Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 822–828

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Design and experimental investigation of a novel thermoelectric water

dispenser unit
Ahmet Çağlar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Akdeniz University, 07058 Antalya, Turkey

H I G H LI G H TS

• Novel TE water dispenser unit is used for water cooling/heating simultaneously.

• Polyethylene wall for water tanks shows better thermal performance than glass wall.
• Insulation of tanks has a significant enhancement in COP especially on heating side.
• Less power consumption of TE module yields higher thermal performance values.
• COP evaluation proves TE water dispenser to be competitive with conventional types.

A RT I C L E I N F O A BS T RA CT

Keywords: In this study, a novel thermoelectric water dispenser unit is proposed to supply cold and hot drinking water
Thermoelectric effect simultaneously. For this purpose, the heat sinks attached to the cold and hot surfaces of a Peltier module are
Peltier element
placed into the cold and hot water tanks of the thermoelectric water dispenser. Supplying power to the ther-
Heating-cooling
moelectric module, the cold water tank is cooled while the hot water tank is heated at the same time. The cooling
Water dispenser
and heating performances of the system are examined for three cases: the tanks made of glass walls without
insulation; the tanks made of polyethylene walls without insulation: and the tanks made of polyethylene walls
with insulation. Results show that water tanks with polyethylene walls have better thermal performance than
those with glass walls. Furthermore, insulation of the tanks has a significant enhancement in COP especially on
the heating side. Results of this study also indicate that TE water dispenser can compete with conventional types,
with the advantages of being environment-friendly, smaller, silent and operable with renewable energy sources.

1. Introduction In 1822, German physicist Seebeck [1] discovered a magnetic field,

Researches on alternative energy technologies and conversion of
waste heat into useful work have accelerated to reduce fossil fuel
consumption. One of the research topics that has become increasingly
interesting in recent years is thermoelectric (TE) elements. TE effect is a
phenomenon in which a temperature difference or heat transfer occurs
due to the passage of electric current through a junction between two
different semiconductors, and vice versa. This effect is defined as the
Seebeck, Peltier or Thomson effect depending on the conversion type of
the energy. TE elements are widely used for cooling purposes but also
for heating purposes. TE elements have the advantages of being en-
vironment-friendly, compact, less space need, long life, no moving
parts, silent operation and no maintenance requirement. However, their
applications are limited due to their lower energy conversion effi-
ciencies than those for the other well-known methods.
which could turn a compass needle, and correspondingly an electric
field occurred between two different metals held at different tempera-
tures. Peltier [1] observed that this effect was also in the opposite di-
rection, that is, when a voltage is applied to different metals, a tem-
perature difference occurs. Altenkirch [2] described thermoelectric
figure of merit and stated that ideal thermoelectric materials should
have high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity.
There are many studies on TE elements both theoretically and ex-
perimentally in the literature [3–5]. Takahashi et al. [6] used a multi-
layered TE pipe made of BST/Ni material as the tube of a shell and tube
type heat exchanger and obtained both a more efficient heat exchanger
and high power generation by the TE device. Zebarjadi [7] proposed
the use of TE materials with high thermal conductivity and power factor
instead of traditional high-efficient TE materials in electronic cooling.
He et al. [8] developed a PV-assisted system that could make space

E-mail address: acaglar@akdeniz.edu.tr.

https ://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.11.028
Received 16 February 2018; Received in revised form 7 October 2018; Accepted 7 November 2018
Available online 07 November 2018
1359-4311/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Çağlar Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 822–828

