Hi, I have an Alkalinity Meter to install in a cabinet in a warm environment (~40 C) that needs cooling to ~30 C. The cabinet is 310x800x600 and the meter is not expected to generate much heat. I was thinking about the Peltier Thermo-Electric Cooler Module+Heatsink Assembly with a thermostat so it does not run 24/7. It has also been suggested to insulate the cabinet. I am interested if this sounds like an appropriate solution and what thermostat and transformer would work with the heatsink assembly.
Hey Rob,
Welcome to our forum!
Interesting project, once you’ve got your microcontroller, thermostat, and likely relay (to control the 12V cooler and fan from the 3.3V or 5V logic of your board) and have got that successfully controlling your Peltier module, there are a few quick modifications I’d suggest in order to ensure that the cabinet doesn’t have heat leak into it. First, adding some insulation outside of the cabinet and some airflow using a fan on the inside (depending on how you mount the module this may not be necessary) then another trick you can do is to use some copper or aluminium sheet metal from your local hardware store attached to the Peltier with heat sink compound tp help the Peltier cool a larger area. If you can send through some pictures of your project so we can get some more ideas that’d be great too!
Have a great day! And please let us know if there’s anything else that we can do for you.
Bryce
Core Electronics | Support
Hey Rob,
Just a follow up on this one too, while Peltier Modules are a great DIY solution for cooling smaller areas, they aren’t great at handling larger areas.
There is a great forum post from Electronics Stack Exchange from a couple of years ago that details this a bit more. Basically, it’s possible, but incredibly inefficient. You will also need to make sure the cabinet is insulated extremely well if you are even going to attempt it.
As that thread mentions, a much more suitable solution would be to use something like a compressor. Hope this helps push you in the right direction!
Thanks Guys. I had a look at the Electronics Stack Exchange post and agree I dont have much of a chance cooling a 148 litre space this way . Back to the drawing board. Maybe a small bar fridge packed with water bottles with a thermostat controlled fan and some ducting to pipe across chilled air might be a simple solution (with cold water on hand to boot).
Hey Rob,
I agree, that’d be your best option here. It depends on whether you need to cool the entire space, or just the area around the sensor. If there’s anything else that we can help you with please let us know.
Bryce
Core Electronics | Support
Hi Rob
Why not just use the bar fridge.
Cheers Bob
Found this online tool to help calculate the cooling capacity needed. https://www.1-act.com/enclosure-cooling/selection-tools/ I still might be able to use a Peltier Module for this job.
