Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [peltier]

The Peltier effect is a reversible physical process which is exploited in Peltier cooler/heater. The flow of current through this device pumps heat from one plate of the device to the other. This can be used to both heat and cool electronic components.

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How to drive a Peltier element?

Maybe the underlying question is what the Voltage-Current curve looks like. Can I drive it from a voltage source (like you drive a heater) or from a current source (like you drive an LED)? Or even different than those two options? ADDITIONAL1: Say…
jippie
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Can Peltier devices be cascaded?

Can Peltier devices be cascaded to create a bigger temperature difference? Like mounting one on top of anther one to increase the maximum difference from 60 degrees C to 120 degrees.
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Thermistor control of peltier voltage with Arduino (for DSLR chill box project)

I am mildly familiar with electronics, mostly from playing around with electronics kits as a kid. That was a long time ago, though, maybe as much as 20 years ago. I am currently working on a cold or "chill" box for my Canon 5D III, so I can keep…
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Are Peltier elements polarized?

I'm looking to add a Peltier element to one of my projects. However, I want to sometimes heat and sometimes cool, depending on the ambient temperatures on both sides of the element. Image from Wikimedia commons. My first thought was to use a…
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Is it worth to try making peltier based refrigerator?

I built a box from 5cm thick Styrofoam with outer dimensions 60x55x80cm. I wanted to use it as a fermentation chamber for home brew purposes. The reason why I did not choose regular (some used cheap) refrigerator is I need to have it in a small…
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What are the efficiency limits of the Peltier effect?

I understand that thermoelectric coolers are perhaps a quarter as efficient as heat pumps. Why? What is the source of this efficiency limit? What would have to change for thermoelectric coolers to be more efficient?
Stephen Collings
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Why peltier elements have smaller heatsink on cold side?

I have seen in nearly all configurations that Peltier elements are mounted with huge heat sinks on hot side as compared to tiny ones on small side. Is this just a way of explaining the need of heat sink on hot side? Or are there any real benefits of…
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Building a safe low-temperature heat box: heat sources

I'm not sure if this is more of a physics or electronics question, but here goes: I use a heatbox with a temperature in the range of 80-100F for warming wax (for sculpture modeling). My current heatbox is a Peltier-based thermoelectric wine cooler…
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How do electrons carry thermal energy in Peltier coolers?

I've read that when electrons enter from metal to semiconductor type N, they gain thermal energy and make that side cooler and the reverse happens when they leave semiconductor to the conductor. Why does this happen? How do electrons gain, hold,…
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Thermocouple array for generating free electrical energy?

Thermocouple is a material (junction between two different metals) which generates potential difference in terms of millivolts, isn't it? Why don't we create a matrix of thermocouples (many thermocouples which are connected in series and parallel)…
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Smoothing a High Current PWM

I am using a MOSFET to control the average voltage to a device by varying the duty cycle to the base as shown in the diagram below. My question is what is the best circuit to use in the "filter box" in order to "smooth" the PWM into its analogue…
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Is it possible to obtain very small Peltier modules with fast response times?

I have a thin 2x2 mm surface that I'm trying to cool by 5-10 degrees Celsius in 1 second or less. Some very rough back-of-the-envelope calculations reveal that I need to remove ~50 mJ of energy to do this. I've been thinking of using a Peltier…
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Corner of Peltier module is very hot

I've bought a generic TEC1-12706 Peltier module and I'm having trouble making it work. I wired it to a 12 volts DC, 8-amp power supply, and connected the hot side to a fan & heatsink with thermal grease. Turning it on, I noticed that condensation…
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How can I measure moisture on a conductive flat surface as an analog/digital value?

So as the title states, the question is: Is there a way to measure moisture on a electrically conductive flat surface? Optionally, it would be great if I could have an indication of the amount of moisture on the surface, preferably as an analog…
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Are peltier devices linear?

Say I've got a peltier block that is rated at 15.2V and 6A, providing 90W of cooling power to one side. Will I be able to operate it at 5V, and will it draw 2A, providing 30W of cooling power? EDIT: sorry, error above. :P brain was not working. 5V…
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