Applied Mechanics and Materials Online: 2013-08-30

ISSN: 1662-7482, Vol. 388, pp 52-57

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.388.52
© 2013 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland

Performance of Thermoelectrics and Heat Pipes Refrigerator

Ali A. Sungkar1,a , Firman Ikhsan1,b, M. Afin Faisol1,c, Nandy Putra1,d

1
Heat Transfer Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department,
Faculty of Engineering Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok, Indonesia 16424
a
ali.abdurrahman@ui.ac.id, bfirman.ikhsan@ui.ac.id, cmohamad.afin@ui.ac.id,
d
nandyputra@eng.ui.ac.id

Keywords: heat pipes, thermoelectric, refrigerator, coefficient of performance, environmentally

friendly.

Abstract. Most of refrigerators commonly use the conventional refrigeration system known as
Vapor Compression Refrigeration System becoming a big issue lately due to ozone depleting
substance it uses as the refrigerant. This paper will describe systematically of an experiment with
the objective of constructing a refrigeration system based on thermoelectric which is reliable and
compete able with the Vapor Compression Refrigeration System. The designs of this refrigeration
system give emphasis on the environment that is combined with the knowledge so that the
environmentally friendly technology can be applied. The performance of thermoelectric refrigerator
was investigated under variation of input power (40W, 72W, and 120W) and operated in ambient
temperature and cooling load of water 1000mL to investigate the characteristic of system and the
coefficient of performance, COP. It is found that the COP is decrease by increasing of cooling load,
QL. The best actual COP is 0.182 obtained when the refrigerator operated at input power 40W. The
result shows that decreasing of ambient temperature affects the decreasing of cabin temperature.
Thermoelectric and heat pipe refrigerator cooling system can reach cabin temperature of 10.63˚C for
the power of 120Watt (8.73A, 14V) indicates effective performance work-based thermoelectric
applications.

Introduction
Vapor compression refrigeration system, which is the most commonly used refrigerating system
has the advantages due to its high cooling capacities and COP, but this system has an environmental
issues due to the ozone depletion causes by its refrigerant, and also its unstable working temperature
[1]. Absorption system has the advantage of its unnoisy working condition because this system is a-
heat driven refrigerating system. Absorption system can use an exhaust heat from other system as
the heat generator so it can increase its efficiency. Absorption system has some shortages due to its
low COP and bulky design [2].
Thermoelectric system has the advantage. It is a solid state device which is very practical use and
there is no work fluid applied that makes it environmentally friendly, the working temperature of
this system is stable, easy to control, and the reliability of system is high so it has a long life time.
Nevertheless, this system shows a low COP and expensive [1]. Thermoelectric technology has been
widely used for both cooling and power generation [2]. Thermoelectric cooling have been applied in
wide range of application, from the portable vaccine carrier box, surgical device, cooling system for
electronic equipment, food processing equipment, military and aerospace instruments [3-11].
Thermoelectric device has a given operating temperature range beyond which its operation may
cease. For this reason, all thermoelectric cooler require heat sinks in order to dissipate the energy
generated or absorbed at the two junctions. Design and selection of a heat sink is crucial to the
overall operation of a thermoelectric system, the heat sink should be design to minimize the thermal
resistance. The heat transfer between thermoelectric module and heat dissipation device may be
further improved by use of the heat pipe [12]. Heat pipe is a device with a very high thermal

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 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 388 53

conductivity and typically consist of a sealed tube with an internal wick. The heat pipe is charged
with refrigerant, such as water, ethanol or methanol and nanofluids. Heat pipes are widely adopted
for their high efficiency, cooling capability, reliability and shape flexibility [13-17].
The objective of this research are to apply the thermoelectric and heat pipes to produce optimal
configuration of cooling system so that it can be applied to the design of thermoelectric and heat
pipes refrigerator and to analyze the performance of thermoelectric and heat pipes refrigerator
cooling system .

Experimental Set Up
Determining the characteristic and performance of thermoelectric refrigeration system, the
experiment was conducted to collect the data from every important spot from refrigeration system.
The test procedure is the thermocouples are placed on each side of the thermoelectric, cabins, and
outside the cabin as a temperature sensor. The whole thermocouples were connected to National
Instrument data acquisition module and controlled through the software LabView 2009. The
temperatures data were collected with the initial conditions the system off for five minutes.
Furthermore, the power supply was turned on so that the system worked. Temperatures were
collected for four hours, including five minutes of the initial conditions. Figure 1 depicted the
scheme of experimental setup.

1. Thermoelectric and heat pipes refrigerator

2. Power supply
3. Thermocouples (sensor of temperature)
4. Module DAQ data acquisition National
Instrument
5. Personal Computer

Fig 1. Experimental set up

The construction of experiment performed on figure 2. It can be seen that thermoelectric

refrigeration system consists of several components. The components used in thermoelectric
refrigerator showed on Figure 2(a). They are fan brushless DC12V, heat pipes PC cooler,
thermoelectrics-Peltier element, heat sink, gasket, and cold sink. Source of six thermoelectric
cooling uses the Peltier elements are arranged in series. Heat on the hot side of thermoelectric was
absorbed by using heat pipe then heat will be released on the condeser of heat pipe. Figure 2(b) and
2(c) shows six heat sink fans (13W totally) were placed on the condenser in order to remove heat in
the condeser. To have better air circulation in the cabin, a heat sink fan was located on the cold side
of thermoelectric.
54 Advances in Thermofluids

(a) (b) (c)

Fig 2. (a) Construction of refrigerator cooling system of thermoelectric and heat pipes refrigerator
and its placement on the compartment of refrigerator, (b) in front of view and (c) behind view.

