Quote:
Originally Posted by Fionn
The efficiency both ways is pretty horrible so I don't think it's practical at this point to use them to power AC. It's only harvesting waste heat with them that makes sense since the efficiency is of no relevance. You'd be lucky to end up with 50W worth of cooling on a setup that would be practical to install on a vehicle if you used TEGs/ TECs on both sides.
You'd be far better off to run a DC AC unit from the TEGs but even better would be to just use a normal AC compressor driven from the engine I think!
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FYI
They also have DC driven compressor heat pumps .. which will save a step in DC to AC conversion losses .. but , the AC driven are usually more mass produced (economies of scale have benefits).
One such example (there are others) the small ~3kg , ~1,000 BTU/HR electric air conditioning compressor based heat pump I have is run from 12VDC .. although its SEER of ~9 is nothing to write home about .. it is much better than what any TEC based SEER would be.
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That having been said .. I'll add .. as far as this particular topic is concerned .. Any waste heat recovered / recycled is beneficial (net energy efficiency) .. but only in so much as it reduces/offsets the energy you would have otherwise consumed anyway .. such as reducing parasitic alternator load on ICE with a ~350W exhaust waste recovery .. if you end up spending it in some way that you would not have otherwise spent energy to do .. that isn't a net energy efficiency benefit .. it might be some other type of benefit .. comfort .. convenience .. etc.