Why havent any broadcast manufacturers incorparated this into any of their products. I have experience with with SCADA and petroleum based telemetry systems and thermoelectric cooling was the cooling method of choice in the field.With no moving parts and relatively low power draw compared to compressor based cooling systems I can especially see this method as useful for items like processors, STL equipment, and even lower powered solid state transmitters. Many of the telemetry systems i dealt with were in hot un-AC'ed cabinets that would be over 100 degrees most summer days, the solid state coolers worked excellent in the harshest of conditions. The coolers in these systems and heatsinks were directly coupled to mosfets and semiconductors and generally controlled by an internal temp/dewpoint monitor to keep the minimum delta in temp difference to prevent sweating and condensation.
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Thermoelectric cooling
- Thread starter Fieldtech1
- Start date
I suspect the surface area/capacity/efficiency considerations of the technology limit its use to
devices that "get hot", but are NOT "power handling" devices.
In the consumer realm, Peltier devices are sold in cooler/warmer boxes the size of a large lunchbox, and these are
useful for KEEPING something from cooling off too fast, or warming up too quickly but they are not a meaningful source of
heating or cooling in the primary sense.
I consider it to more like "active insulation" than real heat transfer.
It is heat transfer, it's just not an awful lot of it....
Let's hope the efficiency of the process can be improved to where it can be intelligently and reliably
apply to larger loads, smaller spaces , and achieve higher differential temperatures on both sides.
For instance, it's great to achieve a 20 degree drop, but when the ambient is 125 degrees,
105 is still too hot a lot of electronic devices.
devices that "get hot", but are NOT "power handling" devices.
In the consumer realm, Peltier devices are sold in cooler/warmer boxes the size of a large lunchbox, and these are
useful for KEEPING something from cooling off too fast, or warming up too quickly but they are not a meaningful source of
heating or cooling in the primary sense.
I consider it to more like "active insulation" than real heat transfer.
It is heat transfer, it's just not an awful lot of it....
Let's hope the efficiency of the process can be improved to where it can be intelligently and reliably
apply to larger loads, smaller spaces , and achieve higher differential temperatures on both sides.
For instance, it's great to achieve a 20 degree drop, but when the ambient is 125 degrees,
105 is still too hot a lot of electronic devices.
One of the PDs got a tiny thermolelectric cooler that looked like a tiny refridgerator from a record company. It's out at a transmitter site now and does a good job keeping a couple water bottles cool. Uses a 12 vdc 2 amp lump in a cord power supply that gets very warm.
I've tried a few of those portable 12V coolers that use Peltier modules. Some of these things are even called 'fridges'.
I have to disagree.
On a typical day, ambient air temp of around 25 °C, they struggle to get the internal temperature down to 10 °C. If you put some cans of drink in them that are at room temp, they just don't get 'cold'.
If you put cans of drink that have already been refrigerated in, and don't open the lid at all, they stay 'cool' - but not cold.
The idea is great, but the technology just doesn't cut it.
Tom Wells sums up the rest of my thoughts perfectly.
I have to disagree.
On a typical day, ambient air temp of around 25 °C, they struggle to get the internal temperature down to 10 °C. If you put some cans of drink in them that are at room temp, they just don't get 'cold'.
If you put cans of drink that have already been refrigerated in, and don't open the lid at all, they stay 'cool' - but not cold.
The idea is great, but the technology just doesn't cut it.
Tom Wells sums up the rest of my thoughts perfectly.
I dont think the modules in those portable coolers can be compared to industrial thermoelectric modules we used. Also, we used direct coupling of the modules to whatever component we were cooling, of which the hot side was directly coupled to a heat sink or heat transfer pipe to an external heatsink. Those portable coolers use thermoelectric modules in free air (think of a speaker driver without an enclosure), which is not what thermoelectric modules were designed to do. Most of the units we used were the size of postage stamps and could dissipate 50-70 watts per square inch of surface area. In some of the telemtry radios we would have maybe 8-12 modules running on heat generating/sensitive components. The company i worked for made the control units in house. I have some pictures of the units installed i will try to find and post. As i said i dont think this solution will work for larger transmitters, but i can really see the applications in other sensitive components such as processors, stl, solid state exciters and other heat sensitive equipment sitting in a toasty transmitter shack.
Fieldtech1 said:
That's interesting. I'd like to see how they do that, too. The Peltier powered cooler that I have has the junctions connected to two large heatsinks. One is a block of flat aluminum that gets cold. The other side is a fairly hefty finned sink with a small fan blowing over it. The performance is still marginal and it is rather power hungry. Maybe the technology has improved. My cooler's about 20 years old.
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