no, i meant electronically - not stacked (i know that has a set of problems all by itself). if you connect TECs in series (electrically) will you still get the desired dT increase? or do they have to be stacked to get that effect? ie: if they were side-by-side would you have a greater dT with half the voltage each vs a single at full voltage? what effect on QMax does this have? (still working exactly what QMax does for a TEC)
so far i understand UMax (max voltage), IMax (max current), QMax (max heat transfer), dT (temp differential between hot and cold sides at IMax), and COP (heat transference curve relative to current (amperage) at specific hotside temp) and how they all interrelate (mostly). i understand why more TECs is better than a single with similar total UMax/IMax. i assume the massive QMax you guys recommend is due to the undervolting of the TECs, whereas the actual power draw from those undervolted TECs is considerably less than total UMax/IMax for all the TECs combined?? still trying to figure out the relationship between UMax/Imax and QMax - i thought QMax was simply the product of volts and amps, but then i saw high QMax TEC's that were well under what i thought they would be. (35V/20A@403QMax) note: CoP will always be highest as dT approaches zero. but, since our chiller loops depend on a greater dT, how do we compensate for the lack of efficiency (ie: higher power requirement/current draw) of an ever increasing dT - at what point are we simply wasting power for diminishing returns?........anyway - still reading/learning/trying to figure this all out. thanks for all the input and help - and thanks for putting up with my MANY questions!!
idea: i was thinking about a barely sub-ambient (no condensation) water loop. since TEC's are most efficient at dT=0 then (ideally) you would want your hot side close to your low side. now, since it's impossible to get your hotside below ambient.......why not put a radiator in teh cold loop? (hear me out)...by doing so you would increase the cold side of the TEC to ambient - and if you can keep your hotside to within a few degrees of ambient you would then have a super efficient cooling method that would ensure ambient even under high load. you would have more cooling **potential** than you would at higher a dT and would (should) be able to remove more heat from your cold side loop (note: and with your radiator taking out some of the heat - as well as the TEC keeping the temps at room temp) you would then have a C/W of ZERO!! right? granted, you would not have a negative C/W but the cooling potential would be the same or greater than a subambient loop.
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