BACKGROUND

A solid-state heat pump device transfers heat from one side of a device to the other and is used primarily for cooling. One type of solid-state heat pump is a thermoelectric cooler, which operates by the Peltier effect or thermoelectric effect. The thermoelectric cooler has two sides and when an electric current flows through the device, it brings heat from one side to the other so that one side gets cooler while the other gets hotter.

The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

SUMMARY

A cooling system includes a controller; a plurality of sensor sub-units arranged in a grid and configured to be thermally connected to a heat source and a plurality of solid-state cooling sub-units arranged in a grid. The heat source has a plurality of sub-regions that correspond with each of the sensor sub-units. Each solid-state cooling sub-unit includes a cold side and a hot side and each solid-state cooling sub-unit corresponds with one of the plurality of sensor sub-units. The cold side of each solid-state cooling sub-unit thermally connects to one of the sensor sub-units and is configured to dissipate heat from the sub-regions of the heat source. A heat exchanger thermally connects to the hot side of each of the solid-state cooling sub-units and is configured to dissipate additional heat from the sub-regions of the heat source and waste heat generated from powering the solid-state cooling sub-units. The controller, based on temperatures sampled from the plurality of sensor sub-units and predictions made by an optimizer, is configured to determine the one or more sub-regions of the heat source to cool.

A method of cooling a heat source is provided. A plurality of solid-state cooling sub-units arranged in a grid are provided. Each solid-state cooling sub-unit includes a cold side and a hot side. A plurality of sensor sub-units thermally connected to the cold sides of the plurality of solid-state cooling sub-units are provided. Each sensor sub-unit corresponds with one of the solid-state cooling sub-units. Using a controller, temperatures of the plurality of sensor sub-units are sampled. Each sensor sub-unit is configured to be thermally connected to one of a plurality of sub-regions of a heat source. The temperatures of each of the sensor sub-units are routed to an optimizer. Cooling of selective one or more sub-regions of the heat source is done by dynamically adjusting power to one or more of the solid-state cooling sub-units based on the optimizer. Power is applied to the one or more solid-state cooling sub-units that correspond with the one or more sub-regions to cool.

A cooling system includes a controller, a plurality of sensor sub-units arranged in at least one sensor mesh, a plurality of solid-state cooling sub-units arranged in at least one cooler mesh that is stacked together with the at least one sensor mesh and a heat exchanger thermally connected to the stacked at least one sensor mesh and at least one cooler mesh. The at least one cooler mesh is configured to be thermally connected to a heat source. The heat source has a plurality of sub-regions that correspond with each of the sensor sub-units. Each solid-state cooling sub-unit includes a cold side and a hot side and each solid-state cooling sub-unit corresponds with one of the plurality of sensor sub-units. The cold side of each solid-state cooling sub-unit thermally connects to one of the sensor sub-units and is configured to dissipate heat from the sub-regions of the heat source. The heat exchanger is configured to dissipate additional heat from the sub-regions of the heat source and waste heat generated from powering the solid-state cooling sub-units. The controller, based on temperatures sampled from the plurality of sensor sub-units and predictions made by an optimizer, is configured to determine the one or more sub-regions of the heat source to cool.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

