So recently, I decided to get a Peltier cooler module, a heatsink, and an Arduino set for my school science project. The professor challenged us to cool a ice cube (a singular ice cube) in a cooler. So I would like to ask if A Peltier cooler module could manage its own with a heatsink to get to zero degrees? I would use the Audrino to regulate the temperature and control the Peltier Module. Is it possible? I have no clue. I went to get some links and here's what I found:
I still have no clue whether this works as they did not specify the model from the links. Below is the specs of what I have:
You need a heavy duty power 12V power supply and controller for the Peltier, and a fan for the heat sink. The first tutorial you linked is useless, the second one is not bad.
If you just want to go as cold as possible (or as hot as possible) you don't need "control". Just hook-up the power and see what happens. Experiment without the Arduino first to make sure you're getting enough cooling.
If you want to shut-off power (1) when you get below freezing, you can use the Arudino with a MOSFET driver and a temperature sensor. But of course the water won't freeze instantly and the colder you can go the faster it will freeze. I'd probably want the temperature probe in the water-ice and then shut it off when it gets a bit below freezing. (At 32 exactly degrees F you can have ice water... Some ice and some water.)
It will help to keep the hot-side cool. (A heatsink and a fan, or whatever). And it will help if you can insulate the cold-side to keep heat out.
It depends on the power (wattage). And I have no clue about what size/power of a Peltier you need... Theoretically, a small Peltier could do it and would just take longer to "pull" the heat out. But in the real world we don't have perfect insulation and heat is getting back-in. At some point you'll reach equilibrium and it won't go any colder. It also depends on ambient temperature. You aren't creating a "temperature", you are creating a temperature difference between the hot an cool side and between the ambient temperature.
(1) Normal thermostat-controlled heating/cooling systems work by cycling on & off. I'm sure you've noticed that with your home heater/furnace and you may hear your refrigerator cycling on & off. Your oven cycles too, but you may not notice it.
From what I remember about peltiers is that they will remove heat to about 20 degF below the ambient temperature. So you would need to have the ambient temperature in the upper 40's to low 50's to accomplish your task.
The specified maximum value of delta T only occurs when the peltier element does not transport any heat - a situation that does not occur in real-life cooling solutions. The actual delta T is a linear function of the power transferred through the thermal element, with negative slope.
No, I did not. That is perfectly obvious from the graph I posted.
Note from the graph that a delta T of 60 C is possible, with significant heat transfer, which often leads to the complete destruction of an inadequately heat-sinked Peltier module (see post #4).
Not sure what you mean. I never implied not using a heat sink. Another thing is the poster is using this to take a quantity of water from a liquid to a solid (latent heat). There are dynamics at play that do no apply to cooling a CPU (sensible heat). So I hope him the best. My experience in the medical lab industry is that we could not reliably get results for temperature differences over 15 degc.
Just hook-up the power and see what happens. Experiment without the Arduino first to make sure you're getting enough cooling.
. Thanks for the tutorial