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Peltier Questions



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 16th 10, 10:11 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
GT[_8_]
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Posts: 148
Default Peltier Questions

I'm trying to figure out how much power I could generate from a peltier
device from a given temperature difference. With water as the medium on each
side of the peltier, what temperature difference would I need to have to
power a small water pump to circulate the water round my CPU cooler block?

In other words - could a cooling system be designed to actually drive/power
itself from the very heat it is trying to remove? Perhaps convection would
be required to start or subsedise the equation, but do 'we' think this is
possible??

Could this be scaled up to drive a water pump for a small pool, driven by a
peltier that is powered by sun energy heating water on one side in a black,
heat absorbing tank and cold water from the pool on the other side?


  #2  
Old June 16th 10, 07:22 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
kony
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Posts: 7,416
Default Peltier Questions

On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:11:50 +0100, "GT" wrote:

I'm trying to figure out how much power I could generate from a peltier
device from a given temperature difference.


It seems it would depend on the size of your peltier. A
single peltier would produce a very low voltage so you would
need several in series, an expensive project considering how
little electricity costs, and quite large unless it were (an
even more expensive) specialized device like this:
http://www.hi-z.com/hz2.php



With water as the medium on each
side of the peltier, what temperature difference would I need to have to
power a small water pump to circulate the water round my CPU cooler block?



Depends on the water pump and flow rate desired? If you are
intending to use waste heat from the CPU you have a problem,
that to create the temperature gradient needed you would
have to let the CPU get very hot or create a sub-ambient
temperature on the cold side, again using externally
supplied energy to pump heat off the cold side.



In other words - could a cooling system be designed to actually drive/power
itself from the very heat it is trying to remove? Perhaps convection would
be required to start or subsedise the equation, but do 'we' think this is
possible??


Possible yes... on a NASA budget and developed for years.
Not the best solution here on earth.

Could this be scaled up to drive a water pump for a small pool, driven by a
peltier that is powered by sun energy heating water on one side in a black,
heat absorbing tank and cold water from the pool on the other side?



No, practically speaking the size and cost of doing it would
negate any real benefit. Peltiers are not very efficient,
you'd be better off with solar panels which aren't very
efficient either... even for powering the computer water
pump from the slight bit of light in the computer room
instead of sunlight by using more/larger panels.

  #3  
Old June 17th 10, 12:33 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
Paul
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Posts: 13,364
Default Peltier Questions

GT wrote:
I'm trying to figure out how much power I could generate from a peltier
device from a given temperature difference. With water as the medium on each
side of the peltier, what temperature difference would I need to have to
power a small water pump to circulate the water round my CPU cooler block?

In other words - could a cooling system be designed to actually drive/power
itself from the very heat it is trying to remove? Perhaps convection would
be required to start or subsedise the equation, but do 'we' think this is
possible??

Could this be scaled up to drive a water pump for a small pool, driven by a
peltier that is powered by sun energy heating water on one side in a black,
heat absorbing tank and cold water from the pool on the other side?



There are devices, that demonstrate the kind of temperature differential
and heat flux needed for decent power generation.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/gifts/pa...at=4,104,53221

"Thermoelectrics to replace car alternators and improve MPG"
http://www.gizmag.com/thermoelectric...ove-mpg/10928/

But to address the problem, of "powering a cooling system", you
need to compare the efficiency of water cooling to heatpipes.
There is no comparison. Heat pipes are much more efficiency
at heat flux transport, than an equivalent water cooling system.
And it's because of the larger amount of heat per gram of material
involved in a phase change. A heat pipe uses phase change as the
transport mechanism. The only thing I don't know, is to what
distance the capillary effect, can be used to transport
condensed liquid back to the source. Water cooling systems
are used, because they're relatively cheap, and easy to
install. Custom heat pipes, bent to fit your installation,
wouldn't be nearly as easy to set up. The capillary effect
is available, when the inside surface of the heat pipe is
sintered. The condensed liquid can actually go uphill, but
with some loss of effectiveness.

Zalman built a couple computer cases, that use heatpipes to
connect heat sources, to the outer wall of the computer case.
The computer is a giant convection cooler. The case pictured
here, was around $1000.

http://www.overclockers.ru/images/la.../10/back-b.jpg

http://www.overclockers.ru/images/la...eatpipes-b.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pipe

If you have a heat source and sink, there is always stuff like
this. The Stirling engine allows you to get close to the
Carnot limit, although at the expense of a non-compact solution.
Some day, we may see more of these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot_heat_engine

Paul
  #4  
Old June 17th 10, 09:41 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
GT[_8_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 148
Default Peltier Questions

"Paul" wrote in message
...
GT wrote:
I'm trying to figure out how much power I could generate from a peltier
device from a given temperature difference. With water as the medium on
each side of the peltier, what temperature difference would I need to
have to power a small water pump to circulate the water round my CPU
cooler block?

In other words - could a cooling system be designed to actually
drive/power itself from the very heat it is trying to remove? Perhaps
convection would be required to start or subsedise the equation, but do
'we' think this is possible??

Could this be scaled up to drive a water pump for a small pool, driven by
a peltier that is powered by sun energy heating water on one side in a
black, heat absorbing tank and cold water from the pool on the other
side?


There are devices, that demonstrate the kind of temperature differential
and heat flux needed for decent power generation.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/gifts/pa...at=4,104,53221


Ahh - might as well forget it I think. If 170 degree difference is only
enough to drive a small, effecient fan, then water pumps are out of the
question for a 30-50 degree temperature difference! Looks like I'd be pushed
to drive a few LEDs with that!

Thanks for the links and info, but I'll give up that idea straight away!


 




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