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Old 10-30-2010, 10:42 PM   #4 (permalink)
saand
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 236

bugler - '91 Mazda 626
90 day: 35.89 mpg (US)
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ryland sounds like a good concept, typically peltier devices at 2200 watts are very expensive but sounds like what you found on ebay is fairly cheap
so some things to think about
- how are you going to power the peltiers, if you have an electric car i assume it is running at a high voltage and your peltiers are likely 12v or 24v so you may need a converter which will reduce efficiency unless you reclaim the heat from it
- Have you considered all the places you are currently loosing energy (loosing energy usually means heat generation), Some energy loss areas you might be able to get "free" heat from
- Motor
- brakes
- motor controller

if you are after some out there kinda ideas you could also consider
- plug in heater
- heat bricks, warm up bricks before your trip, put them in your car when you start, they will keep the car warm, if you insulate them well and control the release of heat you may keep them warm all day

regarding your comment about the motor and trying to keep it cool, motors will typically work with no issue up to 80 degrees or more (Depending on materials). From your comments it sounds like your motor is developing heat so if i was you i would just run air over the motor and feed it into the cabin. Louvers could be made to give you more control, put more air over motor that doesn't feed into the cabin ...
using your excess motor heat is free
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