Study on the Cooling Performance and Thermal Comfort of a Thermoelectric Ceiling Cooling Panel System

Abstract

The cooling performance and thermal comfort of a thermoelectric ceiling cooling panel (TE-CCP) was investigated for this paper. The TE-CCP was composed of 36 TE modules. The cold side of the TE modules was fixed to an aluminum-ceiling panel to cool a test chamber of 4.5m3 volume, while a copper heat exchanger with circulating cooling water at the hot side of the TE modules was used for heat release. Tests were conducted using various system parameters. It was found that the cooling performance of the system depended on the electrical supply, cooling water temperature, and flow rate through the heat exchanger. Thermal acceptability assessment was performed to find out whether the resultant indoor environment met the ASHRAE Standard-55's 80% acceptability criteria. A suitable condition was measured at 1 A of current flow with a corresponding cooling capacity of 201.6 W, which gives a Coefficient of Performance of 0.82 for an average indoor temperature of 27°C and 0.8 m·s -1 indoor air velocity.