Need:
In today’s fast developing world,the global warming phenomenon is the one that is receiving a turbo charge more than everything else. This explores a possible way of designing an environmentally friendly cooling device that utilizes one of the most abundant natural resource.
In Brief:
The proposed air conditioning (heating/cooling) device is the simplest of any such device in existance today. It does no cleaning or removal of microbial substances, but only heats or cools your environment to a specified temperature. Most of us generally feel comfortable in a temperature range of 20°C to 25°C.There is no real reason to have temperature controls below and above this temperature range. The proposed “Solar thermo electric cooling system” can be designed to function efficiently in this range. It is a simple static device (no moving elements) that is energized by the solar radiation and helps in driving out heat or providing heat with in an enclosed area.
Principle of operation:
The device is a solar powered thermo electric cooling device that works on the principle of “PETLIER EFFECT,” Thermo electric cooling devices are in existence for electronic enclosure cooling applications. The petlier effect can be termed as a reverse of the “SEED BACK EFFECT” in a thermo couple. In a thermo electric cooling device, the same thermocouple setup is used with little reversing. When a DC voltage is applied to the terminals T1 & T2, an electric current flows in the circuit. It causes the junction A to cool slightly, thus absorbing heat. It also causes a heating effect at the junction B through which the heat is expelled.
Construction:
The device consist of four major elements
1.Power source
2.Thermo electric array
3.Control electronics
4.Power storage
The power source is the solar radiation that can be harnessed through highly efficient solar panels and allied charge control systems. This contributes to the uninterrupted power supply throughout the day time as long as the sunlight is available to a sufficient level. The converted electric energy is routed through a battery system, so that in parallel to the power supply during daytime, some quantity of power is also stored for usage at night or at times when sufficient sunlight is unavailable. With the level of technology development in the field of power storage, the futuristic battery systems will be considerably environmental friendly and efficient compared to the present day stuffs.The main functional element of the total system is the thermo electric cooling unit. It is an array of properly wired thermo electric elements in a required architecture.A practical thermoelectric cooler consists of two or more elements of semiconductor material that are connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel. These thermoelectric elements and their electrical interconnects typically are mounted between two ceramic substrates. The substrates serve to hold the overall structure together mechanically and to insulate the individual elements electrically from one another and from external mounting surfaces.