{"id":4903,"date":"2019-11-12T22:12:02","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T03:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/?p=4903"},"modified":"2019-12-08T22:16:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T03:16:47","slug":"diy-thermo-electric-cooler-prototype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/12\/diy-thermo-electric-cooler-prototype\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY Thermo-Electric Cooler prototype"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:394,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/amzn.to\\\/2QefJxa&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/3M-Multipurpose-Permanent-Adhesive-Cardboard\\\/dp\\\/B01MFA2EEE\\\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?crid=HZVXN42HMI2P&amp;keywords=3m+spray+adhesive+super+77&amp;qid=1573643658&amp;sprefix=3M+Spray+,aps,188&amp;sr=8-4&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=burningorg-20&amp;linkId=4205c4eee725ea0086d998841449687f&amp;language=en_US&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:395,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/amzn.to\\\/2q8mRR7&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/Gorilla-White-Waterproof-ounce-Bottle\\\/dp\\\/B001L6CVS6\\\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?crid=18BG2K54I7204&amp;keywords=white+gorilla+glue&amp;qid=1573644103&amp;sprefix=white+gor,aps,192&amp;sr=8-1-spons&amp;psc=1&amp;spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRTZHNFkyT1ZFNEdJJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzYxNzgwMzc0RUtCSE8wNlFIMCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTk1NDA4MVM5S0ZaNkJFOTFYNSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=burningorg-20&amp;linkId=7d40e33669bb61b23275a3dbc4f147d4&amp;language=en_US&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:396,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/amzn.to\\\/372qZTt&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/gp\\\/product\\\/B07CRGC899\\\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=burningorg-20&amp;linkId=9edf9d64b86b0fa9810e7deb047d6c02&amp;language=en_US&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:397,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/amzn.to\\\/2QflJG7&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/ASHATA-Aluminum-Graphics-Radiator-Heatsink\\\/dp\\\/B07HJ896SR\\\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?keywords=40mm+cooling+block&amp;qid=1573643130&amp;s=electronics&amp;sr=1-28&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=burningorg-20&amp;linkId=a849ddbb305eb4c5c7e1d87cef4514c7&amp;language=en_US&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:398,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.thingiverse.com\\\/thing:3949052&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20220706080409\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.thingiverse.com\\\/thing:3949052&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-15 09:26:14&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-15 09:26:14&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/_zTc0xOSSNc?rel=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I have been playing around with building a DIY Thermo-Electric cooler. Yes, I know the TEC&#8217;s are horribly inefficient when compared to a compressor based refrigerator. And I know you can buy basic TEC micro-fridges for $20-$50 online. \u00a0 We have a camping van that has a small odd sized hole that doesn&#8217;t quite fit any of the commercially available car\/van coolers, so I&#8217;m investigating building my own. This post will discuss prototype number 3.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\nNote that this prototype is NOT appropriately sized for the hole in our camping van, it&#8217;s more of a technology and construction methods testbed, and not the final usable product.<\/p>\n<p>Since I&#8217;m going to be using an inefficient technology for my cooling, I overcompensated by using a lot of insulation around the cooling vessel. Specificlaly, I used 4 layers of R-5 3\/4&#8243; PolyIso insulation. (I live in Florida, so 3\/4&#8243; is the thickest PolyIso they stock, ideally I would have used one or two sheets of 2&#8243; thick, but I would have had to pay to truck that in&#8230;.)<\/p>\n<p>My interior cooling vessel is made out of 10&#8243; aluminum roof flashing that I bent into a 8x6x10 square using an improved bending brake made out of boards. I used Aluminum pop rivets to hold it into a rectangular prism shape and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2QefJxa\">3M Super 77 spray adhesive<\/a> to stick the first layer of PolyIso insulation to the outside of the cooling vessel. I used masking tape to mask off the small square where the TEC would be mounted later. I also used <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2q8mRR7\">white gorilla glue<\/a> to bond the foam edges and provide extra air sealing. \u00a0 I used butt joints on my first three layers, but got out the table saw to make a nicer 45 degree join box for the outer layer\/lid assembly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4906\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Sheet metal bending brake made out of two pieces of wood clamped together.