Patent ID: 8835743

Claim:
A thermoelectric composite sandwich structure comprising: two prepreg composite face sheets; an integrated honeycomb core assembled between the face sheets, the honeycomb core comprising: a plurality of core elements comprising corrugated core sheets, the core elements bonded together with a core adhesive applied at intervals across a plurality of deposited core elements; each core element having a first side substantially coated with a negative Seebeck coefficient conductive material having a plurality of first spaced gaps; each core element having a second side substantially coated with a positive Seebeck coefficient conductive material having a plurality of second spaced gaps, wherein the first spaced gaps on the first side of the core element do not overlap with the second spaced gaps on the second side of the core element; and, a plurality of electrical connections for connecting in series the coated first side to the coated second side; wherein the first side of each of the plurality of deposited core elements faces the second side of each adjacent core element of the plurality of deposited core elements to form a honeycomb shape when assembled, and the positive Seebeck coefficient conductive material and the negative Seebeck coefficient conductive material alternate on opposing first and second sides of the plurality of deposited core elements, and further wherein the deposited negative Seebeck coefficient conductive material is electrically connected to the deposited positive Seebeck coefficient conductive material in an alternating pattern along a length of the first and second sides of the integrated honeycomb core, and the conductive material is foil or deposited metallic film layers.