IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v328y2025ics0360544225022352.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Development of a sustainable dual-stage TEC refrigerator for reduced energy consumption

Author

Listed:
  • Alani, W.K.
  • Zheng, J.
  • Lei, L.
  • Fayad, M.A.

Abstract

Thermoelectric coolers (TECs) have emerged as an alternative to conventional refrigerators due to quiet operation and elimination of traditional components. Furthermore, integrating a solar photovoltaic system (PV) into TEC refrigerators offers a solution to meet the growing global demand for sustainability. However, high-capacity TEC models consume more power and low-power TEC models often underperform due to insufficient cooling capacity, and the challenge of balancing energy consumption and cooling performance limits their widespread adoption. This study presents a sustainable dual-stage TEC refrigerator that reduces energy consumption and enhances cooling performance by integrating various TEC models. TEC12703 served as primary unit for maintaining temperatures with minimal consumption, and TEC12715 functioned as a booster for rapid temperature reduction. The refrigerator powered by a PV system operated in two modes, normal and energy-saving. It decreased internal temperature from 17 °C to 4 °C within 7 h, even with frequent door opening. The average power consumption was 94.9 W/h in the normal mode and decreased to 5.8 W/h in the energy-saving mode. The peak coefficient of performance was 0.9, with an overall efficiency of 6.4 %. This novel refrigerator demonstrates a good cooling performance with reduced energy consumption, offering a sustainable solution for modern refrigeration.

Suggested Citation

  • Alani, W.K. & Zheng, J. & Lei, L. & Fayad, M.A., 2025. "Development of a sustainable dual-stage TEC refrigerator for reduced energy consumption," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:328:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225022352
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.136593
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225022352
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.136593?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ibañez-Puy, María & Bermejo-Busto, Javier & Martín-Gómez, César & Vidaurre-Arbizu, Marina & Sacristán-Fernández, José Antonio, 2017. "Thermoelectric cooling heating unit performance under real conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 303-314.
    2. Xiong, Huimin & Li, Xuan & Chen, Chaowei & Xin, Gongming & Li, Jiaqian & Chen, Yan, 2025. "Experimental study on the heat transfer performance of a gravity-assisted separated heat pipe for high-power chip cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    3. Mehrabankhomartash, Mahmoud & Rayati, Mohammad & Sheikhi, Aras & Ranjbar, Ali Mohammad, 2017. "Practical battery size optimization of a PV system by considering individual customer damage function," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 36-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Duan, Mengfan & Sun, Hongli & Lin, Borong & Wu, Yifan, 2021. "Evaluation on the applicability of thermoelectric air cooling systems for buildings with thermoelectric material optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    2. Zhao, Dongliang & Yin, Xiaobo & Xu, Jingtao & Tan, Gang & Yang, Ronggui, 2020. "Radiative sky cooling-assisted thermoelectric cooling system for building applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    3. Ahmed, Hossam A. & Megahed, Tamer F. & Mori, Shinsuke & Nada, Sameh & Hassan, Hamdy, 2023. "Novel design of thermo-electric air conditioning system integrated with PV panel for electric vehicles: Performance evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).
    4. Luo, Yongqiang & Zhang, Ling & Liu, Zhongbing & Yu, Jinghua & Xu, Xinhua & Su, Xiaosong, 2020. "Towards net zero energy building: The application potential and adaptability of photovoltaic-thermoelectric-battery wall system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    5. Ramakrishnan Iyer & Aritra Ghosh, 2023. "Investigation of Integrated and Non-Integrated Thermoelectric Systems for Buildings—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-17, October.
    6. Koskela, Juha & Rautiainen, Antti & Järventausta, Pertti, 2019. "Using electrical energy storage in residential buildings – Sizing of battery and photovoltaic panels based on electricity cost optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 1175-1189.
    7. Ma, Xiaoli & Zhang, Yufeng & Han, Zhonghe & Zang, Ningbo & Liu, Zhijian, 2023. "Performance modelling on a thermoelectric air conditioning system using high power heat sinks and promoting waste heat utilization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    8. Ibáñez-Puy, Elia & Martín-Gómez, César & Bermejo-Busto, Javier & Zuazua-Ros, Amaia, 2018. "Thermal and energy performance assessment of a thermoelectric heat pump integrated in an adiabatic box," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 681-688.
    9. Rami Alamoudi & Osman Taylan & Mehmet Azmi Aktacir & Enrique Herrera-Viedma, 2021. "Designing a Solar Photovoltaic System for Generating Renewable Energy of a Hospital: Performance Analysis and Adjustment Based on RSM and ANFIS Approaches," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(22), pages 1-24, November.
    10. Afshari, Faraz & Mandev, Emre & Muratçobanoğlu, Burak & Yetim, Ali Fatih & Ceviz, Mehmet Akif, 2023. "Experimental and numerical study on a novel fanless air-to-air solar thermoelectric refrigerator equipped with boosted heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 253-265.
    11. Sun, Hongli & Lin, Borong & Lin, Zhirong & Zhu, Yingxin, 2019. "Experimental study on a novel flat-heat-pipe heating system integrated with phase change material and thermoelectric unit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    12. Zhao, Dongliang & Lu, Xing & Fan, Tianzhu & Wu, Yuen Shing & Lou, Lun & Wang, Qiuwang & Fan, Jintu & Yang, Ronggui, 2018. "Personal thermal management using portable thermoelectrics for potential building energy saving," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 282-291.
    13. Sun, Dongfang & Shen, Limei & Sun, Miao & Yao, Yu & Chen, Huanxin & Jin, Shiping, 2018. "An effective method of evaluating the device-level thermophysical properties and performance of micro-thermoelectric coolers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 93-104.
    14. Minseong Kim & Yong-Kwon Kang & Jaewon Joung & Jae-Weon Jeong, 2022. "Cooling Performance Prediction for Hydraulic Thermoelectric Radiant Cooling Panels with Experimental Validation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, December.
    15. Lata-García, Juan & Jurado, Francisco & Fernández-Ramírez, Luis M. & Sánchez-Sainz, Higinio, 2018. "Optimal hydrokinetic turbine location and techno-economic analysis of a hybrid system based on photovoltaic/hydrokinetic/hydrogen/battery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 611-620.
    16. Jan Rimbala & Jan Kyncl & Jan Koller & Ghaeth Fandi, 2024. "Utilizing Connection of Multiple Peltier Cells to Enhance the Coefficient of Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-18, September.
    17. Cai, Yang & Wang, Lei & Ding, Wen-Tao & Liu, Di & Zhao, Fu-Yun, 2019. "Thermal performance of an active thermoelectric ventilation system applied for built space cooling: Network model and finite time thermodynamic optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 915-930.
    18. Zuazua-Ros, Amaia & Martín-Gómez, César & Ibañez-Puy, Elia & Vidaurre-Arbizu, Marina & Gelbstein, Yaniv, 2019. "Investigation of the thermoelectric potential for heating, cooling and ventilation in buildings: Characterization options and applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 229-239.
    19. Dhumane, Rohit & Ling, Jiazhen & Aute, Vikrant & Radermacher, Reinhard, 2017. "Portable personal conditioning systems: Transient modeling and system analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 390-401.
    20. Nadjemi, O. & Nacer, T. & Hamidat, A. & Salhi, H., 2017. "Optimal hybrid PV/wind energy system sizing: Application of cuckoo search algorithm for Algerian dairy farms," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1352-1365.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:328:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225022352. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.