Thermoelectric Cooling

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Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of materials. 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 side against the temperature gradient (from cold to hot), with consumption of electrical energy. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC). Because heating can be achieved more easily and economically by many other methods, Peltier devices are mostly used for cooling. However, when a single device is to be used for both heating and cooling, a Peltier device may be desirable. Simply connecting it to a DC voltage will cause one side to cool, while the other side warms. The effectiveness of the pump at moving the heat away from the cold side is dependent upon the amount of current provided and how well the heat can be removed from the hot side.

A Peltier cooler is the opposite of a thermoelectric generator. In a Peltier cooler, electric power is used to generate a temperature difference between the two sides of the device; while in a thermoelectric generator, a temperature difference between the two sides is used to generate electric power. The operation of both is closely related (both are manifestations of the thermoelectric effect), and therefore the devices are generally constructed from similar materials using similar designs.

Contents

Performance

Peltier element schematic. Thermoelectric legs are thermally in parallel and electrically in series.
Peltier element (16x16 mm)

Thermoelectric junctions are generally only around 5–10% as efficient as the ideal refrigerator (Carnot cycle), compared with 40–60% achieved by conventional compression cycle systems (reverse Rankine systems using compression/expansion). Due to the relatively low efficiency, thermoelectric cooling is generally only used in environments where the solid state nature (no moving parts, maintenance-free) outweighs pure efficiency.

Peltier (thermoelectric) cooler performance is a function of ambient temperature, hot and cold side heat exchanger (heat sink) performance, thermal load, Peltier module (thermopile) geometry, and Peltier electrical parameters.

Uses

Peltier devices are commonly used in camping and portable coolers and for cooling electronic components and small instruments. Some electronic equipment intended for military use in the field is thermoelectrically cooled. The cooling effect of Peltier heat pumps can also be used to extract water from the air in dehumidifiers.

Peltier elements are a common component in thermal cyclers, used for the synthesis of DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a common molecular biological technique which requires the rapid heating and cooling of the reaction mixture for denaturation, primer annealing and enzymatic synthesis cycles.

The effect is used in satellites and spacecraft to counter the effect of direct sunlight on one side of a craft by dissipating the heat over the cold shaded side, whereupon the heat is dissipated by thermal radiation into space.

Photon detectors such as CCDs in astronomical telescopes or very high-end digital cameras are often cooled down with Peltier elements. This reduces dark counts due to thermal noise. (A dark count is the event that a pixel gives a signal although it has not received a photon but rather mistook a thermal fluctuation for one. On digital photos taken at low light these occur as speckles (or "pixel noise").

Thermoelectric coolers can be used to cool computer components to keep temperatures within design limits without the noise of a fan, or to maintain stable functioning when overclocking. In fiber optic 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. A Peltier cooler with a heat sink or waterblock can cool a chip to well below ambient temperature.

Peltier devices are used in USB drink coolers/chillers, one of the latest addition to USB gadgets/toys. These devices are powered directly from the USB port and are said to keep drinks chilled, some can even keep drinks warm. The effectiveness of these devices, however, is questionable. The available power from a USB socket is very limited, so cooling or heating will be minimal.

Underlying principles

Thermoelectric coolers rely on the thermoelectric effect. When a current is run through an appropriately-configured thermoelectric device, heat is transported from one side of the device to the other.

References

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