Performance Evaluation and Optimization of Air-to-Air Thermoelectric Heat Pump System

Abstract: Thermoelectric (TE) heat pumps are a promising solid-state technology for space cooling and heating owing to their unique advantages such as environmental friendliness with no harmful refrigerants, small form factors, low noise, robustness with no moving parts, and demand-flexible operation. However, their low coefficient of performance (COP) presents a challenge towards broader adaptation of the technology at the market level. Built on our previous theoretical framework for a modular system design aimed at improving both COP and cooling capacity, this study focuses on experimental characterization and optimization of a unit air-to-air TE heat pump system. We employ double-sided heating/cooling and counterflow configuration for uniform heat transfer with TE modules and heat exchangers. System-level evaluations validate the theoretical model and show the variation of air temperature change and system COP with different electric current inputs and air flowrates. A maximum cooling COP of 4.4 and a maximum heating COP of 6.0 were obtained at optimized current levels. Further analysis shows that parasitic thermal resistances in the system significantly reduced both COP and air temperature change by over 50%.