Hybrid Space Cooling

Introduction:
Ground Based Cooling System

Cooling by underground Earth Tubes:

Cooling tubes are long, underground metal or plastic pipes
through which air is down. The idea is that as the air travels
through the pipes, it given up some of its heat to the surrounding
soil, entering the house as cooler air. A cooling tube system uses
either an open or closed loop design.
In an open loop system, the outdoor air is drawn into the tubes
and transported directly to the inside of house. This provides
ventilation while optimistically cooling the houses interior.

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In a closed loop system, interior air circulates through the earth
cooling tubes. A closed loop system is more efficient than open
loop design. It does not exchange air with the outside.
Closed Loop
Horizontal
Vertical

Why Ground Based Cooling?

Low Grade geothermal technology is
cost. Effective, environmentally
friendly method of providing cooling
as well as heating. Already widely
accepted around the world, this
technology continues to grow in
popularity. In the context of to days
diminishing fossil fuel reserves,
increasing electrical cost, air
pollution and global warming,
properly designed earth cooling
tubes offer a sustainable alternative to reduce or eliminate the
need for conventional compressor based air conditioning system.
They also provide the added benefit of control, filter, temperate
fresh air intake, which is especially valuable in tight, well
weatherized, efficient building envelopes.

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Benefits of ground based cooling:

GBCS require less maintenance than combustion based
heating systems.
Heat pumps save carbon emissions.
GBCS are safe, silent, unobtrusive and out-of-sight: they
require no planning permission.
Heat pumps can also provide cooling in summer, as well as
heating in winter.
Ground source heat pumps are the only renewable energy
technology that can benefit from the thermal energy storage
properties of the ground to recycle heat from summer to
winter.
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Heat in order to achieved desired heating or cooling. An
important design aspect of heat exchanger technology is
the selection of appropriate materials to conduct and
transfer heat and efficiently.
Copper has many desirable properties for thermally
efficient and durable head exchanges. First and foremost,
copper is an excellent conductor of heat. This means that
coppers high thermal conductivity allows heat to pass
through it quickly. Other desirable properties of copper in
heat exchangers include its corrosion resistance,
biofouling resistance, maximum allowable stress and
internal pressure,creep rupture strength, fatigue strength,
hardness, thermal expansion, specific heat, antimicrobial
properties, tensile strength, yield strength, high melting
strength, yield strength, high melting point, alloyability,
ease of fabrication.

Thermo Electric Cooling (TEC ):

Ground based cooling can be more effective by use of another eco
friendly cooling principle i.e. Thermo Electric Cooling (Peltier
Refrigeration).

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Thermoelectirc Cooling
French watchmaker, Jean Charles Athanase Peltier, discovered
Thermoelectric cooling effect, also known as Peltier cooling effect,
in 1834. Peltier discovered that the passage of a current through a
junction formed by two dissimilar conductors caused a
temperature change. However, Peltire Failed to understand this
physics phenomenon, and his explanation was that the weak
current doesnt obey Ohms law. Peltier effect was made clear in
1838 by Emil Lenz, a member of the St. Petersburg Academy. Lenz
demonstrated that water could be frozen when placed on a
bismuth-antimony junction by passage of an electric current
through the junction. He also observed that if the current was
reversed the ice could ice could be melted. In 1909 and 1911
another scientist Alternkirch derived the basic theory of thermo
electrics. His work pointed out that thermo electric cooling
materials needed to have high Seebeck coefficients, good
electrical conductivity to minimize Joule heating, and low thermal
conductivity to reduce heat transfer from junctions to junctions.
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Shortly after the development of practical semiconductors in
1950s, bismuth telluride began to be the primary material used
in the thermoelectric cooling. The passage of an electric current
through junctions of dissimilar metals causes a fall in temperature
at one junction and a rise at the other, the Peltier effect.
Improvements in this method of cooling have been made possible
in recent years by the production of suitable semiconductors.
Applications are limited in size, owing to the high electric currents
required and practical uses are small cooling systems for military,
aerospace and laboratory use.

Operating Principle:

Thermoelectric coolers operate by the Peltier effect (Which

also goes by the more general name thermoelectric effect).

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The device has two sides, and when DC current flows

through the device, it brings heat from one side to the
other, so that one gets cooler while the other gets hotter.

The hot side is attached to a heat sink so that it remains

at ambient temperature, while the cool side goes below
room temperature.

In some applications, multiple coolers can be cascaded

together for lower temperature.
Thermo Electric cooling is done by a device called peltier
which solar energy for its working.

BENEFITS OF USING TEC

No moving parts, so maintenance is required less frequently.

