Home Improvements & Air Conditioning » Home Air Conditioning » Solid state air conditioners
Solid state air conditioners
Question:
I know that you can buy small refrigerators that have a solid state cooling unit… essentially a PN junction (like a diode) which, when charged, gets warm on one end and cool on the other. I don’t know the details, but I suppose it is transferring the heat from one end to the other. This unit is then mounted so that the cool side is in the refrigerator box and the warm side faces outside, with a small fan blowing on it. I’ve heard that these units work pretty well. Also, by reversing the polarity, you can make the refrigerator into a box which will keep things hot. Anyway, can this principle be applied to home air conditioning? The PN cooling unit would certainly need to be much larger. What if there were small window units which would consist of the cooling unit, and two fans (one to circulate the indoor air, and one to cool the outdoor ‘hot’ side. Since we would be converting electrical energy directly into thermal, I would imagine that it would be more efficient than the current air conditioners which convert energy from electrical, to mechanical, to thermal. Are there any such solid state air conditioners out there?
Response:
it’s called peltier. they don’t work very well, given that the hot and cold sides are so close together. see http://www.webconx.com/thermoelectric.htm — Steve Spence Subscribe to the Renewable Energy Newsletter: http://www.webconx.com/subscribe.htm Renewable Energy Pages – http://www.webconx.com Palm Pilot Pages – http://www.webconx.com/palm X10 Home Automation – http://www.webconx.com/x10 (212) 894-3704 x3154 – voicemail/fax We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. —
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I know that you can buy small refrigerators that have a solid state cooling unit… essentially a PN junction (like a diode) which, when charged, gets warm on one end and cool on the other. I don’t know the details, but I suppose it is transferring the heat from one end to the other. This unit is then mounted so that the cool side is in the refrigerator box and the warm side faces outside, with a small fan blowing on it. I’ve heard that these units work pretty well. Also, by reversing the polarity, you can make the refrigerator into a box which will keep things hot. Anyway, can this principle be applied to home air conditioning? The PN cooling unit would certainly need to be much larger. What if there were small window units which would consist of the cooling unit, and two fans (one to circulate the indoor air, and one to cool the outdoor ‘hot’ side. Since we would be converting electrical energy directly into thermal, I would imagine that it would be more efficient than the current air conditioners which convert energy from electrical, to mechanical, to thermal. Are there any such solid state air conditioners out there?
Response:
No …. not very efficient as yet , not enough for airconditioning. Littlefish
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I know that you can buy small refrigerators that have a solid state cooling unit… essentially a PN junction (like a diode) which, when charged, gets warm on one end and cool on the other. I don’t know the details, but I suppose it is transferring the heat from one end to the other. This unit is then mounted so that the cool side is in the refrigerator box and the warm side faces outside, with a small fan blowing on it. I’ve heard that these units work pretty well. Also, by reversing the polarity, you can make the refrigerator into a box which will keep things hot. Anyway, can this principle be applied to home air conditioning? The PN cooling unit would certainly need to be much larger. What if there were small window units which would consist of the cooling unit, and two fans (one to circulate the indoor air, and one to cool the outdoor ‘hot’ side. Since we would be converting electrical energy directly into thermal, I would imagine that it would be more efficient than the current air conditioners which convert energy from electrical, to mechanical, to thermal. Are there any such solid state air conditioners out there?
Response:
The efficiency of these units has not appeared to have improved at all since first released 15 years ago. — – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – No …. not very efficient as yet , not enough for airconditioning. Littlefish
Response:
The efficiency of these units has not appeared to have improved at all since first released 15 years ago.
Wait another 15, then look for "skutterites." Nick
Response:
Related Posts
Categories: Home Air Conditioning | 
No Comments »