Study on the Design of a New Heatsink Cooling System for Thermoelectric Dehumidifier

Abstract

A thermoelectric dehumidifier may be built smaller than a compressor type dehumidifier of the same capacity; however, its efficiency is lower. This study proposes a new heat dissipation structure to improve the performance of a thermoelectric module (TEM) for the dehumidifier. The new structure ensures that cooled and dehumidified air flows through one or more holes inside the heatsink base. The design parameters selected for the orthogonal array experiments are existence of the holes, drive voltage of the TEM, air inflow rate, and the cooling fan position. Experimental results reveal that the air flow through the holes has the greatest effect on dehumidification efficiency. Through subsequent experiments, the number of holes and drive voltage of TEM required to maximize dehumidification capacity and coefficient of performance are obtained.