823
A. Çağlar
heating in winter and space cooling and water heating in summer using
a thermoelectric device.
The cooling performance of TE cooler has been investigated by
several authors in different modes experimentally and theoretically
[9,10]. Chen et al. [11] investigated the optimization of heat transfer
area allocation of four heat exchangers for maximizing the cooling load
and the coefficient of performance (COP) of a combined TE generator-
refrigerator device. Modified pulse operation of TE cooler for building
cooling was proposed by Manikandan et al. [12] and it could provide a
COP value of 1.01, which was higher than the normal mode of opera-
tion. Soprani et al. [13] used a topology optimization model to optimize
the design of a TE cooler for different operating conditions and to de-
fine the optimal working conditions of the system and they applied the
new methodology on an electronics unit. Dişlitaş et al. [14] developed a
parabola algorithm to determine maximum current, voltage and thermo
emf, and hence the performance of TE modules, based on measure-
ments of temperature, current and voltage. Tipsaenporm et al. [15]
performed an application of a direct evaporative cooling system for
improving the performance of a compact TE air conditioner, they
achieved 40.6% increase in the cooling capacity, and 20.9% increase in
the COP. Tan et al. [16] proposed a TE cooling system integrated with
phase change material (PCM) for space cooling such that PCM stored
cold thermal energy at night and functioned as a heat sink to reduce hot
side temperature of TE modules during day-time cooling period and
thus increased the COP of the system from 0.5 to 0.78. An experimental
performance analysis of mini-channel water cooled-TE refrigerator for
different voltages and flow rates was presented by Gökçek et al. [17]. In
another study on water-cooled TE cooler, effect of water mass flow rate
on performance is investigated using temperature control strategies
under severe environment for prevent condensation and saving energy
[18]. Heat dissipation mechanisms employed to remove waste heat
from the cold side of a TE device were reviewed and summarized by
Sajid et al. [19]. Joshi et al. [20] developed a TE fresh water generator
for the people in coastal and humid regions with relative humidity
above 60% having scarcity of drinking water. An efficient thermo-
electric distillation system was designed and constructed for production
of drinkable water [21]. Yıldırım et al. investigated experimentally a
portable desalination unit using a TE cooler [22].
Commercial TE devices are generally operated in the longitudinal
mode such that the heat flow is parallel to the electrical current.
Transverse TE devices, on the other hand, can produce thermoelectric
effects in which the electrical and thermal flows are perpendicular to
one another [23–25]. Qian et al. [26] examined cooling performance of
a hypothetical transverse TE device and concluded that transverse re-
frigerators might offer higher cooling capacity with some sacrifice in
COP when compared to their longitudinal counterparts. Reitmaier et al.
[28] compared the performances of transverse and conventional long-
itudinal thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and they have pointed out that the
performance of transverse TEC made of metal semiconductors as mul-
tilayered is lower than that of conventional longitudinal TEC made of n-
and p-type semiconductors, but transverse TEC devices are more com-
pact, smaller and have a more easily accessible hot/cold sample surface.
In this study, Peltier element is applied on a water dispenser unit
that is used frequently for hot and cold drinking water supply in public
places. Peltier elements are generally used for a single purpose: cooling
or heating. Cooling applications can be reviewed as follows. A nano-
fluid cooled multiport minichannel heat exchanger coupled with ther-
moelectric cooler is designed for cooling the electronic devices [28].
Results showed that cooling of the TE module by nanofluid gived lower
water cabin temperatures and higher COP values than that by pure
water. To improve the energy conversion efficiency of TE cooling
system, TE module is combined with water-cooling to reject heat from
the hot side effectively [29]. It was reported that minimum water
temperature could be obtained by increasing the electrical current input
and decreasing the heat sink thermal resistance for a TE cooler using
water as refrigerated object [30]. Heating applications can be reviewed
824
Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 822–828
as follows. Zang et al. [31] developed a solar TE cogenerator that can
perform both heating and electricity generation. Allouhi et al. [32]
performed a theoretical analysis of a TE heating system for an office
room and obtained 64% reduction in energy use as compared to the
conventional electric heater. An open-type TE space heating system
with multiple channels is developed by Liu et al. [33] and they ob-
served 1.3 heating COP. There are few works on both cooling and
heating by TE modules. 5.0 and 1.0 heating and cooling COPs were
achieved respectively in the performance analysis of a TE air heating/
cooling unit at different TEC voltages and fan speeds [34]. The potential
application of TE heating/cooling system for residential buildings is
studied using 16 TE modules [35]. TE radiant heating/cooling panel is
used for air-conditioning systems [36]. PV TE cooling/heating system is
proposed for gaining space cooling and hot water simultaneously [37].
A TE module is operated in the combination of water cooling and
heating modes [38]. Hot and cold streams are used to circulate water
through the heat sinks clamped together both sides of TE module and
passes through the hot and cold water tanks respectively, so a combined
thermoelectric heater and cooler is achieved for the first time. The total
COP (heating + cooling COP) of 4.5 is obtained and drawback of high
temperature difference between module surfaces is discussed in the
study. As seen in the literature, only cooling or only heating applica-
tions are generally performed and a few studies are carried out on si-
multaneous heating/cooling application. Furthermore, most of these
applications are generally based on air conditioning. Simultaneous
water heating/cooling application is encountered only in Ref. [38]. In
that study, water is circulated through the surfaces of TE module and
rejects/takes heat to/from the tanks using HXs. It did not cover water
tanks contacting directly with TE module as in case of a water dispenser
unit. This study is unique as it covers simultaneous water heating/
cooling in separate tanks supplying conditioned drinking water as a
water dispenser. In the study, a novel water dispenser unit is proposed
by applying a Peltier element on the hot and cold sides of a portable
water dispenser. In conventional water dispenser systems, a compressor
and resistance heater are used for cooling and heating of the water
inside the cold and hot water tanks, respectively. In this study, how-
ever, both cooling and heating of water are performed simultaneously
by using the cold and hot surfaces of a single TE device. Since TE ele-
ment is more compact and smaller, a system that is smaller, lighter and
therefore more portable than a traditional water dispenser system is
obtained. TE water dispenser is also a cleaner production due to having
no any refrigerant. Furthermore, since the surface temperature of a
thermoelectric device is directly proportional to the input of electricity,
the temperature of the system can be controlled easily and precisely. In
addition, since water dispensers require low powers, it is also possible
to develop a PV-assisted TE water dispenser unit, which can be driven
by the electricity generated from PV installed on the top and sides of the
system. As a clean energy technology without air and noise pollution,
and being different from conventional types, the novel TE water dis-
penser enables the production of hot and cold drinking water and will
find widespread utilization in public spaces. So, the current study can
be a first step in implementing TE modules in new thermal applications
like instant water conditioning and can lead to new designs and in-
vestigations in this area.
In the study, variations of temperatures of cold and hot water tanks,
power consumption of Peltier element and cooling/heating perfor-
mances of the system have been investigated for three cases. Case I, II
and III define the use of glass walls without insulation, polyethylene
walls without insulation and polyethylene walls with insulation re-
spectively for the prototype. The water temperatures and performances
for each of the cases are evaluated and compared with each other.
2. Material and method
The main components of the TE water dispenser unit are the Peltier
cooler, cold and hot water reservoirs and power supply that supplies
A. Çağlar Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 822–828

