Experimental investigations to characterize power quality of AC supplied thermoelectric refrigerators

Recently, thermoelectric refrigeration, using thermoelectric coolers, is gaining interest among the specialists as a green cooling technology since many advantages derive from the use of this kind of devices. Since the diffusion of thermoelectric refrigerators is likely to increase in the next future, it is important to characterize their operation when the supply is provided in alternating current (AC); in fact, in this case the refrigerators are equipped with power electronic converters supplied by the electric distribution system. In particular, power quality issues, like waveform distortion and the evaluation of electric powers, have to be considered. In this paper, the operation of a thermoelectric refrigerator connected to the low voltage AC distribution system is considered and the waveform distortion and the electric power quantities are evaluated based on experimental data.