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peltier info

S

saimike

Senior member
this is kind of an odd thing to ask, but i'm looking to get a wine chiller/fridge and to my surprise, there are a couple of biggish chillers (~30 bottles) out there that use peltiers! (like this: http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=7918963)

i have a inkling of how peltiers work. in this case, i think the lack of vibration vs regular refridgeration is great (especially for bubblies). the only downside i can think of is that the cooling capacity might be iffy in the sense that it might not be able keep temperature fluctuations down. i'm not sure to what extent this might be true, but wines dont like that.

looking on google, i havent been able to find any reviews of peltiers vs refridgeration. so i thought i'd post here. its not quite a pc application, but it is peltier cooling so i thought someone might be able to help me out with some addition info or advice. thanks!
 
I think it will eventually be incorporated in computer-case design, but even better would be an augmentation to directed, focused cooling of components as well as the case interior. You'd want to keep the computer-case sealed, just like you seal a fridge. That would reduce condensation -- perhaps, eliminate it.

There are several articles, a few in particular, showing how to use TEC coolers as large as the bottom of Intel stock heatsinks. You'd put the cold-plate of the TEC inside the case panel or chassis, mated up with its own 3"x3" (approx.) aluminum heatsink and fan assembly. The hot-plate would mate up with another heatsink outside the case -- on the case-panel exterior.

As I recall, many TEC coolers which you can purchase use a 24V power-lead -- not exactly a modification you'd be willing to make with your existing PSU. But you could just as well use a separate PSU for the TECs, and I think you can find them at Sidewinder or FrozenCPU.

Like handling vintage wine, you'd want your system to be thermostatically controlled, so the TECs would kick on and off according to some temperature sensors.

I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that you could get the wine-chiller, dissasemble it, and re-install the working components in your computer chassis -- thus avoiding much research -- but you would have to rethink your ideas about computer ventilation. You would certainly eliminate all fans except those that circulate air exclusively inside the case -- such as a CPU HSF.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of this thing would depend on how many Watts of thermal energy is released by all the components of your system including the PSU. If the wine-chiller can't counteract that wattage, it won't be entirely effective.

Bottles of wine do not have a peak thermal power . . . . And they don't come with 70% efficiency ratings common to many PSUs (figure most of the 30% is lost energy through heat).
 
hmm, i'm not so interested in incorporating peltiers in PC cases now 🙂 i'm trying to gather more info on peltiers and how well they might work in a wine fridge. any help?
 
I had always thought tec coolers were very inefficient, and only used in specialized applications because of that? Wouldn?t it cost an arm and a leg to run a tec refrigerator for a year?
I don?t think vibration is even an issue, any half decent compressor is rubber mounted and in an oil bath.
 
inefficient. search dansdata.com for peltier for tons of info
not practical at all for most tasks. maybe for cooling in portable coolers
 
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