AC Refrigeration is the most common way for cooling in a fridge or a room.
What Is the Peltier Effect?
Thermoelectric coolers or Peltier effect devices are comparatively miniature devices used for cooling or heating.
The operating voltage should not exceed 15 VDC.
Don’t power up the Peltier equipment without a heat sink.
Step 1: Prepare the Box
Now take an empty box of thermally insulating material.
For this demonstration, we used cardboard.
Make a hole or cavity according to the dimensions of the Peltier gadget TEC1-12706 (i.e.
40mm x 40mm) for mini-refrigerator design.
Each junction of the Peltier equipment is attached to the heat sinkusing highly conductive thermal paste.
Heat sink increases the efficiency of the Peltier equipment by regularly maintaining airflow.
For a good design, heat sinks with larger fins and greater surface area are recommended.
Step 3: Attach Fans
Now attachyour choice of fanon each heat sink fin.
The fans used in this project are 12VDC brushless (Delta electronics FFB0412HN) with airflow of 10.6 cfm.
Each fan consumes less than one watt of power from the battery.
However, one can use a fan with more airflow for better performance.
However, it is mandatory to use heat sink paste between a heat sink and the Peltier equipment.
The battery must have the current capacity to provide a 7A DC current.
A battery of 10Ah or more is sufficient for this single Peltier module with fans.
Now join the wires with the battery to allow the machine to take current.
Observe closely the current drawn from the battery.
It should be within the limits specified by the Peltier equipment manufacturer.
Allow the system to take current for some time and observe the voltages and current for safe limits.
After a few moments, you will feel the colder air inside the box.
you might add water bottles and juices to keep them cool.
Now cover the box for use as a mini-fridge.
For reliable operation, you canadd a temperature controllerto protect the Peltier unit from exceeding operational limits.
