When proper measures have been adopted to protect the
TECs from being overheated, we can solder the TEC with metalized surface to thermoelectric components. In order to prevent the TEC from excessive mechanical force, solder one surface (usually hot end) to a component with rigid structure. It's worth noted that when we solder the TEC to a rigid structure component, other components or small circuits shall be soldered in the cold end of the TEC, which will not connect to the external structure rigidly. During soldering, in order to prevent the TEC from excessive heat, we need to control the temperature precisely. In the meantime, the temperature during the process will not exceed the operating temperature of TECs. Since the coefficients of thermal expansions of ceramic plates,
heat sink and the object are different, it's not recommended to use soldering method in over 15×15 mm2 TECs.
There are several steps in soldering process
(a) Flat the installing surface of the TEC by lathe machine or polishing method. Although it doesn't need high flatness when using epoxy resin, but usually the surface should be flat enough. In addition, the surface of the heat sink is a weldable surface, such as copper or copper plating material.
(b) Clean the TEC and all the installing surfaces in order to remove grease and heavy oxide layer. Make sure there are no rags or foreign matters on the soldering surface.
To be continued....
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