825
A. Çağlar
Fig. 1. Schematic of TE water dispenser unit.
electricity at the appropriate voltage (12 V). Since the rest of the water
dispenser design (package, taps, water supply etc.) is only concerned
with configuration, safety and control, the other components are out of
scope of the study. The schematic of the system is shown in Fig. 1. A
prototype is designed and manufactured to test the system for each of
the three different cases: the reservoirs made of glass walls without
insulation; the reservoirs made of polyethylene walls without insula-
tion: and the reservoirs made of polyethylene walls with insulation. A
series of experiments are conducted for each cases, and measurements
are recorded. The main components and assembled situation of the
system are explained in the following sections in detail.
2.1. Peltier element
In the system, 12 V (max 6 A) 4 × 4 cm Peltier element is used. The
view and technical specifications of the Peltier element used are given
in Fig. 2. When electricity is applied, one surface of the Peltier element
heats while the other surface cools depending on the phase connection.
Thus, a temperature difference between the surfaces occur depending
on the physical properties of two thermoelectric materials in the Peltier
element. GW Instek GPS-3030DD DC power supply is used to provide
constant voltage for the TE device.
2.2. Heat sinks (Fins)
Heat sinks are mounted on both sides of the Peltier element to in-
crease the amount of heat transferred from the surfaces to the water.
The 6 × 6 cm fins made of aluminum material are placed on the sur-
faces of the Peltier element using thermal paste, so the contact re-
sistance between the fins and the surfaces is therefore minimized. The
views of the heat sink and thermal paste are given in Fig. 3. The thermal
paste used has a thermal conductivity of 5.6 W/(mK).
2.3. Hot and cold water tanks
Top and bottom walls and three sides of the water tanks are made of
glass in the first prototype. The other wall on which the Peltier element
is mounted is made of polyethylene. Polyethylene plate has the
Fig. 2. View and technical specifications of the Peltier element.
826
Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 822–828
Fig. 3. (a) Heat sink; (b) Thermal paste used in the system.
advantages of −50 to 90 °C temperature resistance, no microorganism
formation, impermeable, low thermal conductivity. Using separate
polyethylene plates, the hot and cold water tanks were isolated from
each other, thus preventing heat transfer between the tanks. The cold
and hot sides of the Peltier element are embedded in the middle of the
polyethylene plates. The heat sinks, however, remain in contact with
water in the tanks. Thus, heat is transferred from the hot surface of the
Peltier element to the fin and then from the fin to the water on the
heating side, while heat is transferred from the water to the fin and then
from the fin to the cold surface of the Peltier element on the cooling
side. In the second and third prototypes, all walls of the water tanks are
3
made of polyethylene plates. The size of the tanks is 10 × 15 × 15 cm .
2.4. Liquid seal and silicone
Silicone is used to assemble the glass or polyethylene walls to each
other, thus sealing is achieved. Heat-resistant silicone is chosen due to
its steady properties at high temperatures. As the polyethylene plates
are combined with the Peltier element, liquid seal with high adhesive
power and high freezing rate is used, so a good heat insulation as well
as sealing are obtained.
2.5. Measurement devices
Type T Copper-Constantan thermocouples are used to measure the
water temperatures in the experiments. These thermocouples can
measure temperatures between −200 °C and 300 °C with ± 0.5 °C ac-
curacy. Temperatures at five different points (see Fig. 1) inside the
tanks are measured. Temperature measurement points are determined
such a way that the mean of the measurements represent the mean of
the water temperature inside the tanks. For this purpose, each tank
volume is considered to have five sections and each section is re-
presented by the following points: the center of the tank, the midpoint
of the water cross section adjacent to the bottom surface of the tank,
near the outlet of the water (near taps), the midpoint of the water cross
section adjacent to one of the other parallel sides of the tank and near to
the heat sink. The average of the five temperature readings is taken as
the temperature of the corresponding water tank. In addition, the
Technical Specifications:
• Model : TEC1-12706
• Dimensions : 4 x 4 x 0.38 cm
• Feed Voltage : 12V
• Vmax (V) : 15V
• Imax (A) : 4-6 A
• Max. Power (W) : 72 W
• Feed cable length : 30 cm
• Weigth : 22 g
• Color : White
Fig. 4. (a) Power supply; (b) Type T thermocouple; (c) Digital oscilloscope; (d) Data logger.
surface temperature of the heat sinks are checked for maintaining the
Peltier element at appropriate operating conditions. All temperature
measurements are collected and stored by Elimko E-680 data logger
seen in Fig. 4.
Voltage and current supplied to the Peltier during the experiments
are measured by a digital oscilloscope. While the voltage is measured
