Design and Development of a Thermoelectric Pan for Heating and Chilling Application

Abstract

This research is a development of the thermoelectric pan which is capable of both heating and chilling on a single pan. This thermoelectric pan is composed of six thermoelectric modules as a source of hot and cold temperature. A heat exchanger is installed on one side of each thermoelectric module, whereas a steel plate attaches to the other side working as a heat/cold pan. The dimension of the pan is 30 x 40 x 0.8 cm approximately. The heat exchanger receives heat from thermoelectric modules and transfers it to water in the system, then the water circulates through a radiator passing heat to surroundings with a fan in order to increase its efficiency. The main control system consists of microcontroller circuits to manage relays to turn on/off or to switch the terminals of power supplies. The thermoelectric pan have three modes of operation; 1) Hot mode, the thermoelectric pan can reach maximum temperature at 107 ^oC by consuming 360 W maximum power, 2) Warm mode, the thermoelectric pan can generate temperature at 79 ^oC for 250 W power consumption and 3) Cold mode, the thermoelectric pan can lower temperature to minimum at 14 ^oC taking 300 W operating power.