The design of portable automobile refrigerator powered by exhaust heat using thermoelectric

A cool box for passenger car refers to a kind of box which is designed and fabricated using well insulating materials in order to ensure the coolness inside the cool box is always stable. Convectional refrigeration systems use ChloroFluoro Carbons (CFCs) and Hydro-Chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as heat carrier fluids. The use of such fluids has over the years raised some very serious environmental concerns which has resulted in extensive research into development of novel refrigeration technologies. Thermoelectric Refrigeration (TER) has emerged as a promising refrigeration technology as it comes with far more distinctive advantages over conventional refrigeration systems. The research and development work carried out by different researchers on TER is thoroughly reviewed in this research. Having looked on these refrigeration systems Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC) refrigeration was used in the design of a 20 litre portable automobile refrigerator. In this design a Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) waste heat recovery system was designed to meet all the TEC refrigerator power requirements. Thus an internal combustion engine TEG system designed includes a stainless steel exhaust gas heat exchanger having an interior portion defined by a stainless steel wall and an exterior surface of the stainless steel wall distal to the interior portion. The exhaust gas heat exchanger receives a pressurized exhaust gas stream from the internal combustion engine and extracts thermal energy from the exhaust gas stream. The TEG modules converts thermal energy directly into electrical energy for TEC refrigerator consumption as well as storage for later use. Thus in this design a percentage of exhaust heat that could have otherwise be rejected into the environment is used in the generation of DC power to meet the TEC electrical power requirements making this system an independent system altogether thereby reducing the number of mechanical loads on the vehicle itself.