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A new design concept is proposed to enhance the transient supercooling performance, in which variable leg cross-sectional areas are introduced into two-stage TECs. Since the cross-sectional area ratios of hot end to cold end for the hot stage (γ_h) and the cold stage (γ_c) can be larger, smaller, or equals than/to 1, nine designs with various combinations of γ_h and γ_c are investigated. A three-dimensional multiphysics model is used to compare the transient supercooling performance of the nine designs at various pulse amplitudes and widths. The results show that as compared with the conventional TEC with a constant cross-sectional area, the new design significantly reduces the cold-end temperature (T_cc) and employing variable cross-sectional area in the cold stage is more effective for reducing T_cc than that in the hot stage. Design with γ_h > 1 and γ_c > 1 yields the lowest T_cc among the nine designs. The …