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Thermopile Load-Matching Lab

Interactive 3D thermopile: series-connected Seebeck junctions between a hot and cold plate. Tune junction count, temperature difference, material and external load resistance to watch open-circuit voltage, current and delivered power respond in real time.

Materials Science3DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version

A single Seebeck junction only produces a few hundred microvolts per kelvin, so real thermoelectric generators wire many junction pairs electrically in series into a thermopile, sandwiched between a hot and a cold plate. This simulator renders that array in 3D — alternating p-type and n-type legs between the two plates — and computes the actual series circuit: open-circuit EMF scales with junction count and ΔT, internal resistance scales with junction count, and the power actually delivered to an external load depends on how well that load is matched to the pile's own resistance. Sweep the load slider or snap to the maximum-power point and watch the carrier-flow animation and live readouts respond exactly as the underlying circuit equations dictate.

⚙ Under the hood

Build a 3D thermopile of series-connected Seebeck junctions between a hot and cold plate, then tune junction count, temperature difference, material and external load resistance to see open-circuit voltage, current and delivered power respond via the maximum-power-transfer theorem.

seebeck effectthermoelectricitythermopileload matchingmaterials sciencepower generation

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install