Patent ID: 8688390

Claim:
A quality control procedure for evaluating performance of a thermoelectric component that includes least one thermoelectric coupon that has at least a series connected pair of selenium doped bismuth telluride and bismuth doped antimony telluride wafers included therein, said thermoelectric coupon being adapted for inclusion in a thermoelectric generator, the quality control procedure comprising steps of: (A) attaching a volt meter to said thermoelectric component via a probe; (B) connecting an amp meter in series with said thermoelectric component; (C) without any external electrical current applied to the thermoelectric component, using the volt meter to measure a first voltage produced by said thermoelectric component; (D) while applying a known forced electrical current externally through said thermoelectric component in a direction current would flow if the thermoelectric component were short circuited, using the amp meter to measure the forced current, and using the volt meter to measure a second voltage of said thermoelectric component; and (E) calculating electrical resistance for said thermoelectric component using: i. the first voltage measured in step (C) above while no external current flows through said thermoelectric component; ii. the second voltage measured in step (D) while the forced current flows through said thermoelectric component; and ii. the known, externally applied forced current flowing through the thermoelectric component measured in step (D) using the amp meter.