Samsung and US researchers say a new technology called thermoelectric cooling can make refrigerators 70% more energy efficient, & could enable them to power themselves from their ambient environment
Thin film thermoelectric cooling built with semiconductor process technology
Looking forward to a Technology Connections video debunking all these claims
He already did. "Thermoelectic cooling: It's not great."
"There's just one little issue with this technology. It's not very good. Like, at all."
TL;DR one side gets hot, while the other gets not very cold
So in order for the very hot side to not heat up the cold side, negating the cooling effect, you have to have a whole water cooled noctua 480mm fan assembly cooling that 2 cm*2 surface, just so that thingy can get to like 10C
I was looking at the thumbnail and wondering if it was these. Yeah, imma go with Alec on this one.
These are just Peltier cooling mechanisms highly refined it seems. If they've increased the efficiency enough that a full-sized refrigerator can keep food cool without refrigerant or a constant electrical signal, that's huge. AFAIK Peltier coolers still need some electrical input, though minimal.
Peltier is horribly inefficient though.
I'm calling bullshit. There's no way a Peltier element can exceed the coefficient of performance of the refrigeration cycle, at an affordable price, without turning the room into a hothouse.
without refrigerant
Yes, they say this does away with the need for compressors or refrigerants.
"This cools by using electrons to move heat through specialized semiconductor materials, eliminating the need for moving parts or challenging coolant liquids."
Yes, that's a Peltier device by definition. The efficiency of them as of now are not great, so the big news here, if reproducible is that they've refined a process that gets them up to 70%.
Huge if true.
I don't mind Samsung TVs, but it'd be a cold day in hell before I ever buy a Samsung appliance. They are shite.
I was not aware of this and bought a Samsung washer and dryer set a few years ago. Noticed one day that the dryer would keep spinning after the cycle ended. Then noticed that it started spinning before I turned the dryer on. I quickly realized that it now spins any time the door is shut, even when off.
Looked online and this is apparently a known mechanical bug in several models due to cheap components. So I can either unplug it or keep the door open anytime it's not in use. Never buying another Samsung either.
Energy efficiency sounds pretty woke to me.
Edit: for those down voting me; Trump Plans to Axe Decades-Old Energy Star Efficiency Program
But how will the poor energy companies profit?!?
Now if Samsung could only figure out the mysterious science behind making ice.
Fridges are insanely efficient as it is. Can't wait to see what else this can be used for.
This would be fucking insane if true and gets scalable. If Samsung has the tech though those assholes are going to upcharge it to a luxury item and we'll never see it.
cool
The post headline is BS. It's 70% more efficient than other thermoelectric materials. Not compared to current compressor fridges. Also no device ever can be powered by its ambient temperature, because thermodynamics says no
Thanks it got me confused, seemed so good that it had to be false but the title was also not very clickbaity.
Edit: opened the article anyway, this is the actual title above the article: Thin film thermoelectric cooling built with semiconductor process technology
I think the userbase of a community being clueless enough to tend to upvote anything vaguely good-sounding is a big factor in me eventually deciding to unsubscribe from that community. It doesn't seem like it is a fixable problem once it develops.
Hey, it works for the Voyager Space probes! 😏