Design and Analysis of Solar Based Thermoelectric Cooling System

A solar-based cooling system is built with the Thermoelectric cooler (TEC) modules which work on the Peltier effect and is compared with the current air conditioning system. Thermoelectric cooler modules are driven by solar energy. The prototype of cooling system is designed with two insulated compartments where TECs are sandwiched in between them and water is allowed to enter the hot side chamber which will act as heat transfer medium. A mathematical model of the cooling system considering all heat loads is developed. Experimentation carried on the prototype shows that cooling effect of 10° C achieved within duration of 30 minutes. Considering the cooling capacity of a single TEC module, the number of TECs required to replace one ton conventional HVAC system is calculated.