The dual purpose of ensuring sleep thermal comfort and saving energy can be achieved by developing a non-uniform sleeping environment. A thermoelectric-based cooling mattress system for sleep thermal comfort is proposed and constructed. Using the coupling heat-transfer model of thermoelectric-based cooling and the sleep thermal load

the thermal characteristics of the thermoelectric-based cooling mattress system are parametrically analyzed. The system design is optimized

and the energy-saving potential is evaluated. The results show that the range of neutral temperatures can be expanded while reducing the risk of condensation by increasing the number of semiconductors in the mattress and decreasing the current input. The energy-saving ratio of a thermoelectric-based cooling mattress is directly related to the indoor temperature

working current

and room area. The energy-saving ratio under Condition1 (setting temperature of 27 °C) and Condition2 (setting temperature of 28 °C) can reach up to 10.26% and 23.37%

respectively

compared with the Reference Condition (setting temperature of 26 °C).