THERMOELECTRIC REFRIGERATOR WITH PATTERNED AIR FLOW ARRANGEMENT

Rakesh Sharma V, Deepak K

Abstract: In the present world, refrigeration systems produce cooling effect using refrigerants and release harmful hydro fluorocarbons into environment. Using such refrigerants higher output can be achieved but one of the major disadvantages is harmful gas emission and global warming. Such problems are not present in thermoelectric modules and do not pollute the environment. This work deals with the design of a thermoelectric refrigerator with an effort to improve performance by designing patterned air flow management system. A thermoelectric refrigerator prototype has been built and performance analysis has been carried out in controlled ambient condition (25oC). A sheet metal enclosure with vents for creating patterned air flow is designed in solid works and fabricated. The proposed refrigerator with patterned air flow arrangement could achieve up to 5oC refrigeration temperature inside the cabinet. The comparative study revealed reduction of power consumption by 6.31% due to the changes made in the air flow pattern. CFD Analysis has been performed to validate the experimental results.

Keywords: Thermoelectric Cooling, Peltier Refrigerator, Cooling System, Patterned Air Flow

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2016.0512008