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/7_bending_brake-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4907\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Flashing bent into a rectangular prism and held with pop rivets\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/9_pop_rivits-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4908\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Foam panel glued to side of alunimum cooling vessel\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/13_first_foam_panel-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To get the most benefit from TEC&#8217;s, you have to keep the hot side as cold as possible (as the temperature on the cold side is directly related to the voltage (amperage\/power) going through the TEC and the hot side temperature. So I used a liquid cooling loop built out of the cheapest all-in-one (AIO) liquid cpu cooler I could find on Amazon (I paid $65 for this one &#8211; \u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/372qZTt\">Amazon Affiliate Link<\/a>) with extra tubing and 40mm aluminum cooling blocks (I got a bunch of them from China on Ebay, like <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2QflJG7\">these overpriced ones on Amazon.<\/a>) I 3D printed a bracket to use to hold the TEC and water cooling block to the inside of my cooler using nylon hardware. You can find the 3D printed bracket files on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thingiverse.com\/thing:3949052\">https:\/\/www.thingiverse.com\/thing:3949052<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4909\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Example use of bracket to hold TEC and waterblock to cooling vessel\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/12_TEC-bracket-example-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4910\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"3 layers of insulation with TEC and water block sticking out of the top\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/16_third_layer_withTEC-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4911\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Radiator and pump for water cooling\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20191103_162926738-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Performance Comparison<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/2TaxppYmhjk?rel=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nI compared my home built DIY TEC with two commercial cooler offerings. A $33 Chefman TEC &#8220;desktop&#8221; cooler with a 5L capacity, and a $170 Alpicool C15 compressor based refrigerator\/freezer with a 15L capacity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/comparison_table.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4916\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/comparison_table.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1181\" height=\"664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/comparison_table.png 1181w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/comparison_table-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/comparison_table-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/comparison_table-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/comparison_table-500x281.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1181px) 100vw, 1181px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The takeaway is that by adding a lot of insulation, using a liquid cooling loop, and 4 TEC&#8217;s (vs a single TEC in the Chefman unit) I am able to get a lower temperature (-4.5 C vs 8 C) than a commercial TEC unit, but at a higher power draw (70 watts average vs 45). Both TEC units are blown away by the commercially available compressor\/refrigerant model, which has more interior capacity and only draws an average of 20 watts. [Plus, it can get down to lower temperatures and freeze things a lot faster.]<\/p>\n<p>After reviewing the Alpicool C15, I am excited about using a compressor based solution in the van, but unfortunately, the C15 unit is still 3 inches too long to fit in the space I have available, so I may need to hack it a lot to make it work.<\/p>\n<p>I am also still interested in exploring a 2 TEC unit that would have a power draw of around 35 watts (close to the 20 watt from the Alpicool C15) to see if it could maintain 0 C temperatures for a 5-7 liter volume. \u00a0 I may rip out two of the four TEC&#8217;s in my current prototype to play with that option (which may allow me to slow the cooling fans on the radiator.) \u00a0 I also have some ideas about using thermosiphening to allow the TEC&#8217;s to cycle (turn off some of the time) without leaking as much heat back into the interior space when they are turned off, but that would require a different (taller) physical layout and a completely different prototype.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been playing around with building a DIY Thermo-Electric cooler. Yes, I know the TEC&#8217;s are horribly inefficient when compared to a compressor based refrigerator. And I know you can buy basic TEC micro-fridges for $20-$50 online. \u00a0 We &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/12\/diy-thermo-electric-cooler-prototype\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[136],"class_list":["post-4903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects","tag-tec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4903"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4917,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4903\/revisions\/4917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}