Experimental and numerical investigation on thermoelectric coolers for comparing air-to-water to air-to-air refrigerators

摘要

It has been determined that a significant portion of the total electrical energy is consumed for different cooling and refrigeration purposes at both domestic and industrial sectors. Moreover, cooling systems are employed in a wide range of critical fields such as food industry and pharmacy. In this study, experimental and numerical approach to evaluate two different modes of thermoelectric cooler efficiency is presented. Portable thermoelectric refrigerators operated by Peltier element have been constructed, and experiments are conducted to compare efficiency of air-to-water and air-to-air thermoelectric coolers. In air-to-air mode, the Peltier device was united with heat sinks and fans on both sides. However, in air-to-water mode, a water pump and suitable water-cooled heat exchanger were used to operate in the refrigerators made of styrofoam sheets. It was revealed that, in the laboratory conditions, air-to-water mode is more efficient than air-to-air mode and COP value of the air-to-water is approximately 30-50% higher than that of air-to-air refrigerator. Moreover, ANSYS Fluent 16.0 software has been used to analyze the problem closely in detail. The problem has been simulated, and CFD results were used to visualize flow structure and heat transfer characteristics inside refrigerator box.