Estimation of coefficient of performance of thermoelectric cooler using a 30 W single-stage type

Abstract

In this study, a single stage thermoelectric cooler (TER, of size: 21 3 14.2 3 13.5 cm) with thermoelectric module (TEM, of type inbc1-127. 05 with size 40 3 40 3 4.0 mm) and applied electrical power of 30 W and current of 2.5 A, was adopted to estimate the coefficient of performance (COP) of thermoelectric refrigerator (TER). The TER uses a fan to cool the heat exchange region of the TEM. The temperature of the fruit/vegetable samples used in this study was taken before and after cooling for a specific period. The temperatures at both the hot and cold sides of the TEM were also taken at every specific cooling period. The experimented TER can cool vegetable/fruit from about 27 to 58C within 3 h. The aim of this study is to determine the COP of TER to ascertain the possible applications. The temperature gradient at the heat exchange section of TEM was used to estimate the average theoretical COP to be 0.99, the heat extracted from the cooling chamber and the power supplied was used to estimate the average practical cooling COP to be 0.52; which is within 0.4–0.7 standard COP for a single stage type of TER.