Development of an electric system for a thermoelectric cooler

• Main Author: Dicky Zulkifle Bin Abu Bakar
• Other Authors: Rusli
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/167737
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC) is a fully solid-state heat pump. TEC is made up of a grid of p- and n-type semiconductor elements that are electrically in series and thermally coupled in parallel. The transferring of heat from one TEC to the other using the electric current is called the Peltier effect. Compared to conventional cooling equipment like our aircon, TEC has the advantage of having no moving parts and not associated with the use of harmful chlorofluorocarbons as refrigerants. It reduces maintenance, increases reliability and is environmentally friendly. However, research shown that TEC is not effective in replacing conventional coolers for large-scale cooling due to their low coefficient of performance (COP). The purpose of the final year project is to create a thermoelectric cooler (TEC). The project is to discover the feasibility of the TEC in a small-scale cooling system. The first main objective is to set up a 3 stage Thermoelectric cooler that means using 3 stages of TEC. Collecting data for all the individual stage from stage 1 to 3 in terms of its performance and energy consumption. Water cooling convention is used for both hot and cold radiators and a lot of testing are done from using different pumps, radiators, fan speeds and pushing the TEC current to its limit. Data consolidated are used to calculate the COP and optimum point. Lastly, incorporating all the individual tasks of the team member, we enable the TEC to interact by Bluetooth, improve on the compactness and power supply of the system. After careful consideration, we have determined that it is appropriate to advance to stage two of our TEC project. This phase involves incorporating two TECs into our design. Our decision was based on the finding that consolidating the data with the hardware used yields the most optimal outcome for the final product. By leveraging this approach, we anticipate that our TEC technology will perform at an even higher level and meet the requirements necessary for its successful implementation.