Also of note, back when the TV show "Screen Savers" was actually worth
watching they would often overclock CPU's. As best I recall it was actually
a liquid system that they used to dissipate the greatest heat. So, while
these Peltier coolers may have some advantage (like no plumbing, external
radiator, leaks etc.) they likely are not the most efficient.
Years ago (like 25+ years ago) I bought a surplus "motel refrigerator." It
was externally about 14" square. Internally it was round (like a tube) and
the lower third was aluminum. About all it was good for was soda cans tilted
on the side and on "high" it barely cooled 3-5 of them down. I don't know if
this was a Peltier device, but it seemed to have plates and a fan to draw
heat from the lower external one. Not very efficient.
Science Fairs are often won by a number of criteria. Sometimes it's the
idea, the execution, the interview, the judges preference, or all combined.
Not to take anything away from these kids effort, but they seemed to be
applying a "different" though not "better" concept and that is what caught
the judges eyes. I'm sure Rob had the best of intentions in considering the
device for out Tigers, but with many things that seem to be too good to be
true............ .
Tom Witt
----- Original Message -----
From: "Theo Smit" <theo.smit@dynastream.com>
To: <tigers@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 2:03 PM
Subject: RE: New technology for A/C Retrofit
> Hi all,
> Looks like I was unnecessarily pessimistic on one count there... The basic
> raw efficiency of Peltier coolers (such as are used in high-performance
CPU
> cooling systems) is actually up in the 60% range - a 100 watt device will
> move about 60W of heat. However, they are basically just heat pumps that
> move the heat from one plate to a second plate that's about 4 mm (3/16")
> away. You still have to provide a heat sink on that side that can actually
> dump the 60 watts of heat you've removed, plus the 100 watts of power
> supplied to the cooler itself, overboard in some way. Now consider that
> instead of 60 watts, the typical air conditioning system probably has a
> couple of kilowatts of heat removal capacity...
>
> Theo
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