directly, the current is measured by using a shunt resistor. As known,
input current changes depending on the voltage applied to the Peltier
element and temperature difference between the hot and cold surfaces.
For an accurate measurement, instantaneous changes are determined
by the oscilloscope. The average power consumption by the Peltier
element is calculated using the accurate measurements for the time
intervals selected. The views of DC power supply, thermocouples, di-
gital oscilloscope and data logger are given in Fig. 4.
3. Results and discussion
The view of the first prototype of the system proposed is given in
Fig. 5. The Peltier element is placed between the hot and cold water
tanks. The fins are attached to both surfaces of the Peltier element.
Tests are performed for three different cases. In Case I, all the walls of
the tanks are made of glass except for the walls where the Peltier ele-
ment is mounted. No insulation is applied to the walls. In Case II, all the
walls are made of polyethylene plates and not insulated. In Case III, the
walls are made of polyethylene plates and insulated. During the ex-
periments, the temperatures of hot and cold water tanks and ambient
temperature are measured and their changes over time were recorded.
The maximum hot water temperature and minimum cold water tem-
perature obtained from the system are determined for each case.
A series of experiments were conducted with the experimental
setup. Temperatures (from 5 points for each tank) and total power
consumption, calculated by accurate readings of instantaneous voltage
and current values, are recorded with 5-min time intervals during 1 h.
Initial water temperature for each cases is taken as 20 °C which is the
temperature of tap water. The volume of the water put into the tanks is
2 L for each.
The data obtained for the prototype made of uninsulated glass walls
is given in Fig. 6 for Case I. As seen in Fig. 6, the temperature of the hot
water storage tank increases linearly at the beginning. The increase in
the temperature slows down after a certain time. After 60 min, the hot
water tank reaches 47.2 °C. The temperature of the cold water tank
Fig. 5. First prototype.
Cold tank temp. 60
60 Hot tank temp.
Power Consumption (W)
Ambient temp. 55
50 Power Consumption
Temperature (oC)
50
40
45
30
40
20 35
10 30
0 25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time (minutes)
Fig. 6. Variation of temperatures and power consumption with time for glass-
wall prototype without insulation (Case I).
decreases slowly with time and temperature gradients are smaller than
that in the hot water tank. The cold water tank temperature decreases
to 5.6 °C after 60 min. It can be concluded that the hot side of Peltier
element is performing more efficiently than the cold side for the spe-
cified conditions and simultaneous heating/cooling processes. On the
other hand, the power consumption of the Peltier element decreases
with time. During the experiments, it is observed that the amount of
current drawn by the Peltier element decreases with increasing tem-
perature difference between its surfaces when a constant voltage is
applied. For this reason, the power consumption decreases with in-
creasing temperature difference. The power consumption varies from
56.7 W to 36.6 W while the temperature difference between the hot and
cold water tanks varies from 0 to 41.6 °C. The reason for this is the fact
that both heating and cooling capacities decreases with the increasing
temperature difference of the Peltier sides.
In Case II, the walls of the tanks are all made of polyethylene plates.
The building material of the model, which is a design condition, has
been changed keeping the tanks’ volumes and Peltier element the same
and maintaining the system uninsulated. Using the same initial tem-
perature (20 °C), variation of temperatures inside the water tanks and
the power consumption of the Peltier element is investigated. The ob-
servation results are shown in Fig. 7.
As seen Fig. 7, temperature gradients for both heating and cooling
sides are higher than in Case I. Using polyethylene plates instead of
glass, the temperature of the cold water decreases down to 4.1 °C in the
cooling side, while the temperature of the hot water increases up to
50.1 °C in the heating side in the period of 60 min. In the both sides, so
the cooling and heating sides, the temperature gradients are higher at
beginning of the processes, then the gradient decreases with time. This
is actually due to the decrease in heating/cooling capacities and COP of
the Peltier element with increasing temperature difference between the
hot and cold sides. When comparing with Case I, in Case II the cold
water temperature is reduced by 1.5 °C more than in Case I, while the
hot water temperature is increased by 2.9 °C more than in Case I. On the
other hand, the power consumption of the Peltier element varies from
48.7 W to 32.7 W during 60-min period. Power consumptions seem to
be lower than in Case I depending on the higher temperature differ-
ences in Case II since more temperature difference between the hot and
 Cold tank temp. 60 60
60 Hot tank temp. 60

