Patent ID: 8763680

Claim:
A heat exchanger comprising: at least one thermoelectric thin film element having opposing surfaces and a hot side and a cold side extending along opposing long sides of the at least one thermoelectric thin film element; a connecting element configured to connect the at least one thin film element to a heat source and including at least two profiled connecting element sections having substantially parallel outside connecting element surfaces, the outside connecting element surfaces of two adjacent ones of the at least two profiled connecting element sections abut the opposing surfaces at the hot side of one of the at least one thermoelectric thin film element so that the hot side is disposed therebetween; a heat sink including at least two heat sink sections having substantially parallel outside heat sink surfaces, the outside heat sink surfaces of two adjacent ones of the at least two heat sink sections abut the opposing surfaces at the cold side of the one of the at least one thermoelectric thin film element so that the cold side is disposed therebetween; and a support structure, the at least two connecting element sections and the at least two heat sink sections being connected by the support structure to form opposing pairs so that the outside connector element surfaces and the outside heat sink surfaces of each of the opposing pairs are aligned with each other and held a certain distance apart.