What is ThermoElectric Cooling (TEC) aka TEM chiller

[jeffteo]

Have been reading about the efficiency of TEM chiller vs power consumption and found that by stacking the Peltier modules(used in TEM chiller), you can get actually very low temperature of even below 0 degree Celsius. But or course at the cost of more electricity consumption.

So if you are wondering if you should get a coolant based chiller or a TEM based chiller or simply interested of how TEM in your TEM chiller works, read on.

Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other side against the temperature gradient (from cold to hot), with consumption of electrical energy. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC). The Peltier device is a heat pump: When DC current runs through it, heat is moved from one side to the other. Therefore it can be used either for heating or for cooling (refrigeration), although in practice the main application is cooling. It can also be used as a temperature controller that either heats or cools.

As a refrigeration technology, it is far less common than vapor-compression refrigeration. The main advantages of a Peltier cooler (compared to a vapor-compression refrigerator) are its lack of moving parts or circulating liquid, and its small size and flexible shape (form factor). Its main disadvantage is that it cannot simultaneously have low cost and high power efficiency. Many researchers and companies are trying to develop Peltier coolers that are both cheap and efficient.

Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling

Peltier coolers feature thermoelectric coolers based on the Peltier effect. The given effect was named after a French watchmaker Jean Charles Athanase Peltier (1785-1845.), who discovered it in 1834.

If you put a drop of water in the hollow on the joint of 2 semiconductors Sb and Bi, and switch on the current, the drop would freeze (with the reverse direction of the current the drop would melt). This is how Peltier effect works.

Quoted from http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/peltiercoolers/

[tawauboy]

with peltier chiller, you are looking at 5~8% efficiency.
refrigerant chillers offer typical efficiencies of 40+%.