Result and Discussion

Temperature Cold and Hot Side of Thermoelectric Cooling System

(a)
1.1 (b)
1.2 (c)
1.3
Fig 3. Measurement temperature cooling systems cold and hot side under variation of input power
by Flir i50 thermograph
Figure 3 shows the thermographic (temperature distribution) of thermoelectric placed on heat
sink and heat pipe in a variety of voltage and current supplied from power supply.
1. Figure 3(a) at 8V,1.3A shows the temperature, Thot side = 40.10˚C and Tcold side = -8.50˚C,
2. Figure 3(b) at 12V,2.93A shows the temperature, Thot side = 48.70˚C and Tcold side = -11.4˚C, and
3. Figure 3(c) at 14V,3.36A shows the temperature, Thot side = 60˚C and Tcold side = -13.60˚C
The increasing of input power applied to system causes the increasing temperature difference of
system so that it affects the cabin and cooling load temperature of thermoelectric and heat pipe
refrigerator. It explains that the thermoelectric works by controlling the temperature difference. In
applications as a cooling system is needed both in terms of performance so that will be utilized
thermoelectric the lower temperature. Higher temperature will be controlled so that the lower
temperature can reach the minimum temperature in at coldside. Temperature control is optimized to
move higher into the environment using the principles of forced convection heat transfer by fans.
Performance of Refrigerator in a Variety of Power Consumption
The testing was conducted to determine performance of thermoelectric and heat pipe refrigerator
in variety of the input power 40W(8.2V,4.9A), 72W(11.4V,6.29A), 120W(14V,8.73A) with
1000mL water cooling load and operated at average ambient temperatures 28˚C.
The testing of the refrigerator was firstly conducted at input power 40W at ambient temperature
condition. It can be seen in figure 4, that the refrigerator can be operated on low power where within
35 minutes the temperature of the cabin decreased significantly. After 2 hours operation, the cabin
temperature increase in fluctuates around 2˚C due to higher ambient temperatures. In the end, the
cabin temperature reached at 16.06˚C. Meanwhile, the temperature of the water cooling load tend to
decrease linearly up to 150 minutes of operating time. Then, the temperature tends to fluctuate with
the small end temperature reached 15.3˚C. There were similar temperature distribution for testing on
the refrigerator with 72W and 120W input power . The lowest temperatur was 10.63˚C which can
be reached with input power 120W.
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 388 55

Figure 5 shows the temperature conditions in the test cabin refrigerator under variation of power
consumption 40W, 72W, and 120W on the refrigerator at average ambient temperature 28°C and
loaded by 1000mL of water. These graphs can be concluded that the higher power that is given then
the lower the cabin temperature.

Coefficient of Performance (COP) of Thermoelectric and Heat pipe Refrigerator

Table 1 shows performance comparison of compartment temperature due to variety of power
consumption. The COP calculation using Melcor’s equations which are

(1)
(2)
(3)

Fig 4. Performance of refrigerator in a variety of power Fig 5. Performances of compartment

consumption with 1000mL water cooling load and refrigerator temperature under variation
operated at ambient temperatures range 27-30˚C. of power consumption.

Table 1. COP of thermoelectric and heat pipe refrigerator

a
based on equation (3)
b
based on equation (1) with the Qc values is based on equation (2)

The COP decreased by increasing of the input power. The decreasing of actual COP is caused by the
value of total cooling capacity that is tend to increase due to increasing of cooling load, QL while the
input power applied stay in small difference of cooling capacity. It means the highest COP
(optimum and actual COP) reached when the refrigerator operated at input power 40W in constant
1000mLwater cooling load. The lowest of actual COP when operated at input power 120W and
cabin temperature is 10.63oC.
56 Advances in Thermofluids

Summary
1. Decreasing of temperature ambient affects the decreasing of cabin temperature. Increasing of
input power applied to system causes the increasing temperature difference of system so that it
affects the cabin and cooling load temperature of thermoelectric and heat pipes refrigerator.
2. The measurements of cabin temperature with power 120W (14V,8.73A) produces temperature of
compartment is 10.63˚C in steady temperature indicates effective performance work-based
thermoelectric and heat pipe cooling applications.
3. In this testing, the highest COP (optimum and actual COP) reached when the refrigerator
operated at input power 40W with 1000mLwater cooling load.
4. As the result, we can see that thermoelectric and heat pipes refrigerator has potency replacing the
conventional refrigerators and it has ability to keep the temperature steady.

Nomenclature
Qc = Heat pumping capacity (J) P = Input power (Watt)
N = Number of thermocouple α = Seebeck coefficient (V/K)
G = Geometry factor-area/length of thermoelectric (cm) Z = Figure of merit (K-1)
K = Thermal conductivity (W/m.K) I = Electrical current (A)
Tc = Cold side temperature (°C) Th = Hot side temperature (°C)
Tm = Average temperature (°C), where Tm = (°C)
∆T = Temperature difference of Th and Tc (°C)
ρ = Resisitivity (Ohm cm)

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