Research Information System
APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING, vol.149, pp.822-828, 2019 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, a novel thermoelectric water dispenser unit is proposed to supply cold and hot drinking water simultaneously. For this purpose, the heat sinks attached to the cold and hot surfaces of a Peltier module are placed into the cold and hot water tanks of the thermoelectric water dispenser. Supplying power to the thermoelectric module, the cold water tank is cooled while the hot water tank is heated at the same time. The cooling and heating performances of the system are examined for three cases: the tanks made of glass walls without insulation; the tanks made of polyethylene walls without insulation: and the tanks made of polyethylene walls with insulation. Results show that water tanks with polyethylene walls have better thermal performance than those with glass walls. Furthermore, insulation of the tanks has a significant enhancement in COP especially on the heating side. Results of this study also indicate that TE water dispenser can compete with conventional types, with the advantages of being environment-friendly, smaller, silent and operable with renewable energy sources.