Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Thermoelectric water cooling

The following are some ways to cool water using thermoelectric cooler without ice formulation on the cold side of the thermoelectric module which acts as a thermal insulator:

- Using a direct cooling heat exchanger with a circulating pump with flow control to reduce residence time which may lead to ice formation and flow path blockage. A temperature sensor placed on heat exchanger output will be used to control the flow.


- Using thermoelectric module with magnetic stirring (see the proposed design below)



- Using swirling jets generated  by a small circulating pump

- Using more than one thermoelectric cooler with duty cycling (on and off control) to enable cold side deicing 

- Using stirring impeller



Monday, April 28, 2014

Thermoelectric cooler TEC1-12706

The following is just a schematic photo showing the size of thermoelectric cooler module TEC1-12706 .


Android stroboscope tachometer app concept

The following is a GUI concept for flash light stroboscope tachometer app which I think it is more easy and reliable than the design using scroll bars to control frequency. Each digit can be incremented and decremented separately.


Saturday, April 26, 2014

Methods to detect magnet poles

The following are some methods to detect magnetic poles of a magnet:

- Hang a magnet with a string in area free of metals or magnetic fields. This method is not practical to implement.

- Using sizzling magnet on a flat horizontal glass surface as compass

- Using known magnet: this is the simplest way. If one magnet pole attract to the north pole of the known magnet, then it is the south pole and vise verse.

-  Using compass: the same as the previous method.

- Using electromagnet connected to DC power supply. When current passes through the coil, a magnetic field is generated and will have a magnetic field determined by right hand rule.

- Using clamp meter

- Using Cathode Ray Tube CRT screen (available in TV or oscilloscope): moving(1) electrons are deflected based on the direction of magnetic field(2) lines following Lorentz low (left hand rule). The direction of electrons movement is perpendicular to screen and pointing outward. Using MS Paint program, draw a horizontal line in the center of the canvas and display the image on full screen. Place the magnet parallel to the drawn line.  

- Using hall effect sensor.

- Using smart phone magnetic sensor: in my case, I am using Samsung Galaxy S3 mini. Just open the dial screen and write down the following secret code *#0*#, then press "Sensor" button. I claim that the location of the three-dimensional magnetic sensor is located at the center of the dial circle.


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Counting number of semiconductor elements inside thermoelectric module

If you have a thermoelectric module (Peltier module) that you don't know how many semiconductor elements inside, all you have to do is to place it over a bright light source and count the elements. The following image shows the array of semiconductor elements (8 rows x 16 column).




Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Dual function Peltier water kettle (heating and cooling water on-request!!!)

I   It is a little bit imaginary, but it will be a dual function device. Save space of stand-alone water dispenser, get rid of water boiler, save energy, and save effort of changing water dispenser bottles.

Cooling: Give the right water temperature for the right person with this temperature adjustable water kettle. Get the water temperature you want on-request; just put the amount of water you want, adjust, and run. Don’t wait so long to get some cold water from a 1.5 L bottle just placed in the fridge, or from a 2 L water dispenser tank just filled from minutes.

Adjust water temperature for a person who is just coming from an extremely hot weather outside, for a person who have problems in his throat or teeth, for a child, … etc.

Heating: boil water or set water temperature accordingly if you prefer certain tea color and taste.


It may has two power options: AC power and DC power (in case of using it car). It can be made of glass with red and blue lights indicating mode (red: heating, blue: cooling). This idea is inspired somehow from the dry well temperature calibrators.