Optimization of a thermoelectric air conditioning systems

Abstract

This paper studies the optimization of a thermoelectric cooling system of air. Based on both results obtained experimentally and from a mathematical model, we evaluated the available features of thermoelectric modules and parameters subject to optimization. In the thermoelectric cooling air process based on the effect discovered by Jean Peltier Charles Athanase in 1834, when an electrical current is conducted through a semiconductor junction between two materials with different properties, heat is absorbed and dissipated. Thermoelectric modules are made of semiconductor materials and sealed between two plates. According to the shape of the plate, the current flow cools the one hand and the other is heated. The most important parameters to evaluate the efficiency of the thermoelectric cooling is the coefficient of performance, the rate of heat transfer and temperature difference between the maximum possible to the cold and hot sides of the thermoelectric module. In this evaluation were used thermoelectric modules and heat sinks, commercially available temperature sensors and a software for obtaining, storing and comparing the data. The prototype auxiliary allows the surface temperatures of thermoelectric modules of the hot and cold sides, the air inlet and outlet temperatures of the heat sink sides of the hot and cold air flow, the voltage and the electrical current to be applied to the modules. A simulation is performed using two air flows at a speed controlled for the hot and cold sides of the module and a set of tests for various modules, i.e. one, two, three and four coupled in parallel. Using this system, the performance data is analyzed making it possible to check the power, voltage and electrical current to maximize the coefficient of performance of the system. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.