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Episode 12 Peltier Can Cooler energy use?

MauiJerry

At the beginning of Episode 12, Ben says he wants to keep an eye on the energy usage for the project. The video is giving me all sorts of problems playing but the transcript does not say much more about energy use.  I did see in that start scene, a small meter shows up in the corner.  It isnt there in the scene now where my computer has stopped playing (waiting on net?)

 

Anyway, I was curious about the energy use of the can cooler. How much power does it take to cool the soda by 10deg? What is the draw of the peltier unit?

 

And the show wasnt clear about the arduino control - are you using PWM or simple binary control of the mosfet?

Do you share the code/schematics for your projects? It would be enlightening to see these.

 

Thanks

  • Peltier units draw a lot of power! The trick is to insulate the whole setup as much as possible when the Peltier is off, including the hot side. When the Peltier unit is powered, the hot side must be cooled as good as possible (forced air). The cool side must have a good thermal contact with the can. This way it works best!

     

    In the end the setup will not be very efficient at all. Peltier elements use a lot of power, this power is turned into heat at the hot end. If you have good use for the heat as well these units are perfect!

     

    In the end it's all about the scale of the project. If you want to cool just one can, the Peltier based unit might use less power compared to a mini compressor based fridge. When you have to cool more things, go for a compressor based fridge.

     

    EDIT: Don't use PWM on the units, this is less efficient. On/off control is much better if it comes to power usage, you don't need to cool to 0.01 degrees accurate I think?

  • in reply to Former Member

    I'm thinking of using a single peltier with a stainless double wall wine cooler remove the bottom so i can glue the thermoelectric to the inside layer. and used salwater to raise my contact surface. Salwater is widely availlable since its a project for my boat. the inside storage temps is normally 72 and i like my beer around 36. I'm gone run the system from the 12v battery. If I want to cool a beer every 10 min what size of peltier should i used from your experience.  What worry me is that you made your calculation of power for 15 min on the show and you have a way better system.

     

    BTW its a really cool show.

    http://www.shopperschoice.com/item_item_5921.html