Enhancement in the COP of Thermoelectric Cooler Used for Cooling of Small Electronic Circuits

Abstract

Amidst growing environment concern, the need for alternative methods of cooling is on the rise, demanding higher intervention of technological advances. Conventional cooling systems working on CFC refrigerant pose threat to environment. The present work deals with performance investigation of thermoelectric cooler based on Peltier effect. Air cooling and water cooling systems are studied involving several parameter modifications. From the experimental work it is evident that optimum cooling is achieved using water cooling system. Optimum operating parameters are 2.2 V and 2 A for voltage and current respectively. For limited range of cooling requirements, air cooling systems are more preferred. Owing to simple construction and no moving parts, thermoelectric cooling is highly recommended for small scale electronic device cooling. Furthermore, several methods may be adopted for primary design and optimization of thermoelectric refrigeration. Smaller size Peltier chips do not have significant effect on cost of the system. However, for bigger size cooling requirement such as in servers and supercomputers wherein the heat generation rate is very high, need arises for optimum size selection of Peltier chips and source of power. Here researchers can use optimization methods based on mathematical modeling of the system and the subsequent application of nature inspired metaheuristics for optimization of system components. Moreover, bigger size Peltier chips are expensive, henceforth tradeoff calculations should be made so as to compare the performance of the thermoelectric cooling system with that of the cost and payback period. Moreover, comparative analysis shall be performed so as to justify the lower value of coefficient of performance as compared to the conventional refrigeration systems like vapor compression refrigeration or vapor absorption refrigeration. Present work focuses on the electrical parameters’ optimization for optimum cooling effect using small size Peltier chip. However, more number of parameters like heat load, insulation, heat load dissipation by convection, availability of area and choice of cooling system between air and water can be considered.