Thermoelectric heat pumps use the thermoelectric effect, specifically the Peltier effect, to heat or cool materials by applying an electrical current across them. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other, with consumption of electrical energy, depending on the direction of the current. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler ( TEC) and occasionally a thermoelectric battery. It can be used either for heating or for cooling, although in practice the main application is cooling since heating can be achieved with simpler devices (with Joule heating).
Thermoelectric temperature control heats or cools materials by applying an electrical current across them. A typical Peltier cell absorbs heat on one side and produces heat on the other.L. E. (2008). Cooling, heating, generating power, and recovering waste heat with thermoelectric systems. Science, 321(5895), 1457-1461. http://engin1000.pbworks.com/f/TE_rev.pdf Because of this, Peltier cells can be used for temperature control. However, the use of this effect for air conditioning on a large scale (for homes or commercial buildings) is rare due to its low efficiency and high cost relative to other options.
The hot side is attached to a heat sink to limit its temperature increase, while the cold side goes below the ambient temperature. In special applications, multiple coolers can be cascaded or staged together for lower temperature, but overall efficiency (COP) drops significantly. The maximum COP of any refrigeration cycle is ultimately limited by the difference in temperature between the hot and cold side. The higher the temperature difference, the lower the maximum theoretical COP. Both temperatures depend on the rate of heat transfer to or away from the device as well as heat movement driven within.
A typical Peltier cell based heat pump can be used by coupling the thermoelectric generators with photovoltaic air cooled panels.Alexandra Thedeby, Heating and Cooling with Solar Powered Peltier Elements, Ms. Thesis, Department of Energy Planning, Division of Efficient Energy Systems, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University
http://www.ees.energy.lth.se/fileadmin/ees/Publikationer/2014/Ex5308-AlexandraThedeby-HeatingAndCoolingWithSolarPoweredPeltierElements....pdf
This acclimatization method ensures the ideal efficiency during summer cooling if coupled with a photovoltaic (PV) generator. The air circulation could be also used to cool PV modules.
The cooling ability of the total unit is then proportional to the total cross section of all the pillars, which are often connected in series electrically to reduce the current needed to practical levels. The length of the pillars is a balance between longer pillars, which will have a greater thermal resistance between the sides and allow a lower temperature to be reached but produce more resistive heating, and shorter pillars, which will have a greater electrical efficiency but let more heat leak from the hot to cold side by thermal conduction. For large temperature differences, longer pillars are far less efficient than stacking separate, progressively larger modules; the modules get larger as each layer must remove both the heat moved by the above layer and the waste heat of the layer.
Materials suitable for high efficiency TEC systems must have a combination of low thermal conductivity and high electrical conductivity. The combined effect of different material combinations is commonly compared using a figure of merit known as ZT, a measure of the system's efficiency. The equation for ZT is given below, where is the Seebeck coefficient, is the electrical conductivity and is the thermal conductivity.
There are few materials that are suitable for TEC applications since the relationship between thermal and electrical conductivity is usually a positive correlation. Improvements in reduced thermal transport with increased electrical conductivity are an active area of material science research. Common thermoelectric materials used as semiconductors include bismuth telluride, lead telluride, silicon–germanium, and bismuth antimonide alloys. Of these, bismuth telluride is the most commonly used. New high-performance materials for thermoelectric cooling are being actively researched.
For decades, narrow bandgap semiconductors, such as bismuth, tellurium and their compounds, have been used as materials of thermocouples.
For example, the common thermoelectric element TEC1-12706 has a square shape of 40 mm size and 3–4 mm high, and are found for a few dollars. It is able to move around 60 W or generate a 60 °C temperature difference with a 6 A current. Their electrical resistance is about 1–2 ohm.
The fact that TEC systems are current-controlled leads to another series of benefits. Because the flow of heat is directly proportional to the applied DC current, heat may be added or removed with accurate control of the direction and amount of electric current. In contrast to methods that use resistive heating or cooling methods that involve gases, TEC allows for an equal degree of control over the flow of heat (both in and out of a system under control). Because of this precise bidirectional heat flow control, temperatures of controlled systems can be precise to fractions of a degree, often reaching precision of milli Kelvin (mK) in laboratory settings.
TEC devices are also more flexible in shape than their more traditional counterparts. They can be used in environments with less space or more severe conditions than a conventional refrigerator. The ability to tailor their geometry allows for the delivery of precise cooling to very small areas. These factors make them a common choice in scientific and engineering applications with demanding requirements where cost and absolute energy efficiency are not primary concerns.
Another benefit of TEC is that it does not use refrigerants in its operation. Prior to their phaseout some early refrigerants, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), contributed significantly to ozone depletion. Many refrigerants used today also have significant environmental impact with global warming potential or carry other safety risks with them.
The amount of heat that can be moved is proportional to the current and time.
