An experimental study on cooling characteristic of a thermoelectric module

An experimental study has been carried out on cooling perfonnance of a thennoelectric module. This problem is of particular interest in the design of the refrigeration systems using thermoelectric module, such as cosmetic refrigerator, wine cellar and air cooler. The effect of the input voltage and the hot side temperature on the cooling performance is studied in detail. The $\Delta$T, temperature difference between cold side and hot side surface of thermoelectric module, is described in terms of the input voltage and the hot side temperature. It is found that the cooling capacity can be improved by increasing the input voltage and by reducing the heat from the hot side of the thermoelectric module. However, COP is decreased with an increase in the input voltage, since power consumption is also increased. Thus, optimum input voltage can be selected based on cooling capacity and COP.

열전모듈의 냉각특성에 관한 실험적 연구