Thermocouple, particularly for electro-thermic cooling, and method of producing it

Claim 1

AN APPARATUS FOR THERMOELECTRIC COOLING, COMPRISING A THERMOCOUPLE AND ELECTRIC CONNECTIONS FORPASSING A CURRENT THERETHROUGH, THE THERMOCOUPLE COMPRISING TWO MEMBERS OF EXTRINSICALLY CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER TO FORM A JUNCTION, ONE JOF SAID MEMBERS HAVING P-TYPE CONDUCTANCE AND BEING A SOLID SOLUTION OF BI2TE3 AND SB2TE3 HAVING AN ANTIMONY CONTENT BETWEEN ABOUT 24 AND 32 ATOMS PERCENT AND A BISMUTH CONTENT BETWEEN ABOUT 8 AND 16 ATOM PERCNET AND HAVING SELENIUM DISPERSED IN SAID SOLID SOLUTION IN AN AMOUNT OF ABOUT 0.1 TO 1.0% BY WEIGHT OF LTHE TOTAL COMPOSITION, SAID MEMBER BEING MADE BY PREPARING A MELT OF SAID COMPOSITION, CAUSING THE MELT TO SOLIDIFY, JPULVERIZING THE RESULTING SOLID SOLUTION, AND FORMING SID MEMBER BY PRESSING AND SINTERING THE POWDER AT BETWEEN ABOUT 250* AND 500*C. AND AT A PRESSURE BETWEEN ABOUT 2 T./CM.2 AND 8 T./CM.2, THE OTHER MEMBER BEING N-CONDUCTIVE.