Performance Analysis of Water Cooled Thermoelectric Module TEC- 12715 Prashant Kumar Pathak Dr. Lokesh Boriwal Asso.Prof T.I.T Mains Hoshangabad Road,Bhopal Anand Nagar,Bhopal Abstract- Thermoelectric refrigeration system uses peltier effect to produce hot and cold ends at each of its junctions. Cold end is kept inside the cabinet to produce cooling effect inside that cabinet. Thermoelectric device can work either as a refrigeration system or as heat pump. This work presents an analysis of variation of temperature with respect to time for water cooled thermoelectric assembly. Here TEC-12715 thermoelectric module was used for cooling the refrigeration cabinet. The current was varied from 5A to 11A and time was noted for temperature to drop from ambient temperature to 10-15°C.Results showed that maximum decrease in temperature of polystyrene cabinet was observed when I=0.5Imax. Keywords: Thermoelectric module; TEC-12715; Peltier effect; Thermo electric refrigeration system; TEM I INTRODUCTION We generally use thermoelectric refrigeration system when cooling load on the system is less.For example, in designing a refrigeration system having capacity less than 1 TR (tones of refrigeration) thermoelectric refrigeration can be used.Thermoelectric refrigeration works on the principle of peltier effect.When two junctions are created by joining two different metals and a battery is connected to the circuit, one end is observed to be hot and other end is observed to be cold.This effect is known as peltier effect.A single-stage thermoelectric module can achieve a temperature difference up to 70°C.Thermoelectric modules comes in following categories such as TEC-12706,TEC- 12709,TEC12712,TEC-12715 and so on.Appropriate TEM is selected according to the application we have.Here TEC denotes thermoelectric 127 denotes no of P-N couples, 06 ,09,12 or 15 is the current in ampere. II LITERATURE REVIEW Sujith et al [1] carried out experimentation on 40 litre cooling chamber.Cooling chamber was to be maintained at 10°C to 15°C for a long duration.Thermoelectric device TEC-12706 was decided based upon the heat load calculated.Thermosiphon system was used for carrying away heat from hot side of the thermoelectric module.The lowest temperature achieved was 13°C at the time of 7.5 hours.Coefficient of performance (COP) came out to be 0.124 which is well below the COP of conventional refrigeration system. Manoj Kumar Rawat, Himadri Chattopadhyay & Subhasis Neogi [2] designed and developed an experimental thermoelectric refrigerator having a capacity of 1 Litre.Four numbers of super cool make thermoelectric cooling modules ( Imax=4 A, Vmax=7.8 A & Qmax=19 W) were selected on the basis of active and passive heat removal from thermoelectric refrigeration cabinet.The performance of single TEM was evaluated at 0.5Imax, 0.25Imax and 0.75Imax.Optimum performance was obtained at I=0.5Imax. That means temperature reduction at cold side of module was maximum when I =0.5Imax (i.e. I= 2 A).So at this optimized current of 2A four cases were studied.In first case performance of thermoelectric refrigeration was evaluated without any heat load inside the refrigeration cabinet.In 2 nd case 50 ml of water was taken inside the cabinet. In 3 rd case 75 ml of water was taken inside the cabinet.In 4 th case 100 ml of water was taken inside the cabinet.A temperature reduction of 11°C was observed without any heat load and 9°C with 100 ml of water inside the cabinet when the ambient temperature was 23°C in first 30 minutes.COP was found out to be 0.1 for 100 ml heat load condition. D. Astrain, J.G. Vian & M. Dominguez [3] developed a thermoelectric domestic refrigerator. Here heat dissipation from hot side of thermoelectric module was optimized resulting in increase of COP of thermoelectric refrigeration system.The heating effect produced by hot side of peltier plate is utilized to vaporize the liquid contained in the close chamber.Vapor on reaching the top side of container condenses on coming in contact of vertical fins and it again comes down in the container.This way self feed cycle continues.Using TSF reduces the thermal resistance between hot side of peltier pellet and chamber containing fluid.Here aim was to minimize the thermal resistance RdispTwo prototypes were built, one with traditional finned heat sink and other with phase change TSF device.An increase in COP was clearly observed when TSF was used in place of traditional finned heat sink III EXPERIMENTAL SET UP A Single Stage Water Cooled Thermoelectric Refrigeration System. Fig 1 depicts the CAD model of single stage water cooled thermoelectric refrigeration system.This CAD model was made in autodesk inventor.The single stage water cooled thermoelectric refrigeration system consists of a thermoelectric module TEC-12715,nitrile tape for insulation purposes,polystyrene sheet with 1.8cm thickness,a temperature sensor with thermocouple,a hollow water jek with one inlet and one outlet for chilled water flow,a reservoir,a chilled solution of ethylene glycol with water,an aluminium plate of 2mm thickness and size of R.K.D.F college Lecturer International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181 http://www.ijert.org IJERTV6IS040333 (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.) Published by : www.ijert.org Vol. 6 Issue 04, April-2017 257 Mr. Abhishek Singh Asst. Prof T.I.T Mains Anand Nagar,Bhopal