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No chlorofluorocarbons.

Temperature control to within fractions of a degree can be

maintained.

Flexible shape (Form factor); in particular, they can have a

very small size.

Can be used in environments that are smaller or more

severe than conventional refrigeration.

Has a long life, with mean time between failures (MTBF)

exceeding 100,00 hours.

Is controllable via changing the input voltage/current.

Identification

Construction

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Two unique semiconductors, one n-type and one p-tpye, are

used because they need to have different electron densities.
The semiconductors are placed thermally in parallel to each
other and electrically in series and joined with a thermally
conducting plate on each side.
When a voltage is applied to the free ends of the two
semiconductors there is a flow of DC current across the
junction of the semiconductors causing a
Temperature difference. The side with the cooling plate
absorbs heat which
is then moved to the other side of the device where the
heat sink is.

TECs are typically connected side by side and sandwiched

between two ceramic plates. The cooling ability of the total
unit is then proportional to the number of TECs in it.
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Components:
Complete System is divided into three parts:
1. Isolated chamber
2. Cooling Tower
3. Foundation Unit

Isolated Chamber:
It is space where we want to maintain comfort temperature. It is
made by GI Sheet. Side walls of this chamber are properly
insulated. Peltier Device is placed at bottom of isolated chamber.
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After circulation of Cooled air through earth tube, the air is
supplied to this chamber. A heat exchanger is placed to take away
the heat from hot surface of peltier.

Isolated chamber has following parts:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Insulated cabin
Peltier Device
Heat Exchanger
Silica Gel
Digital Temperature Sensor

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Materials Used:
Insulated with thermocol blocks.
Used copper pipe for heat exchanger.
M-seal.
Digital Thermometer 1 unit, temperature in degree
centigrade or faranite.
Peltier device.

Construction
1. First rectangular piece of thermacol is measured cut.
2. Then part thermacol is divided in four parts.
3. And from a hollow cuboid.
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4. Now its cap is made with thermacol only such that insulator
can be inserted in it.
5. Now used container which is filled with soil.
6. Now two holes are made in thermocol compartment for
insertion of pipe in isolated chamber.
7. And container have two holes . One hole is on the top of the
container and another is at the bottom of container
8. We have inserted the pipe from top hole of the container and
fixed with the blower through the bottom hole.
9. The power is supplied to the blower and air is sucked
10.
Then it goes to the chamber which is to be cooled.
11.
Though it is the hybrid cooling system the another
method of cooling is cooling through the paltier effect
12.
We have two paltier devices fitted with insulation in the
chamber.
13.
The cooling phase of both the paltier is inside the
chamber and hot phases of paltier is brought little out of the
chamber.
14.
The paltier are connected to the battery of 12V which is
charged by the solar pannel of 12V also.
15.
The whole setup is kept on cast iron stand.

Specification:
ISOLATED COMPARTMENT:
Isolated compartment outer Dimensions:
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Height 23cm
Width 21cm
Length 27cm
Isolated Compartment Inner Dimensions:
Height 18cm
Width 15cm
Length 21cm
Insulation thickness (Thermocol)

2.5cm

Peltier Heating and Cooling Area:4*4 cm2

Cooling Tower
Cooling tower is used to cool the water which got heated by
taking heat from the hot surface of cooling tower. Here, to show
the concept of cooling tower we used a cooler. Water becomes
cooler when it circulates through the wall where evaporative
cooling takes place.

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Cooling has following parts:
1. Cooling Fan
2. Centrifugal Pump
3. Water Supply Unit

Specification

Foundation Unit
Foundation Unit is the main component of to show the
concept of Ground Based Cooling System. Basically it is a
container. This container is filled with the soil.
Atmospheric air is passed through the soil by earth tubes
with the help of blower. The soil will at lower temperature
compared to the atmospheric air. So, The air releases its
heat to soil and become cooler. This cooler air is supplied
to the isolated chamber through carrier tubes.

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Foundation unit has following parts:

Soil container
Earth tube
Carrier Tube
Blower

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SOIL CONTAINER
Soil container is made up of aluminium.

Stand specification:
LENGTH 35 CM
HEIGHT - 70 CM
WIDTH - 35 CM
Construction:
Stand is made up of cast iron bar.
Cutting is done by grinding machine.
Arc welding is used to join bar.
CONTAINER
Specification:Length 66cm
Width - 51cm
Height - 69cm

TUBES SPECIFICATION
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EARTH TUBE SPECIFICATION:Diameter 1 cm
Height

- 50 cm

Blower
Blower will take hot air form the atmosphere and
supply it to soil chamber by earth tube.
Specification:3

Discharge : 2-3 m /min

Power : 600 watt
Speed : 16000 rpm

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Power supply unit for peltier:

Peltier device is operated at 72 watt, 12 volts and 6
ampere. Battery is used to supply the power to peltier.
Solar plate is used for charging the battery.