Pwoer Consumption (W)

Power Consumption (W)

Ambient temp. 55 55
50 Power Consumption 50

Temperature (oC)
Temperature (oC)

50 Cold tank temp. 50

Hot tank temp.
40 40
45 Ambient temp. 45
Power Consumption
30 30
40 40
20 35 20
35

10 30 10 30

0 25 0 25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time (minutes) Time (minutes)
Fig. 7. Variation of temperatures and power consumption with time for poly- Fig. 9. Variation of temperatures and power consumption with time for poly-
ethylene-wall prototype without insulation (Case II). ethylene-wall prototype with insulation (Case III).

cold surfaces results in less power consumption. Consequently, less QC = 0.5R o I 2

power consumptions with higher cooling/heating rates yields higher
COPC/COPH values. This situation is confirmed in Section 3.1 related
with the cooling/heating performance of the system. As a result, it can
be stated that the model with polyethylene wall shows better thermal
performance than that with glass wall.
In Case III, the water tanks made of polyethylene plates are in-
sulated by 1-cm thick aluminum foil insulation sheet (see Fig. 8). In this
case, the effect of the insulation on the temperatures and power con-
sumption is investigated. The results obtained are shown in Fig. 9.
In the insulated prototype, the minimum cold water temperature is
obtained as 1.3 °C while the maximum hot water temperature reaches
to 61.5 °C. Comparing with Case II, the temperature of the cold water
tank after 60 min is 2.8 °C lower although initial temperatures are the
same. On the other hand, the temperature of the hot water tank is
11.4 °C higher than that obtained in Case II after 60 min. Among the
three cases, the highest temperature in the heating side and the lowest
temperature in the cooling side are both obtained in Case III. The
variations of water temperatures have the same behavior for all cases.
Temperature difference is not allowed for exceeding a certain value to
prevent the Peltier module from a possible damage. Furthermore, the
hot side of the Peltier element should be well cooled for maintaining the
cooling effect of the cold side. Otherwise, the cold side cannot absorb
heat and its temperature starts to increase.
3.1. Cooling and heating rates of Peltier element
Simplified energy equilibrium model which is validated by many
researchers [29,39,40] is generally used to determine heat transfer
rates. According to this model, the heat absorbed and released for a TE
cooler can be calculated by
o ITc K o (Th Tc ) (1)
QH = Tc ) + 0.5Ro I 2
o ITh K o (Th (2)
where αo, Ko and Ro are the total Seebeck coefficient, total thermal
conductance and total electric resistance, respectively, I is the electrical
current, Tc and Th are the cold and hot side temperatures, respectively.
Since the cold and hot water temperatures are measured in this study,
and surface temperatures of TE element are not measured, the rate of
cooling and heating is found by
(mcp T )CW
QC = Qa =
t (3)
(mcp T )HW
QH = Qr =
t (4)
where Qa and Qr are the heat adsorbed by the cold water and the heat
rejected to the hot water (W), respectively. Subscripts CW and HW
denote the cold and hot water, respectively. m, cp and ΔT are water
mass (kg), specific heat (kJ/kg K) and temperature difference (K). Δt is
the time (s) elapsed for the corresponding temperature difference.
The changes of cooling and heating rates are shown in Fig. 10. The
rates are calculated for 5-min time periods. Both the cooling and
heating rates decrease with time. The reason for that is the relationship
between the temperature difference and heat transfer rates. Heat
transfer rates decrease with increasing temperature difference between
the cold and hot sides. Because the temperature difference increases
with time, the transfer rates at both sides decreases during the experi-
ment. The highest rates are obtained in Case III while the lowest rates
are obtained in Case I. In Case III, the maximum and minimum cooling
rates are 142.1 W and 11.8 W while the maximum and minimum
heating rates are 193.7 W and 33.7 W. The heating rates seem to be
higher than the cooling rates. This situation indicates that TE water
dispenser performs more efficiently as a heater than as a cooler.

