Improvement Of The Efficiency Of Mini Thermoelectric Refrigerator By Using Peltier Module

Lee, Wei Hau (2015) Improvement Of The Efficiency Of Mini Thermoelectric Refrigerator By Using Peltier Module. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

The human activity of releasing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs) from vapour compression refrigeration systems have caused adverse impact to the environment. This phenomenon leads to the necessity of developing air-conditioning and refrigeration technologies which are more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient. Thermoelectric refrigerator is one of the most promising devices that suit this requirement. This device consists of Peltier module as one of its vital components. Since it is not driven by compressor, thermoelectric refrigerator offers several advantages such as light weight, easy maintenance and less noisy as compared to conventional compressor-driven vapour compression refrigerator. When electric current applied to a Peltier module, the hot side of the module becomes very hot, thus it needs a heat sink to dissipate the heat to the surrounding. In this study, several prototypes of mini thermoelectric refrigerators were fabricated by using Peltier module as its main components. This study aims to improve the dissipation of the heat at the hot side of Peltier module in order to achieve lower cooling temperature of the mini refrigerator. The effects of several parameters on the temperature of the hot side of the Peltier module were investigated. These parameters are ambient temperature, insulation materials, design of heat sink, the direction of air flow by fan, quantity of electric current and the effect of using paraffin Phase Change Material (PCM) as a cooling source. The result showed that the main parameters affected the temperature of the Peltier module was the quantity of electric current. This is because the more electric current supplied, the greater the temperature difference between the hot and cold sides of the Peltier module. The design of heat sink is also very important in order to dissipate the heat efficiently. The lowest cooling temperature of the mini refrigerator was 11℃ and the thermal efficiency was 5.79%. With further improvement especially in the techniques of reducing the temperature of the hot side of the Peltier module, thermoelectric refrigerator can be developed further to achieve lower cooling temperature and more energy-efficient. Thus, thermoelectric refrigerator would provide an alternative technology to replace the conventional compressor-driven vapour compression refrigerator for some applications.

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