TEC Basics - Do they need to be driven?

[cilegray]

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[shintashi]

do you think something like aluminum fins on the hot side might allow it to dissipate heat faster? Sort of like you have a 40x40mm surface area that's getting cooled and an equal surface getting hot, but then you put a larger surface area on the hot side so it could lose heat faster?

ive just been wondering if you could go
heat source | copper heat sink | TEC cold side | TEC hotside | finned aluminum

 

[rhd]

do you think something like aluminum fins on the hot side might allow it to dissipate heat faster? Sort of like you have a 40x40mm surface area that's getting cooled and an equal surface getting hot, but then you put a larger surface area on the hot side so it could lose heat faster?

ive just been wondering if you could go
heat source | copper heat sink | TEC cold side | TEC hotside | finned aluminum

Yep - but I think you would be better off going:
heat source | TEC cold side | TEC hotside | finned copper heat sink

 

[cilegray]

Not sure i understand your question exactly..... And replying from a phone so bear with me. 10 or so years ago i was using a 80ish watt TEC to supercool an amd athlon x2..... And it went cpu/TEC/waterblock... Using a radiator and pump to cool the hotside to room temp, the cold side would get down to around -30 celcius... Effectively bringing my cpu temps to around -17. The only problem about supplying too much cooling to a tec is that you start running into condensation and ice crystals... Hope that gives you a little insight

 

[lazeristasUVISIR]

ive just been wondering if you could go
heat source | copper heat sink | TEC cold side | TEC hotside | finned aluminum

It depends how much heat is generated by the source + by the TEC. The worst case just put a fan on your fins.

Copper close to the heat source is good, as it spreads heat over a larger area thus a larger TEC (Peltier) can be used.

 

[LASER66]

RHD
I have run them using LM317 type drivers. One can buy fancy controllers with +/- 0.01 deg C regualtion capability- closed loop. I have current limited the units at lower voltages, say 3 or 5 volts. Depending on the application, you can kick in some current to remove a general amount of heat to keep whatever it is you are cooling to a general temperature this way. Open Loop. Nice thing about them is they work in two directions: heating and cooling. I have some CPU type units with 30mm X30mm TEC with 256 elements including heat sinks listed on my components page (LPF page: see Sig.) Mine are about 40 watts as a reference.

 

[tsteele93]

I was hoping to find a tec plate that could be rolled around a module. Or a cylindrical one. My thinking was to put one in a host around the diode/module and cool the diode side and send the heat outwards to the sink/host.


I assume the round ones here are not cooling the inner diameter and sending the heat to the od.

Anyone ever see anything like this?

If you could do a cylindrical (or roll your own) you could conceivably run an unlimited cycle on a portable no matter what power you were using.

SuntekStore - THE solution for small TECs. Great find

EDIT:
http://www.suntekstore.com/search.p...hcmNoX2VuY29kZV90aW1lIjtpOjEzMjYyMTA0OTI7fQ==

CHeck these out!

http://customthermoelectric.com/mini-tecs.html

 

[amkdeath]

The new stuff!! Constant Current Source #1

My apologies, I am in class as I type so I didn't read the whole thread. In case it hasn't been posted already, the link above is very helpful. I am using a modified version of circuit #5 with an arduino to run an adjustable TEC, there are versions of the circuit in there that do not require a micro-controller or are just plain "bang bang" circuits.

Also, peltiers do not like sudden changes in current, so if you are doing a PWM sort of deal make sure you're using a high enough frequency.

Regards,

amk