200 200
180 Case I 180
160 Case II
160
140 Case III
140
Cooling Rate (W)

Heating Rate (W)

120 120
100 (filled markers) 100
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
(unfilled markers)
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time (minutes)

Fig. 8. Prototype made of polyethylene walls with insulation. Fig. 10. Variation of the cooling and heating rates of Peltier device with time.
 3.00
is compared with the uninsulated case (Case II). On the other hand, the
prototype with uninsulated glass wall has the lowest COPH values.
2.50
Case I Performance values of Peltier devices can reach to 4–5 at ideal
2.00 Case II conditions, namely at zero temperature difference between two surfaces
Case III and for optimal values of voltage and current. Peltier elements are ty-
COPC

1.50 pically used for cooling (especially for electronic cooling), and high
performance can be achieved if the hot side is cooled well. In this study,
1.00 the use of Peltier element for both heating and cooling purpose causes
lower performances than the ideal case.
0.50
4. Conclusions
0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 In this study, a novel TE water dispenser is developed by using a
Time (minutes) Peltier module that can perform both cooling and heating of drinking
water simultaneously. For this purpose, two water tanks are used as
Fig. 11. Variation of the cooling COP of Peltier device with time.
cold and hot water storage device for the TE water dispenser. One of the
tanks is cooled by the cold side of the Peltier element while the other is
4.00 heated by the hot side of it. This novel system enables to setup a water
3.50 dispenser unit that provides conditioned drinking water at appropriate
temperatures depending on climatic conditions.
3.00
The TE water dispenser are investigated experimentally for three
2.50 different cases and a number of tests are performed for each case. In
COP H

2.00
Case I, the water tanks are made of glass walls without insulation. In
Case II, the water tanks are made of polyethylene walls without in-
1.50 sulation. In Case III, the tanks are made of polyethylene walls with
Case I
1.00 insulation. Variation of water temperatures, power consumption of the
Case II
0.50 Peltier element, and cooling/heating performances (COPC/COPH) of the
Case III
system are investigated. Results show that the Case III, i.e. prototype
0.00
made of polyethylene walls with insulation, has the best thermal per-
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 formance. The insulation of the system has a significant effect on the
Time (minutes) thermal performance of the system as expected. In Case III, minimum
Fig. 12. Variation of the heating COP of Peltier device with time. cold water temperature on the cooling side is obtained as 1.3 °C while
maximum hot water temperature on the heating side is obtained as
3.2. Cooling and heating COP of Peltier element 61.5 °C at the end of 60-min time period. The cooling and heating COPs
for Case III are obtained as 2.90 and 3.95, respectively. When two
To evaluate the performances of the Peltier element in cooling and uninsulated cases are compared with each other, the prototype with
heating, the cooling and heating COP (coefficient of performance) can polyethylene walls has better thermal characteristics than that with
be calculated by the following equations, respectively: glass walls. Results also show the novel TE water dispenser can be
competitive with conventional types with its advantages such as smaller
Qa (mcp T )CW / t and compact design, environmentally friendly and noiseless operation
COPC = = and being operable with renewable energy sources like solar energy.
WP IP ·VP (5)
Consequently, this is the first project to use a TE module in a water
Qr (mcp T )HW / t dispenser unit. The TE water dispenser unit is experimentally proven to
COPH =
= achieve simultaneous water cooling and heating operation and meet the
WP IP ·VP (6)
The positive effect of the insulation on the mean heating performance of
In these equations, COPC and COPH represent the cooling and the system occurs at about 45% level when the insulated case (Case III)
heating coefficient of performance respectively. WP is the power con-
sumption by the Peltier element (W). IP and VP are the current (A) and
voltage (V) drawn by the Peltier element, respectively.
The variation of COPC of the system over time for each of the three
cases is given in Fig. 11. The cooling COPs for the Cases I, II and III vary
between 2.26–0.24, 2.46–0.28 and 2.90–0.42, respectively, during 60-
min period. The COP values decrease with time due to the lower cooling
capacities at higher temperature differences. The best cooling perfor-
mance is obtained in Case III. Case III has higher COPC values than the
other cases except for t = 15 min. In conclusion, the insulation of the
system in Case III provides about 22% increase in the mean COPC
compared to the uninsulated system in Case II.
The variation of COPH of the system over time for all cases is given
in Fig. 12. The heating COPs for the Cases I, II and III vary between
2.41–0.32, 3.07–0.79 and 3.95–1.19, respectively, during 60-min
period. The COP values decrease with time due to the lower heating
capacities at higher temperature differences between two sides of the
Peltier element. The best heating performance is obtained in Case III.
need for conditioned drinking water in this study. As a future work, a
solar assisted TE water dispenser unit will be carried out by mounting
PV panels on the roof and solar-facing sides of the unit to supply
drinking water in open public spaces. PV modules can thus supply
electricity power to the TE module. Total area of PV modules can be
determined by the capacity of TE module. It should be noted that the
capacity of TE module used in this study is 72-W. The larger the TE
capacity, the larger the cooling and heating rates obtained.

