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Project information

Development of Peltier effect-based air-conditioning equipment for buildings

F.L. Pagola A. Arenas R. Palacios R.R. Pecharromán J. Vázquez

December 2004 - December 2007

Funding entity Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia


This project attempts to develop improvements in the air-conditioning of buildings by means of the implementation of two kinds of thermoelectricity -based (Peltier effect) equipments. In the first class small devices are included, whose function is to improve the local temperature control; they are conceived to offset the effect of local thermal loads, or to address special needs. The second class consists of a window-glass surface with embedded thermoelectric devices that can be used to obtain thermal insulation or even be used as primary air-conditioning system.
Thermoelectricity offers the following assets for the envisioned applications: they are reversible, their efficiency does not drop in very small power situations, they can be accurately controlled by electronic means, have no moving parts and are quiet, they use no thermal fluids, have small size and weight, the equipments can be easily planned as standard units. On the other hand, thermoelectric air-conditioning systems are generally much less efficient than compression-based systems. This project proposes to research electronic control techniques that insure that the system will work always near the optimum operating point (as a function of temperature drop and thermal load).
The proposed objectives are: The development of prototypes of thermoelectric window-glass, to obtain from them experimental data and models of dynamic behavior, and the development of electric supply systems and electronic control. In parallel and in an analogous way, local air-conditioning equipment will be developed, experimental data and dynamic models will be obtained, and electric supply systems with electronic control will be developed.


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