i think i spelled it right.
basically its a type of cooling technology used in overclocking machines, basically creating a surface that is below freezing temperatures, while the other side of this heatsink type area is boiling hot... do you think this will help keep the intercooler colder which equals more power?

 

yeah i've thought about it.

one little 1.5"x1.5" peltier cooler needs about 6 amps at 12 volts... so eventually you start sucking down a lot of current from the alternator to cool the IC. this puts a bigger load on the engine.

the cool thing is you can also use peltiers to make electricity. just make one side hot (attach to exhaust) and the other side cold (heat sink on it) and it will make current...i dont think this is too effecient but you could use exhaust heat to power your peltiers on the IC.

but theres no good way to mount the peltiers to the IC, cause you still want airflow thru the IC dont you? you have to cool the hot side of the peltiers otherwise they are useless.

btw, you'll only get about 30f temperature differential from hot side to cold side. so if its 90F out then you'll have 60f on the IC, assuming you have enough to actually keep the air cool (doubt it).

 

For a very short term, possibly. To run the peltiers - enough peltiers to do the job well - would require a good bit of current. Your alternator's drag would more than make up for the power gained by thermodynamic loss with all the changes of state the energy would go through. Even if you eliminated that loss (impossible) you would just balance out.

Much cheaper and easier to just spray your IC with a CO2 fire extinguisher before each run. Or rig an IC sprayer setup.

Nice thinking, though.

 

yeah.. basically what he said. Its a complete waste and the peltiers are pretty expensive. A classmate (not a very bright one, in fact a dimwit VW guy) did this for his senior design project and it was a waste of time.

so yeah, dont do it. If you care that much run an air to water and if you really care spray the core.

 

I dont even know what a peltier is, but from how it sounds what about using them to cool the water in an air/water ic? not having to add ice and still maintain sub ambient temps would be cool


Modified by Phoenix GSR at 9:40 PM 7/8/2003