Markets
Thermoelectric Cooling For Consumer Electronics
Appliances that cool quietly, start instantly and can also warm. Our modules end up in water coolers, thermoelectric refrigerators, portable automotive refrigerators and dispensers.
Industry Pain Points
What Makes Consumer Cooling Hard
- A compressor is audible in a bedroom, a hotel room or an office, and customers return products that hum
- Appliances have to work on a shelf, in a car, on a wall or upside down, which a compressor will not tolerate
- Refrigerant handling adds certification, servicing and end of life obligations to a low cost product
- Cooling duty is often only 20 to 60 W, where mechanical refrigeration is oversized and inefficient
- The same product often has to warm as well as cool, for example a dual zone dispenser
- Unit cost and warranty returns dominate the design decision more than peak efficiency
Customer Requirements
What Consumer OEMs Ask Us For
Quiet Below Ambient Cooling
Enough delta-T to hold a cabinet or a dispenser below room temperature without a compressor.
One Part That Heats And Cools
Polarity reversal so a single module covers both duty modes in a dual zone product.
Warranty Grade Life
Anti-copper diffusion technology takes design life from 200,000 to 300,000 hours, which is what keeps returns down.
Suitable Products
What We Would Put In Front Of You First
TEC Standard Peltier Modules
158 codes, 10×10 to 80×120 mm, Qmax 1.6 to 480 W.
Learn more
TEA Aluminium Substrate Modules
122 W/(m·K) substrate, 30 to 50 % more efficient, breakage free.
Learn more
Thermal Management Assemblies
Air to air, air to liquid, liquid to liquid and plate to plate.
Learn moreTypical Application Scenarios
Products Our Modules End Up In
Thermoelectric Water Coolers
A cold tank held below ambient with no compressor, quiet enough for an office corridor, and able to sit in any orientation the industrial design demands.
Thermoelectric Refrigerators And Wine Cabinets
Small cabinets where a compressor would vibrate the shelves and where silence is a selling point.
Portable Automotive Refrigerators
12 V cool boxes that have to survive vibration and work at any angle, which is exactly where a compressor fails.
Dispensers And Personal Care
Dual zone dispensers and appliances that cool on one setting and warm on another by reversing the module current.
Solution Process
How A Project In This Market Usually Runs
Delivery Capability
What We Can Commit To
Figures below are our own plant data, not industry averages.
Related Guides
Reading That Helps On This Kind Of Project
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Consumer Electronics
How cold can a thermoelectric appliance get?
Practically, a well designed single stage appliance holds a cabinet somewhere in the region of 15 to 20 °C below ambient once real heat loads and insulation are accounted for. The catalogue ΔTmax of 63 to 71 °C is measured at zero heat load and is not an appliance figure.
Is a Peltier appliance less efficient than a compressor?
At the same duty a compressor is more efficient. Thermoelectric wins on silence, size, orientation freedom, absence of refrigerant, instant response and the ability to heat. That trade is why it dominates small quiet appliances rather than large refrigerators.
Can one module both cool and heat?
Yes, by reversing the supply polarity. Say so at the design stage so the controller and wiring support it, and so the sealing choice suits both duty modes.
What causes field failures in consumer products?
Almost always the hot side. If the heat sink or fan is undersized, the module runs hot, efficiency collapses and thermal stress increases. The module itself is rarely the origin of the failure.
What volumes can you support?
Annual production capacity has reached 3.0 million devices, and all products are 100 % tested before dispatch, so consumer volumes are within normal supply.
Building A Quiet Cooling Appliance
Send the cabinet volume, the temperature you want to hold, the ambient range and the supply. We will suggest module codes and tell you what delta-T is realistic.
No forms. Messages reach our engineering desk directly. Reply within 24 hours, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00 Beijing time.