Solar Plate
12 Volt/25 ampere
Collector Area

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101*40

cm 2

Hybrid Space Cooling

Battery

MM MODEL 12V 7.2 Ah

L = 151 mm
WT = 2.45
W = 65 mm
H = 94.8 mm

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FLOW DIAGRAM

Working Principle:
Hybrid space cooling works on the combination of
Ground based cooling and Thermo electric cooling
(Pleltier effect). We observe that if atmospheric air is pass
through a tube (good heat conductor) which is placed
beneath the earth surface then air transferred its heat to
soil which is kept beneath the earth surface. As we know
that the temperature of earth is maintained to low in
summer season below 7 ft. This low temperature takes
heat from the warmer air and temperature of air get
decrease. The flow of air is attained by the help of blower.

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Now this low temperature air goes to the space to
the space where we want to cool environment. Here
ground based cooling system is coupled with
thermoelectric cooling device i.e. peltier. One surface of
peltier is colder. Air will flow on the colder surface and
become cooler. The combination of ground based cooling
and thermoelectric cooling will give comfort environment
of 24-26 c in the space in hot summer condition when
the outside temperature is 35-40 c.

Other surface of the peltier will get heated to

remove this heat we circulates water. Water will absorb
heat form hot surface and it will flow through the cooling
tower. In the cooling tower evaporative cooling takes
place with water so water again become ready to take
heat from the hot surface of peltier.

ObservationTIME
12:11PM

TEMPERATURE(in degree
celcious )
37.0

12:21PM

33.4

12:31PM

30.2

12:39PM

28.3

12:45PM

26.8

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Our observation shows that temperature drops take

place from 37.00C to 26.80C.
It takes 34 minutes to achieve this temperature in
the isolated cooling chamber.
ANALYSIS:Blower:- V= 2626V
P= 600W
Battery:- P= VI
V= 12V
I= 7.2Ah
P= 12*7.2
P = 86.4W
Two Peltier:Power = 90W + 90W
= 180W
Two Fan :V = 12V
I = 0.15Ah
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Power = 12*0.15*2 = 3.6W
Total Input Power:P = Power used in blower + Power used
in peltier +
power used in fan
= 600 + 180 + 3.6
= 783.6W
Total Output:mC p

Q=

* T

m = Density * Volume
= 1.2 * 2.3
= 2.76 Kg/min
Then,
Q = [2.76 * 1.008 * (37-26.8)] / 60
= 0.47 KJ/sec = 0.47KW
= 470W
Now,
COP = Desired Effect / Work Input
= 470 / 783.6 = 59.9 %
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Cost Analysis:

Peltier Device
: Rs. 1600
Solar Plate
: Rs. 1,500
Battery
: Rs. 900
Temperature sensor : Rs. 550
Tubes
: Rs. 1,800
Blower
: Rs. 3,000
Container
: Rs. 550
Wheels
: Rs. 400
Stand
: Rs. 580
Machining cost
:
Rs. 1,000
Labour Charge
:
Rs. 300

Total Estimate:

RS.

12,180

APPLICATION:
Hybrid space cooling system can be used for space
cooling in industries, commercial buildings, and domestic
purpose.
Themoelectric Cooling has many applications like,
USB Powered beverage cooler
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Consumer Products: portable coolers, cooling
electronic components and small instruments.

ADVANTAGES:
1. Eco Friendly
2. Required very less maintenance.
3. Low running cost.
4. Application in Remote Areas.
5. Can be used for cooling in summer and heating in
winter season.
6. Compared to conventional cooling it is more
effective.
7. GBCS have few moving parts so they are highly
reliable.
LIMITATIONS
High installation cost.
Dependent on topographical conditions of site.
Disturbances to land during installations.
CONLUSIONS
The increasing cost of fossil fuels led to a rapid use of
alternative heating and cooling systems, which can
take on a wide range of different formats.
It is estimated that the heat pump heating and
cooling system, already widely used in commercial
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building due to advantages of increased efficiency
and reduced heating and fuel costs.

REFERENCES:
Refrigeration and Air conditioning by C P Arora.
Themoelectric Cooler basics..TEC Micro
system
International Journal of Sustainable Construction
Engineering and Technology (Energy Efficient
Green Building Based on Geo Cooling System)
American Journal of Engineering Research
(Experimental Investigation of Geothermal Air
Conditioning)
Google
Wikipedia

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