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effective heat load applied to a TEC ?

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deucejmp

Mechanical
Feb 25, 2015
2
I'm considering the use of a TEC to chill water in conjunction with several radiators, and am looking for some direction in the theory to get started with setting up heat transfer calculations for this application.

I'm expecting that this chiller concept won't turn out to be viable (given how inefficient TECs are, how much power it will require, how much heat I'll need to air cool off the hot side, etc.), but I want to dig a little into it before discarding the idea. The cooling loop will have a total load of about 500W and 3 radiators (one that is 200mm x 200mm x 82mm, and 2 others with a combined surface area about equal to the first one). My chiller concept would consist of a water block incorporated into the loop and attached to the cold side of a TEC (with the hot side on a heat sink/fan intended for a 300W TDP).

I have data from testing this loop with 500W (and no TEC included) to help me determine the heat dissipated by these heat exchangers without the TEC. How would I go about determining the load that effectively gets applied to the TEC (the load that the TEC actually sees). Is it just a matter of subtracting the heat dissipated by the radiators from the input load of 500W?

Let me know if anything needs to be clarified.
 
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That's pretty much it, but your TEC would have its own heat load on the order of 4kW, assuming a 200W thermal load

TTFN
faq731-376
7ofakss

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529


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4kW? Assuming a module with a Qmax of 200W: wouldn't the expected power usage be upward of 400W, yielding a hot side load on the order of 600W?
 
The TEC power depends on the delta T. I was scaling off of some previous stuff with higher delta temperatures, so I might be off.
puts the TEC power at something on the order of 540W

TTFN
faq731-376
7ofakss

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529


Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:
 
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