Investigation of a novel thermoelectric radiant air-conditioning system

This paper presents a novel thermoelectric radiant air-conditioning (TE-RAC) system, which employs the thermoelectric modules as radiant panels instead of conventional hydronic panels. The novel radiant system brings a lot of benefits including Freon free, convenient installation, no complex water distribution pipes, quiet and reliable operation, etc. Switching between cooling and heating modes can be easily achieved by reversing the input current. The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility and performance of the novel TE-RAC system, including its cooling and heating performances, condensation risk, dynamic thermal response and inertia, and cost-effectiveness. A case study of the TE-RAC system is presented to compare the TE-RAC system with conventional air-conditioning (AC) systems and radiant air-conditioning (RAC) systems in terms of cooling and heating capacities, energy consumption and operation reliability. It is found that the COP of the TE-RAC system could be comparable to conventional RAC systems and AC systems, besides many other benefits in life-cycle performances. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.