The thermoelectric cyclic-thermal-regulation (TEcR) system was defined as cyclical heat pumping between two vessels in a transient mode, which has emerged as a new application in gas separation and temperature-driven soft robots. Here, we provided systematic theoretical fundamentals relative to the TEcR system and proposed the determining factors and performance scales. We have also designed and fabricated a thermoelectric CO₂-gas-separation system based on low-temperature adsorption and high-temperature desorption, verifying the feasibility of the TEcR system. Our experiments unequivocally demonstrate the significant potential of the TEcR system, with energy consumption savings of 42% and cycle frequency improvements of 2.5 times compared with electrical heater systems. We also proposed an empirical figure of merit to guide the thermoelectric material optimization strategies for the TEcR application. Our work sheds light on the new application of thermoelectric materials, which would generate implications for a wide range of industrial applications that use multi-plate thermal energy.

中文翻译：

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热电循环-热调节：一种高能效的热电材料新型运行模式


热电循环-热调节 （TEcR） 系统被定义为在瞬态模式下在两个容器之间进行循环热泵，这已成为气体分离和温度驱动软机器人的新应用。在这里，我们提供了相对于 TEcR 系统的系统理论基础，并提出了决定因素和性能量表。我们还设计和制造了基于低温吸附和高温脱附的热电 CO₂ 气体分离系统，验证了 TEcR 系统的可行性。我们的实验明确证明了 TEcR 系统的巨大潜力，与电加热器系统相比，能耗降低了 42%，循环频率提高了 2.5 倍。我们还提出了一个经验品质因数来指导 TEcR 应用的热电材料优化策略。我们的工作阐明了热电材料的新应用，这将对使用多板热能的广泛工业应用产生影响。