Prev
By 11:03 I have frost at the top of the copper tube. The towel actually froze to the copper pipe, so I'll have to keep produce away from it when the cooler is complete.
Next
Prev
The foam cures to a stage that is similar to a roasted marshmallow when cooling. At a certain point it is still in a plastic state, but not sticky on the exterior. Any areas that were over filled can be pushed into a fillet using a finger.
This will be the insulated container for the TEC. I'm gluing it together with foam. It is 1.5" foam board that comes in a 2x8' piece. If I think I need more insulation, I will simply make another exterior layer from the left over piece. It is small, but then so is my boat.
In an hour, I have frost over the entire exterior of the copper tube. Surprisingly, the copper pipe could frost when the antifreeze seemed to be at about 45 degrees. A couple more hours (at 3.5 amp hours) would likely get the entire thermal mass below freezing. My antifreeze mixture freezes below -25F, so I don't think that I need to worry about bursting the copper pipe.
By 11:03 I have frost at the top of the copper tube. The towel actually froze to the copper pipe, so I'll have to keep produce away from it when the cooler is complete.
In order to get a better understanding of the cooling potential, I put it in a beer cozy and wrapped a dish towel around it to insulate the copper pipe. (The fan next to it is heat operated and is the opposite of the cooling process that I am using.) It is 10:43 and I am starting out at 65 degrees.
Because the bottom of the pipe is filled with antifreeze for thermal mass, it cools more slowly.
The cold side of the chip quickly cools the copper pipe.
Next
M

By 11:03 I have frost at the top of the copper tube. The towel actually froze to the copper pipe, so I'll have to keep produce away from it when the cooler is complete.

By 11:03 I have frost at the top of the copper tube. The towel actually froze to the copper pipe, so I'll have to keep produce away from it when the cooler is complete.
Click to expand...
There are no comments to display.

Media information

Category
Refrigeration
Album
This is a thermo-electric chip (TEC) with an air cooled copper heat sink salvaged from a computer on top and a length of 1.5" copper pipe filled with antifreeze on the bottom. It is stuck together with thermal epoxy.
Added by
Marco Flamingo
Date added
View count
7
Comment count
0
Rating
0.00 star(s) 0 ratings

Share this media

Back
Top