Abstract
A small air conditioner using thermoelectric module has been designed and built. Three types of cooling methods, such as air cooling, closed-loop water cooling, and evaporative cooling, for hot side of thermoelectric module have been investigated. Among three types of cooling method, the evaporative cooling method is seen to be the most effective to achieve the steady state operation of a thermoelectric air conditioner The system performance with evaporative cooling method are also studied in detail for several oprating parameters, such as input power to the thermoelectric module, water or air flow rate at the hot side, and air flow rate at the cold side. The results obtained indicate that the cooling capacity of a system is increased with an increase in the input power to the thermoelectric module while the system COP is decreased. It is also found that the optimal air flow rate as well as water flow rate at the hot side is needed for the best system performance at a liven operating condition. Both the system COP and cooling capacity are increased as the air flow rate at cold side is increased.
