10.1007/s40095-021-00424-x

Thermoelectric building temperature control: a potential assessment

HTML PDF
  • Markus Hagenkamp*1,
  • Tobias Blanke1,
  • Bernd Döring1,
  1. FH Aachen, Aachen, 52066, DE
Cover Image

Published in Issue 2021-09-03

How to Cite

Hagenkamp, M., Blanke, T., & Döring, B. (2021). Thermoelectric building temperature control: a potential assessment. International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering, 13(1 (March 2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40095-021-00424-x
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

HTML views: 158

PDF views: 121

Abstract

Abstract This study focuses on thermoelectric elements (TEE) as an alternative for room temperature control. TEE are semi-conductor devices that can provide heating and cooling via a heat pump effect without direct noise emissions and no refrigerant use. An efficiency evaluation of the optimal operating mode is carried out for different numbers of TEE, ambient temperatures, and heating loads. The influence of an additional heat recovery unit on system efficiency and an unevenly distributed heating demand are examined. The results show that TEE can provide heat at a coefficient of performance (COP) greater than one especially for small heating demands and high ambient temperatures. The efficiency increases with the number of elements in the system and is subject to economies of scale. The best COP exceeds six at optimal operating conditions. An additional heat recovery unit proves beneficial for low ambient temperatures and systems with few TEE. It makes COPs above one possible at ambient temperatures below 0 ∘\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^\circ $$\end{document} C. The effect increases efficiency by maximal 0.81 (from 1.90 to 2.71) at ambient temperature 5 K below room temperature and heating demand Q˙h=100W\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\dot{Q}_h={100} W$$\end{document} but is subject to diseconomies of scale. Thermoelectric technology is a valuable option for electricity-based heat supply and can provide cooling and ventilation functions. A careful system design as well as an additional heat recovery unit significantly benefits the performance. This makes TEE superior to direct current heating systems and competitive to heat pumps for small scale applications with focus on avoiding noise and harmful refrigerants.

Keywords

  • Thermoelectric,
  • TEC,
  • Heat pump,
  • Optimization,
  • Heating,
  • Heat recovery
HTML PDF

References

  1. StatistischesBundesamt: Baugenehmigungen, baufertigstellungen: Lange reihen bis 2019 (14.07.2020)
  2. waermepumpen.info: Luft-wasser-wärmepumpe.
  3. https://www.waermepumpen.info/luft-wasser
  4. Hudelson (1960) Thermoelectric air conditioning of totally enclosed environments 79(6) (pp. 460-468) https://doi.org/10.1109/EE.1960.6432652
  5. Stivers (1964) Radioisotope thermoelectric space power supplies 2(2) (pp. 652-660) https://doi.org/10.1109/TA.1964.4319650
  6. Martorana (1975) Thermoelectric temperature control of instrumentation—a sample design (pp. 69-75) https://doi.org/10.1109/TIECI.1975.351224
  7. Sootsman et al. (2009) New and old concepts in thermoelectric materials 48(46) (pp. 8616-8639) https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200900598
  8. Zhao and Tan (2014) A review of thermoelectric cooling: materials, modeling and applications 66(1–2) (pp. 15-24) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.01.074
  9. Freer and Powell (2020) Realising the potential of thermoelectric technology: a roadmap 8(2) (pp. 441-463) https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TC05710B
  10. Lamba et al. (2018) Geometric optimization of trapezoidal thermoelectric heat pump considering contact resistances through genetic algorithm 42(2) (pp. 633-647) https://doi.org/10.1002/er.3845
  11. Saini et al. (2021) Cost-performance trade-off in thermoelectric air conditioning system with graded and constant material properties https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.110931
  12. Zechner, L., Schoberer, T., Schuh, S., Weyr, J., Stutterecker, W.: Analysis of thermoelectric heat pumps for applications in buildings (2018)
  13. Mannella et al. (2014) Peltier cells as temperature control elements: experimental characterization and modeling 63(1) (pp. 234-245) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2013.10.069
  14. Dehra (2019) Cooling load and noise characterization modeling for photovoltaic driven building integrated thermoelectric cooling devices https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/201912801019
  15. Ma et al. (2019) Building integrated thermoelectric air conditioners–a potentially fully environmentally friendly solution in building services https://doi.org/10.5334/fce.76
  16. Shen et al. (2016) A study on thermoelectric technology application in net zero energy buildings (pp. 9-24) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.07.038
  17. Baheta et al. (2019) Thermoelectric air-conditioning system: Building applications and enhancement techniques 27(02) https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010132519300027
  18. Dizaji et al. (2019) Novel experiments on cop improvement of thermoelectric air coolers (pp. 328-338) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2019.03.025
  19. Matuška et al. (2019) Experimental assessment of the façade-integrated thermoelectric air-conditioning unit towards development of the autonomous curtain walling module https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/290/1/012080
  20. Anthony Ademola, A.: Theoretical and experimental analysis of a thermoelectric air-conditioning system. In: T. Morosuk, M. Sultan (eds.) Low-temperature Technologies. IntechOpen (2020).
  21. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88664
  22. Cheon et al. (2019) Applicability of thermoelectric heat pump in a dedicated outdoor air system (pp. 244-262) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.012
  23. Cosnier et al. (2008) An experimental and numerical study of a thermoelectric air-cooling and air-heating system 31(6) (pp. 1051-1062) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2007.12.009
  24. Irshad et al. (2015) Performance analysis of a thermoelectric air duct system for energy-efficient buildings (pp. 1009-1017) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.08.102
  25. Irshad et al. (2020) An IoT-based thermoelectric air management framework for smart building applications: a case study for tropical climate 12(4) https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041564
  26. Cheng et al. (2011) Development of an energy-saving module via combination of solar cells and thermoelectric coolers for green building applications 36(1) (pp. 133-140) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.10.061
  27. Luo et al. (2016) Thermal performance evaluation of an active building integrated photovoltaic thermoelectric wall system (pp. 25-39) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.087
  28. Khire et al. (2005) Design of thermoelectric heat pump unit for active building envelope systems 48(19–20) (pp. 4028-4040) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2005.04.028
  29. Lim and Jeong (2020) Numerical and experimental study on the performance of thermoelectric radiant panel for space heating https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13030550
  30. Thermodynamics, E.: Datasheet aph-199-14-08-e.
  31. https://www.europeanthermodynamics.com/products/peltier-cooler/peltier-cooler/Thermoelectric-cooler-module-single-stage-165W
  32. Buderus: Katalog teil 4 – heizflächen und zubehör – 2017.
  33. https://www.heizungsdiscount24.de/pdf/Buderus-Flachheizkoerper-Logatrend-C-Profil-Katalog.pdf
  34. B. Brunnengräber, T. Loga: Jahresdauerlinien für Niedrigenergiesiedlungen: Gemessene Tagesganglinien als Grundlage für die Auslegung von Blockheizkraftwerken. Darmstadt (1996)
  35. Thomson, W.: 4. on a mechanical theory of thermo-electric currents. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
  36. 3
  37. , 91–98 (1857).
  38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0370164600027310
  39. Delta-Q: Energetische gebäudeklassen.
  40. http://www.delta-q.de/export/sites/default/de/downloads/energetische_gebaeudeklassen.pdf
  41. Teertstra et al. (2000) Analytical forced convection modeling of plate fin heat sinks 10(04) (pp. 253-261) https://doi.org/10.1142/S0960313100000320