Peltier Questions
in [Hardware]
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From: GT on 16 Jun 2010 05:11 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?
From: kony on 16 Jun 2010 14:22 On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:11:50 +0100, "GT" <a(a)b.c> 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.
From: GT on 17 Jun 2010 04:41 "Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message news:hvbn0v$q5t$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > 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/page.aspx?c=&p=50246&cat=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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