Real-Time Determination of Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient Via Thermoelectric Modules

Abstract

In this paper, the determination of convective heat transfer coefficient under actual convection processes is proposed by using thermoelectric modules. The thermoelectric modules are positioned where cooling/heating processes take place. Based on the Seebeck effect and energy balance, voltage signals are mathematically related to the convective heat transfer coefficient in real time. In experiments, convective heat transfer coefficients of airflow in a wind tunnel are determined under heating/cooling processes at various wind speeds. The relative mean difference of the convective heat transfer coefficients between the proposed methodology and empirical formula is 2.31%. For real-time implementation, convective heat transfer coefficients of a copper plate, which is exposed to outdoor conditions during a whole day, are determined to predict copper plate temperatures from a governing equation. The performance of temperature prediction is confirmed by a coefficient of determination R2 of 0.9992. Analytical and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed thermoelectric modules in determining the convective heat transfer coefficient for air under actual cooling/heating conditions, in time.