Appendix A. Supplementary material

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://

doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.11.028.

References

[1] S. Twaha, J. Zhu, Y. Yan, B. Li, A Comprehensive review of thermoelectric tech-

nology: materials, applications, modelling and performance improvement, Renew.
Sust. Energy Rev. 65 (2016) 698–726.
[2] C. Gayner, K.K. Kar, Recent advances in thermoelectric materials, Prog. Mater. Sci.
83 (2016) 330–382.
[3] S.B. Riffat, X. Ma, Thermoelectrics: a review of present and potential applications,
Appl. Therm. Eng. 23 (2003) 913–935.
 [4] D.M. Rowe, G. Min, Evaluation of thermoelectric modules for power generation, J.
Power Sources 73 (1998) 193–198.
[5] B.J. Huang, C.J. Chin, C.L. Duang, A design method of thermoelectric cooler, Int. J.
Refrig. 23 (2000) 208–218.
[6] K. Takahashi, T. Kanno, A. Sakai, H. Tamaki, H. Kusada, Y. Yamada, Bifunctional
thermoelectric tube made of tilted multilayer material as an alternative to standard
heat exchangers, Sci. Rep. 3 (2013) 1501.
[7] M. Zebarjadi, Electronic cooling using thermoelectric devices, Appl. Phys. Lett. 106
(2015) 203506.
[8] W. He, J. Zhou, J. Hou, C. Chen, J. Ji, Theoretical and experimental investigation on
a thermoelectric cooling and heating system driven by solar, Appl. Energy 107
(2013) 89–97.
[9] W.H. Chen, C.Y. Liao, C.I. Hung, A numerical study on the performance of minia-
ture thermoelectric cooler affected by Thomson effect, Appl. Energy 89 (2012)
464–473.
[10] O. Yamashita, Effect of interface layer on the cooling performance of a single
thermoelement, Appl. Energy 88 (2011) 3022–3029.
[11] L. Chen, F. Meng, F. Sun, Effect of heat transfer on the performance of thermo-
electric generator-driven thermoelectric refrigerator system, Cryogenics 52 (2012)
58–65.
[12] S. Manikandan, S.C. Kaushik, R. Yang, Modified pulse operation of thermoelectric
coolers for building cooling applications, Energy Convers. Manage. 140 (2017)
145–156.
[13] S. Soprani, J.H.K. Haertel, B.S. Lazarov, O. Sigmund, K. Engelbrecht, A design ap-
proach for integrating thermoelectric devices using topology optimization, Appl.
Energy 176 (2016) 49–64.
[14] S. Dişlitaş, R. Ahıska, Determination of the parameters Imax, Vmax and Emax of
thermoelectric module using parabola algorithm based on three discrete measure-
ments, J. Faculty Eng. Archit. Gazi Univ. 31 (4) (2016) 1063–1072.
[15] W. Tipsaenporm, C. Lertsatitthanakorn, B. Bubphachot, M. Rungsiyopas,
S. Soponronnarit, Improvement of cooling performance of a compact thermoelectric
air conditioner using a direct evaporative cooling system, J. Electronic Mater. 41 (6)
(2012) 1186–1192.
[16] G. Tan, D. Zhao, Study of a thermoelectric space cooling system integrated with
phase change material, Appl. Therm. Eng. 86 (2015) 187–198.
[17] M. Gökçek, F. Şahin, Experimental performance investigation of minichannel water
cooled-thermoelectric refrigerator, Case Stud. Therm. Eng. 10 (2017) 54–62.
[18] H.M. Hu, T.S. Ge, Y.J. Dai, R.Z. Wang, Experimental study on water-cooled ther-
moelectric cooler for CPU under severe environment, Int. J. Refrig. 62 (2016)
30–38.
[19] M. Sajid, I. Hassan, A. Rahman, An overview of cooling of thermoelectric devices,
Renew. Sust. Energy Rev. 78 (2017) 15–22.
[20] V.P. Joshi, V.S. Joshi, H.A. Kothari, M.D. Mahajan, M.B. Chaudhari, K.D. Sant,
Experimental investigations on a portable fresh water generator using a thermo-
electric cooler, Energy Proc. 109 (2017) 161–166.
[21] H. Al-Madhhachi, G. Min, Effective use of thermal energy at both hot and cold side
