Cooling Performance of Thermoelectric Water Cooler

Charoenporn Lertsatitthanakorn

Authors

Charoenporn Lertsatitthanakorn Thermal Process Research Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering, Mahasarakham University,Kantaravichai, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand.

Keywords:

Thermoelectric water cooler, Heat exchanger, Cooling capacity

Abstract

Thermoelectric refrigeration is thought to be one of the alternative technologies that would help to reduce the rate of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants emission to the atmosphere, as this do not employ working fluids that are harmful to the environment. This article aimed to evaluate cooling performance of a thermoelectric water cooler (TEWC). The TEWC consists of two TE modules (Tianjin Lantain model TEC1-12708), a cylindrical cold water tank volume of 3 l at the cold side and two rectangular fin heat exchangers at the hot side of the TE modules. Various operating conditions were considered to assess the cooling performance of the TEAC. It was found that the cooling performance of the system depended on the electrical power supply, the ambient air flow rate of air circulated through the rectangular fin heat exchanger. At the ambient temperature about 30 °C, the suitable conditions are 4 A electric and 0.0475 kg.s^-1 and the corresponding cooling capacity is 90.33 W with an average water temperature of 19.5 °C. Therefore, the proposed concept seems to be reliable and merit further investigations towards commercial development.

References

Gwilliam, S. 1991. Feasibility and Prototype Development of a TE Cooler for Parked Aircraft. Proceeding of the 10th International Conference on Thermoelectric Energy Conversion, Cardiff, UK, September, pp. 218-221.

Gwilliam, S., Entezam, B. and Tatton, S.C. 1992. TE Air Conditioning Using Evaporative Cooling of Waste Heat Air for Parked Aircraft. Proceeding of the 11sInternational Conference on Thermoelectrics, Arlington, USA, October, pp. 164-174.

Heenan, P. and Mathiprakasam, B. 1992. Development of Two - Man TE Microclimate Conditioner for Use in Army Ground-Vehicles. Proceeding of the 11st International Conference on Thermoelectrics, Arlington, USA, October, pp. 181-184.

Houghton, J. 1997. Global Warming. Great Britain: Cambridge University Press.

Khedari, J., Maneewan, S., Pratinthong, N. and Hirunlabh, J. 2001. Domestic Hot Water System Combining Solar and Waste Heat from Thermoelectric Air Conditioner. International Journal of Ambient Energy, Vol.22, No.1, pp. 19-28.

Lertsatitthanakorn, C., Sarachitti, R., Hirunlabh, J., Khedari, J. and Scherrer, H. 2000. Numerical Investigation of the Performance of Free Convected Thermoelectric Air Conditioner. Proceeding of the19th International Conference on Thermoelectrics, Cardiff, UK, August, pp. 481-485.

Lertsatitthanakorn, C., Hirunlabh J., Khedari, J. and Scherrer, H. 2001. Cooling Performance of Free Convected Thermoelectric Air Conditioner. Proceeding of the20th International Conference on Thermoelectrics, Beijing, China, June, pp. 453-457.

Rowe, D.M. 1995. CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics. New York: CRC Press. Stockholm, J.G. 1991. Reliability of Thermoelectric Cooling Systems. Proceeding of the 10th International Conference on Thermoelectric Energy Conversion, Cardiff, UK, September, pp. 27-31.

Stockholm, J.G. and Pujol-Soulet, L. 1982. Prototype Thermoelectric Air Conditioning of a Passenger Railway Coach. Proceeding of the 4th International Conference on Thermoelectric Energy Conversion, Arlington, USA, March, pp. 136-141.

Stockholm, J.G. and Schlicklin, P.M. 1988. TE Cooling for Naval Application. Proceeding of the 7th International Conference on Thermoelectric Energy Conversion, Arlington, USA, March, pp. 79-84.

Stockholm, J.G. and Schlicklin, P.M. 1989. Naval Thermoelectric Cooling. Proceeding of the 8th International Conference on Thermoelectric Energy Conversion, Nancy, France, June, pp. 235-238.