TEC vs DC aircon - overal effeciency

[vlpusk]

Hello,
I am working on new solution for outdoor enclosures. I am getting a lot of questions from customers regarding to using Peltier/TEC units instead of aircons.

I have searched around and find out following:
- TEC units are approx half price when compared with DC aircons
- The efficiency (COP) of TEC units is poor when compared with DC aircons
- TOC (total cost of ownership) of TEC is is much higher then DC aircons

this drive me to conclusion that the DC aircons are more efficient & greener solution overall all, the payback time is couple of years.

Does any of you had faced the same?
Have you approached this? Have you blindly follow customer request or you have done some study to prove that TEC is right solution?
Have you made some calculation/study you can share, or is there any White paper posted on web which deal with this topic?


Many thanks for help.

 

[EnergyProfessional]

Are TEC units available to be used as AC? I know they are used in PC cooling and in camping coolers etc.

Not sure about ligevity. They don't have moving parts and no refrigerant. But the peltier may not withstand so much operation.
And how do you disspiate the heat? since it is less efficient, you need to disspiate much more heat, meanign larger ... don't know how to call what normally woudl be the condenser.

the fact that TEc have ben aroudn for a long time and no one really uses them should tell a lot about economics.

 

[willard3]

I'll guess that the TEC unit is less efficient than a carnot cycle by a wide margin.

If they were what the seller says they are, nobody would be using carnot cycle systems.