Peltier Junctions for Rabbit cooling

[TMTex]

Let me know when you have tested your prototype. I am waiting patiently to see if we have a new project to do!

Hopefully, I'll be able to do a field test tomorrow. I borrowed the test equipment from the techs at work for the weekend. The mini air conditioner is finished and I just need to work out how to attach the cooler to my buck's hutch. I'll use a battery charger on low for the first test. If I need more cooling, I can always bump it up. It's supposed to be in the mid 90s for the next few days...



Walmart had these coolers on sale for $16 and change. It looked about right for this project.




I found a heat sink that fit the two peltiers. Old AMD based computers have that type of heat sink. The Intel based ones would work better for a single peltier. I washed the heat sink with soap and water to get the dust off and cleaned the old thermal paste off with alcohol.

I used the thermal epoxy to glue the heat sink to the cold side of the peltiers and clamped them for 2 hours.




After curing, here's the cold side of the mini air conditioner.




And the hot side.




I'll just add a little silicone sealant between the heat sink and divider (CD) to make sure the vapor barrier is beyond sealed. I tend to overbuild things.

 

[Miss M]

I tend to overbuild things.

So does my beloved Shay. The tendency has served us very well.

 

[paradox]

Windows 98 WAS good for stuff. It was Millenium and Vista that sucked

 

[TMTex]

I had a little setback. I set the device on a counter and it fell. It hit the side of a dog's water dish and then fell in. The cold side heat sink was bent and part of the CD shattered.

I dried it off and patched it together the best I could and mounted it on the cooler. The shock must have cracked one or both of the peltiers because the cold side won't cool below 75 degrees.

Back to square one, but I have a cooler anyway. I have other projects to do, but I'll get back to this one eventually.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Oh, what a bummer!

 

[grumpy]

All I need now is the cold side heat sink and an enclosure to mount it into. The doe's nesting rooms would work, but they have kits in them. Don't want to cool them too much. Maybe I'll add a cooler or something to my main buck's hutch.

inkbunny: Well.......at least his personals will stay cool.. inkbunny:

sorry......couldn't help myself.

grumpy

 

[Miss M]

I had a little setback. I set the device on a counter and it fell. It hit the side of a dog's water dish and then fell in. The cold side heat sink was bent and part of the CD shattered.

I dried it off and patched it together the best I could and mounted it on the cooler. The shock must have cracked one or both of the peltiers because the cold side won't cool below 75 degrees.

Back to square one, but I have a cooler anyway. I have other projects to do, but I'll get back to this one eventually.

:rip:

Windows 98 WAS good for stuff. It was Millenium and Vista that sucked

If I recall correctly, Windows 98SE was much more stable than Windows 98, which is what was used in this experiment. Of course, I did go directly to 98SE from Windows 3.11, so.... :lol:

I heard too many horrible things about Millennium and Vista to try. I ended up with a computer with ME because it was given to me. (I think that was the one I turned over to the cops when I found some Really Bad Stuff on it.) I did work on a couple of Vista computers. Didn't like Vista. I do like XP and Windows 7, and am totally uninterested in Windows 8.

XP sunsets next year. I'll have to upgrade the school computer to Windows 7, but I'll have to build my mom a whole new computer. :?

Yipes... that was a whole bunch of fftopic: . Sorry!

 

[DitchDoc]

Did you ever have opportunity to revisit this project TMTex? I know there were a number of us waiting with bated breath to see how it would turn out!

 

[paradox]

Did you ever have opportunity to revisit this project TMTex? I know there were a number of us waiting with bated breath to see how it would turn out!

Good, I am not the only one. I have been trying to be patient. Didn't want to seem pushy. I have caves that need cooling and I haven't got the brains and tech knowledge he has. I am sure he is busy... but LORD HAVE MERCY IT'S HOT!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TMTex]

I'm sorry that I haven't updated this thread for a while. I built another peltier cooling device, but used a single peltier junction instead of two. I found an old High Voltage sign made of fiberglass and used it as the barrier.

I left the silicone sealant to cure and kinda forgot about it. I just now plugged it in to a 12 volt, 3 amp power supply and the cold side feels a little warmer than a cold soda out of the fridge. The hot side is hot to the touch, but not so much that I need to pull away. So this is 36 watts and I'm not using a fan on it right now. It cooled pretty quickly. Maybe 15 seconds or so.

I don't have the temperature meters with me at home. Also, one of the meters is due a calibration, so it's gone for a while.

This project took a back seat due to some modifications in the rabbitry that made the coolers unnecessary. I added a layer of shade cloth a few feet below the reflective roof and pointed the misters inside, rather than having them point up. I also set the fans so they're blowing directly on the rabbits instead of above them. My rabbits no longer show any heat distress signs and the thermometer out there is from 10 to 20 degrees lower than ambient during the heat of the day.

Anyway, the peltier cooler seems to work and I just need to install it out in the rabbitry. I'll probably use it in the quarantine area since it has less misting and only one fan.

I'm thinking that the first test cooler reached 35 degrees without a heat sink and this one doesn't feel that cold. I'm using thermal epoxy, so I'm probably losing a lot of efficiency there. I'll need to come up with a better way of mounting the cold side heat sink and use regular thermal paste. I'll look into that on the next one I put together.

 

[Miss M]

Okay, glad for the update!

Glad your rabbitry modifications are working well. Too humid here for misters. When it's humid enough that your laundry won't dry on the line, it's too humid for misters. :roll: