Thermoelectric Element based smart hybrid refrigeration and dispensing system

Refrigeration is the process of lowering temperature of a specific surrounding as compared to the surrounding environment. It is usually used in homes for food keeping and in hospitals for storing medicines. The available refrigerators are based on compressors which emit hazardous gases and also con

Project Title

Thermoelectric Element based smart hybrid refrigeration and dispensing system

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

Refrigeration is the process of lowering temperature of a specific surrounding as compared to the surrounding environment. It is usually used in homes for food keeping and in hospitals for storing medicines. The available refrigerators are based on compressors which emit hazardous gases and also consume a large amount of energy which makes it expensive as well for the consumer. Further, the refrigeration has fixed temperature settings that can’t be altered. On the other side water dispensing system is another widely used electrical appliance in homes and offices for hot and cold water at fixed temperatures.

Keeping in view the importance of the refrigerator and water dispensing system in our daily life, in this project we aim to design and fabricate a hybrid hot and cool system using the thermoelectric effect.

The proposed system will be compressor less and thus environment friendly and also it will be powered using solar thus will save energy consumption.  It will further provide variable temperature ranges for cooling and heating purposes and the same effect can be used to provide water at a variable temperature from dispensing module.

Moreover, the proposed hybrid refrigerator and water dispensing system will be integrated with an intelligent controller and thus can be remotely operated and monitored using IoT.

There is separate Hot, Cool, and Refrigeration unit which are interfaced with microcontroller through relays. The user inputs the desired temperature of the water and the specific Chamber is turned ON through Relay. Refrigeration Chamber remains turned ON unless the user requests HOT/COLD water through the keypad. Whenever a user enters the desired temperature, the respective chamber turns ON and at that time Refrigeration Chamber turns OFF.

When the temperature sensor senses the temperature of water in the chamber and confirms that it meets the selected temperature of the user, the water pump turns on for a small duration to provide the required water at the outlet, at the same time refrigeration unit automatically turns ON through relay and the process repeats itself for each user. The system is powered by a Solar panel as well as a grid depending upon the availability of the power, priority is given to the solar power in order to make it power efficient.

As the title states that the whole system is interfaced with IoT so that it can be monitored and controlled remotely. The IoT platform which is being used for this project is ‘’ThingSpeak’’ and is interfaced with the Node MCU (ESP8266).

Project Objectives

1. The basic and main objective of this project is to design small water dispensing units in a single prototype.
2. Design and development of Peltier effect-based cooling system
3. Design and development of Peltier effect-based Water Heating unit.
4. Design and development of Peltier effect-based Refrigeration Unit.
5. Design and development of water control unit.
6. Design and development of temperature control unit.
7. Design and development of the solar-powered hybrid system.
8. Design and development of IoT platform for Monitoring and controlling purposes.

Project Implementation Method

This Project is being implemented in 10 phases.

Phase #1: Literature review and general survey.

Phase #2: Development of Peltier Chambers and refrigeration unit.

Phase #3: Development of Control unit for Hot, Cool, and Refrigeration module.

Phase #4: Development of temperature control unit.

Phase #5: Development of Water Control Unit for dispensing module.

Phase #6: Development of Hybrid power unit.

Phase #7: Development of an IoT platform, to monitor and control the system remotely using a smartphone.

Phase #8: Integration and testing of the prototype.

Phase #9: Hardware design and evaluation.

Phase #10: Completion of the report.

Benefits of the Project

The major benefits of this project are:

1. Eco-friendly because no emission of hazardous gases like CFCs.
2. Low power consumption.
3. Economical to use.
4. Ability to heat and cool for precise temperature control.
5. Use for food preservation and drinking purposes at home.
6. Can be used for storage of vaccines and injections etc. at hospitals
7. No moving parts, eliminating vibration, and noise.
8. Use of no hazardous CFC refrigerants.
9. Low power consumption.
10. Hot, normal, and cold water in a single outlet.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

This project will have the following technical deliverables:

1. Mechanical Prototype of the Water dispensing Unit equipped with the heating and cooling systems.
2. Thermoelectric Element Based Hot and Cool system for water.
3. Thermoelectric Element based refrigeration system.
4. A fully functional temperature control unit will be the main interface of the project.
5. A fully functional Cold section unit.
6. Solar-powered based hybrid unit along with power storage element (Battery).
7. Fully customized IoT platform enabled for monitoring and controlling.
8. Software-based simulations, coding, and designs.
9. Thesis report.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Food

Other Industries

Energy , Manufacturing , Health

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Clean Tech

Sustainable Development Goals

Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com