The result is that the heat effectively moved drops as the temperature difference grows, and the module becomes less efficient. There comes a temperature difference when the waste heat and heat moving back overcomes the moved heat, and the module starts to heat the cool side instead of cooling it further. A single-stage thermoelectric cooler will typically produce a maximal temperature difference of 70 °C between its hot and cold sides.
Another issue with performance is a direct consequence of one of their advantages: being small. This means that:
In refrigeration applications, thermoelectric junctions have about 1/4 the efficiency compared to conventional means (vapor compression refrigeration): they offer around 10–15% efficiency (COP of 1.0–1.5) of the ideal Carnot cycle refrigerator, compared with 40–60% achieved by conventional compression-cycle systems (reverse Rankine cycle systems using compression/expansion). Due to this lower efficiency, thermoelectric cooling is generally only used in environments where the solid-state nature (no moving parts), low maintenance, compact size, and orientation insensitivity outweighs pure efficiency.
While lower than conventional means, efficiency can be good enough, provided:
Thermoelectric coolers can be used to Computer cooling to keep temperatures within design limits or to maintain stable functioning when overclocking. A Peltier cooler with a heat sink or waterblock can cool a chip to well below ambient temperature.Fylladitakis, E. (September 26, 2016) anandtech.com The Phononic HEX 2.0 TEC CPU Cooler Review. Retrieved on 2018-10-31. Some Intel Core CPUs from the 10th generation and onwards are capable of using the Intel Cryo technology, which uses a combination of thermoelectric cooling and a liquid heat exchanger to deliver a much greater cooling performance than normally possible with standard liquid cooling. Local environment conditions are electronically monitored to prevent shorting from condensation.
https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/19722700268
Those systems have the key importance in the direction of new zero emissions passive building because of a very high COP valueZhang, X., & Zhao, L. D. (2015). Thermoelectric materials: Energy conversion between heat and electricity. Journal of Materiomics, 1(2), 92-105. [7] and the following high performances by an accurate
At industrial level thermoelectric acclimatization appliances are actually under developmentMarlow - PRIMARY USES FOR THERMOELECTRIC MODULES
https://www.marlow.com/resources/thermoelectric-technology-guide/ii-tem-primary-uses
In Optical fiber applications, where the wavelength of a laser or a component is highly dependent on temperature, Peltier coolers are used along with a thermistor in a feedback loop to maintain a constant temperature and thereby stabilize the wavelength of the device.
Some electronic equipment intended for military use in the field is thermoelectrically cooled.
With feedback circuitry, Peltier elements can be used to implement highly stable temperature controllers that keep desired temperature within ±0.01 °C. Such stability may be used in precise laser applications to avoid laser wavelength drifting as environment temperature changes.
The effect is used in and spacecraft to reduce temperature differences caused by direct sunlight on one side of a craft by dissipating the heat over the cold shaded side, where it is dissipated as thermal radiation to space. Since 1961, some uncrewed spacecraft (including the Curiosity rover Mars rover) utilize radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that convert thermal energy into electrical energy using the Seebeck effect. The devices can last several decades, as they are fueled by the decay of high-energy radioactive materials.
Peltier elements are also used to make to visualize ionizing radiation. Just by passing an electric current, they can cool vapors below −26 °C without dry ice or moving parts, making cloud chambers easy to make and use.
Photon detectors such as CCDs in astronomical telescopes, , or very high-end are often cooled by Peltier elements that may be arranged in a multi-stage, cascade refrigeration configuration.This reduces dark counts due to thermal noise. A dark count occurs when a pixel registers an electron caused by thermal fluctuation rather than a photon. On digital photos taken at low light these occur as speckles (or "pixel noise").
They are also used in energy-dispersive spectrometers to cool the sensor crystals, eliminating the necessity of large liquid nitrogen dewars.
where is the temperature of the cooling surface and is the temperature of the heating surface.
Where the following terms are used: , electric current; α Seebeck coefficient; R electric resistance, A surface area, d cell thickness, and k thermal conductivity.
The efficiencies of the system are:
COP can be calculated according to Cannistraro.Cannistraro M. and Trancossi M., (2018) Indoor comfort in presence radiant exchanges with insolated glassed walls and local acclimatization to increase indoor comfort conditions, Italian Journal of Engineering Science: Tecnica Italiana, Vol. 61+1, pp. 27-35.[9]
/ref>
/ref> to optimize the heat exchange and minimize the fluiddynamic losses.
Construction
Design
Materials
Identification and characteristics
Strengths and weaknesses
Benefits
Disadvantages
Performance
However, since low current also means a low amount of moved heat, for all practical purposes the coefficient of performance will be low.
Uses
Consumer products
Acclimatization
/ref>
Industrial
Science and imaging
Thermodynamic parameters
/ref>Goldsmid, H. J. (2016). Theory of Thermoelectric Refrigeration and Generation. In Introduction to Thermoelectricity (pp. 9-24). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Experimental
See also
|
|