of thermoelectric module for developing efficient thermoelectric water distillation
system, Energy Convers. Manage. 133 (2017) 14–19.
[22] C. Yıldırım, S.K. Soylu, İ. Atmaca, İ. Solmuş, Experimental investigation of a por-
table desalination unit configured by a thermoelectric cooler, Energy Convers.
Manage. 85 (2014) 140–145.
[23] H.J. Goldsmid, Application of the transverse thermoelectric effects, J. Electron.
Mater. 40 (2011) 1254–1259.
[24] T. Kanno, K. Takahashi, A. Sakai, H. Tamaki, H. Kusada, Y. Yamada, Detection of
thermal radiation, sensing of heat flux, and recovery of waste heat by the transverse
thermoelectric effect, J. Electron. Mater. 43 (2014) 2072–2080.
[25] S.A. Ali, S. Mazumder, Computational study of transverse Peltier coolers for low
temperature applications, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 62 (2013) 373–381.
[26] B. Qian, F. Ren, Cooling performance of transverse thermoelectric devices, Int. J.
Heat Mass Transf. 95 (2016) 787–794.
[27] C. Reitmaier, F. Walther, H. Lengfellner, Transverse thermoelectric devices, Appl.
Phys. A 99 (2010) 717–722.
[28] N. Ahammed, L.G. Asirvatham, S. Wongwises, Thermoelectric cooling of electronic
devices with nanofluid in a multiport minichannel heat exchanger, Exp. Therm.
Fluid Sci. 74 (2016) 81–90.
[29] H.S. Huang, Y.C. Weng, Y.W. Chang, S.L. Chen, M.T. Ke, Thermoelectric water-
cooling device applied to electronic equipment, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf. 37
(2010) 140–146.
[30] R. Chein, Y. Chen, Performances of thermoelectric cooler integrated with micro-
channel heat sinks, Int. J. Refrig. 28 (2005) 828–839.
[31] M. Zhang, L. Miao, Y.P. Kang, S. Tanemura, C.A.J. Fisher, G. Xu, C.X. Li, G.Z. Fan,
Efficient, low-cost solar thermoelectric cogenerators comprising evacuated tubular
solar collectors and thermoelectric modules, Appl. Energy 109 (2013) 51–59.
[32] A. Allouhi, A. Boharb, T. Ratlamwala, T. Kousksou, M.B. Amine, A. Jamil,
A.A. Msaad, Dynamic analysis of a thermoelectric heating system for space heating
in a continuous-occupancy office room, Appl. Therm. Eng. 113 (2017) 150–159.
[33] D. Liu, F.Y. Zhao, H. Yang, G.F. Tang, Theoretical and experimental investigations
of thermoelectric heating system with multiple ventilation channels, Appl. Energy.
159 (2015) 458–468.
[34] M.Z. Yilmazoglu, Experimental and numerical investigation of a prototype ther-
moelectric heating and cooling unit, Energy Build. 113 (2016) 51–60.
[35] M. Ibanez-Puy, J. Bermejo-Busto, C. Martin-Gomez, M. Vidaurre-Arbizu,
J.A. Sacristan-Fernandez, Thermoelectric cooling heating unit performance under
real conditions, Appl. Energy 200 (2017) 303–314.
[36] L. Shen, Z. Tu, Q. Hu, C. Tao, H. Chen, The optimization design and parametric
study of thermoelectric radiant cooling and heating panel, Appl. Therm. Eng. 112
(2017) 688–697.
[37] R. Daghigh, Y. Khaledian, Effective design, theoretical and experimental assessment
of a solar thermoelectric cooling-heating system, Sol. Energy 162 (2018) 561–572.
[38] M.A. Ahamat, R. Abidin, S.M. Abdullah, Performance of thermoelectric module as a
water cooler and water heater, Int. J. Adv. Sci. Eng. Inf. Technol. 6 (2016) 524–528.
[39] L. Shen, F. Xiao, H. Chen, S. Wang, Investigation of a novel thermoelectric radiant
air-conditioning system, Energy Build. 59 (2013) 123–132.
[40] Y. Zhou, J. Yu, Design optimization of thermoelectric cooling systems for applica-
tions in electronic devices, Int. J. Refrig. 35 (2012) 1139–1144.