Icecold + hot water using peltier

[catakate]

Searched for but found nothing, sorry if it's discussed elsewhere!

For those that never heard of it, a Peltier device is a small (40mm x 40mm x 4mm) and cheap heat pump that uses electricity to transfer energy between two ceramic plates. It's used in aviation and boating industry as cooling element in electric fridges, heat being dissipated by a huge cooler and fan. I recently got my hands on a 50 liter broken fridge I could fit such a device in, I got -5 C from +10 C in 30 minutes using a 60W device. Currently available from China are 60W to 231W versions.

I'm thinking of two tanks having one to many devices in between. With a max 70 degree Celsius difference, water can not be used for the cold side, but an automotive coolant running thru a freezer is easy job.

Anyone thinking about something similar?

[azsailor12]

These are used in portable fridges for cars, trucks, etc. They are cheap, but not very efficient and can't swing the temp as much as a compressor type system. I wouldn't think these would work very well for heating and cooling water, as they don't have enough thermal capacity(probably wrong terminology).

[atoll]

a very inefficent way of making stuff not very cold,i used one across the pacific in 30-35c ambient temps and it ran almost contiuosly drawing 4amps to cool the box which could hold 6 beer cans at a time which took hours.

my danfoss 55 liter fridge uses way lees power and has a freezer section,and will cool down a case of beers in half the time using half the power.

[Shanaly]

i have all the bits for a peltier system, including the power supply module, and i'm looking forward to installing it shortly. key issues will be the heat sink/ (gassed?) cold plate. There seems to be no reason for old fashioned compressors, as far as i can see. there is a guy on ebay selling kits out of the US. I think some diagrams and specific terms from you could well launch this idea which seems very promising, and very little adopted. I'll post my progress!

[mrm]

Go ahead, but keep in mind they are bludi inefficient way of cooling.
Remember to post your power figures once you are done.

[cszosler]

Originally Posted by mrm

Go ahead, but keep in mind they are bludi inefficient way of cooling.
Remember to post your power figures once you are done.

hi,
For two 4cmx4cm I've paid AU$26 with postage.
Rest of the system w'll be home made, labour for free.
Compare it to inicial cost of compresor system.
I recon, I can wait litle longer for coldie from the fridge
where only part that may go bad is AU$26 with postage
and be able to fix it myself.
catakate and shanaly please do not give up, share results
of your progress. Take Us into 21 Century

[Dockhead]

As others have said:

Peltier coolers are very inefficient compared to regular gas-compression coolers. That is to say, they require a great deal more electrical power -- something usually in short supply on a cruising boat -- to produce the same amount of cooling (or you get a whole lot less cooling for the same amount of electrical power). The advantages of them are that they are extremely compact, simple, solid state. I think they're great for picnic trunks to be used in the back of cars where power is in abundant supply as long as the motor is running. For boats -- less so.

See: Thermoelectric cooling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Dulcesuenos]

I found a cheap little peltier style travel cooler at a garage sale for 5$ i got it just to see. The cooling sink fins are aluminum connected an aluminum "bowl "covering the half of the cooler. In 15 minutes. it was down to 45 degrees. It was 80+ in the car at the time so it worked pretty good but is small. Im sure its draw is up there. Our coleman power chiller killed batteries in under a day. Good luck!