Are cheap Chinese peltier modules efficient?

Question

I'm developing a product that cools beverages and trying to decide what peltier modules to choose.

I've noticed that some companies like Laird Technologies, CUI inc and TE technology offer expensive coolers, while there are many generic offerings form china that come in at a fraction of the cost such as the TEC1-127XX series devices.

I'm just wondering if anyone has experience in comparing the value from the expensive manufacturers and the cheap generic ones. Have the Chinese mastered thermoelectric coolers and saturated the market with competitive prices or are there significant performance gains to be had from the expensive manufacturers?

Answer 1

The cheap Chinese peltier modules are more or less exactly the same as the expensive ones. The Chinese ones are cheaper because they get cheap postage, and often come from a nearby factory.

Next, peltier modules are VERY inefficient. At the best of times they use around half of their supplied wattage, and can be expensive to run. This disadvantage however is offset by just how cheap they are (Around ~1£ on eBay).

To decide what version of the TEC1-127XX series, you can look at the last 2 digits to determine how much it consumes and moves. For example, the TEC1-12706 moves 60W, the TEC1-12707 moves 70, the TEC1-12715 is around 150W and TEC1-12730 is about 250W.

TL;DR

There's little difference. Just buy the cheapest.

Answer 2

There is a big difference between Chinese manufacturers, but in general my experience is they aren't as good for long term reliability and there is less production consistency from lot to lot.

If you are making a cooled cup holder for a senior design project they are probably fine. If you are putting them in an expensive bit of medical, industrial or laboratory equipment I would prove your source out before depending on them.

Thermally there can be some difference as well (slightly lower DT max), but that may not be significant unless you are operating them at higher DT's, probably 50°C or more across the device. At that point the by the time you subtract off the parasitic (internal) losses withing the cooling assembly the reduced performance may have a significant impact on the net cooling capacity of the assembly.