A new model of an anisotropic thermoelement is proposed, in which the current density depends on the ordinate. Taking this dependence into account leads to completely different conclusions regarding the dependence of the main characteristics of the thermoelement (thermopower, maximum temperature reduction, etc.) on material and dimensional constants. And, most importantly, the performance characteristics do not depend on the anisotropic quality factor. The work calculates the main operating characteristics of an anisotropic generator and an anisotropic refrigerator and shows that they are not inferior to the similar characteristics of standard thermoelectric devices.