Thermoelectric cooling heating unit prototype

Abstract

The article describes from an architectonical point of view the design, assembly, and energy behavior of a prototype for air-conditioning in residential buildings using Peltier cells, which means the application in the field of construction of a technology used in very specific areas. The new system has been designed as an independent, prefabricated, modular construction element that must fit perfectly between the structural floors and is easily adapted to the demands of different buildings. The thermoelectric cooling heating unit is designed to offer a high level of comfort to those living in the building. The only mechanical elements are the dissipation heat fans placed on the outside of the prototype, and heat sinks to transfer the heat from the power elements, reducing the possibilities of failure. The result of all these ideas is the construction of a prefabricated module, consisting of a simplified inhabited housing unit with a thermoelectric installation serving the module, which has obtained a national patent. The results of the thermal and electric behavior demonstrate that the system does not work as well as had been expected; nevertheless, the system has a high potential for its use in buildings associated with photovoltaic. Practical application: The system opens new ways to the air-conditioning without using the traditional concepts of primary and secondary loop, because the system is highly independent. Their applications could be in building refurbishment where other systems involving the use of water or air are complicated to implement, in spaces where security and resilience are crucial factors (such as surgeries or computer server rooms), or those situations with extreme maximum and minimum temperatures or irregular electrical supply, as those could exist when the army must intervene or an humanitarian disaster occurs.

Techno-Economic Analysis of a Peltier Heating Unit System Integrated into Ventilated Façade

“…This work contributes in identifying the key aspect that may increase the efficiency of the HVAC systems in ventilated façades. Also, this research completes the authors' previous work [33][34][35][36][37] about the theoretical design and construction of an active ventilated façade with Peltier modules. The authors are aware that a techno-economic analysis of a THU prototype has not yet been reported.…”

“…The result was the construction of a simplified inhabited housing unit (prefabricated module) with a thermoelectric heating system. A detailed report on this first THU version (v1.1) and its manufacture has been presented by the authors in previous works [33][34][35][36]. This section provides a brief description of this first version and presents the improvement of this prototype (THU v1.2).…”

“…In the case of THU v1.2, the authors have estimated that the maintenance cost could be approximately 6-10% of the heating system cost. This estimation was based on 1.5 years of test with the prototype [36].…”

Solar-Powered Thermoelectric-Based Cooling and Heating System for Building Applications: A Parametric Study

“…One of the emerging applications of TE systems is the use of Peltier modules for building cooling and heating, either through integration into building envelope or as separate units [16]. Various configurations have been proposed and studied for integrated TE modules in windows [17][18][19][20] and walls [17,[21][22][23][24][25] demonstrated promising results. A few previous studies have also been focused on incorporating TE modules in the ceiling.…”

Portable Thermoelectric Cooler Box Performance with Variation of Input Power and Cooling Load

“…More recent applications use TEC with different prototype design for refrigeration system (Martin-Gomez et al, 2016, Martinez, 2016. Vadi and Kulkarni, 2015 presented analysis of thermoelectric cooler performance using two modules connected in parallel, with Peltier module of 231W, 15.4V, 15A, TEC1-12715.…”