Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2021
26th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A THERMOELECTRIC COOLING CHAMBER
Submission Author:
Gustavo Henrique Nazareno Fernandes , MG
Co-Authors:
Wesley Martins, Isabelle Dias, Lucas Melo Queiroz Barbosa, Gustavo Henrique Nazareno Fernandes, Marcus Galdino
Presenter: Isabelle Dias
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2021.COB2021-1803
Abstract
The worldwide need to seek maximum energetic efficiency in its products and equipment, coupled with the specification of innovation in conditions of dimensional limitation, are some of the incentives that justify the study of alternative cooling techniques. There is a promising market to be explored in the country, with a strong growth trend, however, investments in research and development related to thermoelectric phenomena, especially those dedicated to refrigeration, are still modest in Brazil when compared to European countries. Thermoelectric cooling offers important benefits for the technology industry, but it still needs to be extensively researched, so that it can evolve at the pace required by the market, since it is still a non-viable solution for large applications, mainly due to: low COP; dimensional limitations; the difficulties of dissipating the conducted heat; limited maximum thermal energy transfer rate. The Peltier effect is a physical phenomenon that generates a temperature gradient between the two junctions of two different materials when subjected to a potential difference in a closed circuit. Studies were carried out on the estimation of thermal loads in refrigeration applications and, based on this information, the prototype of a portable thermoelectric cooling chamber with a capacity of 21 liters with styrofoam coating was built. This was cooled by two plates with a Peltier effect principle, which is coupled with commercial heat sinks originally used in processors with forced fan ventilation. The prototype and its components were subjected to a series of tests, these with natural and forced convection, in addition to the cooling of 500 ml of water; in order to analyze, understand, and characterize the behavior of the thermoelectric cooling device. Various temperature sensors were used to record the temperature on each side of the Peltier plates in addition to the temperature inside and outside the chamber. In the test with forced convection, the temperature reduction was 15 ºC compared to the environment, higher than 12 ºC in the case with natural convection in the period of one hour.
Keywords
Cooling chamber, Thermoelectricity, Efficiency, Cooling techiniques
