Hi all,
Looks like I was unnecessarily pessimistic on one count there... The basic
raw efficiency of Peltier coolers (such as are used in high-performance CPU
cooling systems) is actually up in the 60% range - a 100 watt device will
move about 60W of heat. However, they are basically just heat pumps that
move the heat from one plate to a second plate that's about 4 mm (3/16")
away. You still have to provide a heat sink on that side that can actually
dump the 60 watts of heat you've removed, plus the 100 watts of power
supplied to the cooler itself, overboard in some way. Now consider that
instead of 60 watts, the typical air conditioning system probably has a
couple of kilowatts of heat removal capacity...
Theo
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