to about 50 microns and including opposing front and back substrate surfaces, the substrate being formed of an electrically insulating material having a low thermal conductivity; a series of elongate alternating s and p-type thermoelectric legs disposed in spaced parallel arrangement on the front substrate surface, each of the n-type and p-type legs being formed of a Bi 2 Te 3 -type thermoelectric material having a thickness in the range of from about 10 microns to about 100 microns, each n- type and p-type thermoelectric leg having a width and a length, the width being in the range of from about 10 microns to about 100 microns, the length being in the range of from about 100 microns to about 500 microns; wherein: each one of the p-type thermoelectric legs is electrically connected to adjacent ones of the n-type thermoelectric legs at opposite ends of the p-type thermoelectric legs such that the n-type and p-type thermoelectric legs are electrically connected in series and thermally connected in parallel; the top plate and bottom plate being electrically connected to respective ones of opposing ends of the series of alternating n-type and p-type thermoelectric legs; the thermoelectric material for the p-type thermoelectric legs being a semiconductor compound having the following formula: (Bi 0.15 Sb 0.85 ) 2 Te 3 plus about 10 at. % Te excess to about 30 at. % Te excess.