Enhancing Cost-efficiency Trade-off for Thermoelectric Air Conditioning System in Oyo State, Nigeria
Abstract
A variable speed thermoelectric (TE) air conditioner system is developed for efficient power management using intelligent control system. The investigation adopted Variable Voltage Variable Frequency (VVVF) regulator mode of a solid state electronic conversion system with integration of AC–DC and DC–AC Converter method. The system received power from the main 230VAC source and a step-down transformer converted it to 150VAC. The bridge rectifier converted the output voltage varying DCV by regulating the frequency. The DC voltage is transformed back into AC through Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technique. The sinusoidal waveform is formed automatically by programmed microcontroller (PIC18F4431) Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) inverter that fed the air conditional compressor motor. The investigational results revealed that as the frequency declines, speed and torque drop which resulted to substantial reduction of power intake. The study reveals that 80,280kWh of energy is expended by a conventional air conditioner (CAC) in a month under steady operation while 15,624kWh is consumed by a thermoelectric air conditioner (TEAC) at the same period. This translates to energy cost of 602,100 NGN (387.51 USD) and 18,063,000 NGN (11625.27 USD) by conventional air conditioner (CAC) daily and monthly respectively while TEAC accounts for 117,180 NGN (75.42 USD) and 3,515,400 NGN (2262.50 USD) at the same period correspondingly. The energy savings cost with the developed TE drive are 484,920 NGN (312.09 USD), 14,547,600 NGN(9362.78 USD) and 174,571,200 NGN(112353.31 NGN) averagely on daily, monthly and yearly respectively. The estimated electricity in the study shows that 67% of the energy and cost bill is saved periodically using the developed TE drive likened to traditional climate control system.
Keywords
Thermoelectric, variable frequency, inverter, air conditioner, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), microcontroller
Supporting Institution
No supporting institution
Ethical Statement
The research is carried out at Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria
Thanks
All authors are well appreciated for the meaningful contributions
References
- Zuazua-Ros A, Martín-Gómez C, Ibañez-Puy E, Vidaurre-Arbizu M, Gelbstein Y. Investigation of the thermoelectric potential for heating, cooling and ventilation in buildings: characterization options and applications. Renew Energy 2019; 131: 229–239.
- Xiaoli Ma, Han Zhao, Xudong Zhao, Guiqiang Li, Samson Shittu. Building integrated thermoelectric air conditioners - a potentially fully environmentally friendly solution in building services. Future Cities Environ 2019; 5(1): 1–13.
- Sheu AL, Adagunodo TA. Performance evaluation of inverter-equipped drive to regulate the speed of motor and cooling output of air conditioner. IOP Conference Series: J Phys 2019; 1299: 012029.
- Zhang X, Huang Y. Chen Z. A hybrid system integrating photovoltaic module and thermoelectric devices for power and cooling cogeneration. Sol Energy 2022; 239: 350–358.
- Adeyanju AA, Manohar K. Design and analysis of a thermoelectric air-conditioning system. J Sci Res 2020; 26 (4): 1–11.
- Sheu AL. Design of Energy Efficient Drive for Effective Power Management in Nigeria. South-West Journal of Teacher Education 2017; 8: 103 - 111.
- Cai Y, Wang WW, Liu CW, Ding WT, Liu D, Zhao FY. Performance evaluation of a thermoelectric ventilation system driven by the concentrated photovoltaic thermoelectric generators for green building operations. Renew Energ 2020; 147(1): 1565–1583.
- Xiao-Xiao Tian, Soheil Asaadi, Hazim Moria, Amr Kaood, Samira Pourhedayat, Kittisak Jermsittiparsert. Proposing tube-bundle arrangement of tubular thermoelectric module as a novel air cooler. Energy 2020; 208: 118428.
- Carlo Fanciulli, Hossein Abedi, Adelaide Nespoli, Roberto Dondè, Caterina La Terra, Francesca Migliorini, Francesca Passaretti, Silvana De Iuliis. Additive fabrication and experimental validation of a lightweight thermoelectric generator. Sci Rep 2023; 13(1): 1- 13.
- Vián JG, Astrain D, Domínguez M. Numerical modelling and a design of a thermoelectric dehumid. Therm Eng 2002; 22: 407–422.