Article Sidebar

Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 506 Download : 106

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Main Article Content

Abstract

Pickup cars are one of the most important means of transportation in the distribution of goods and logistics. However, many customers choose pickup cars without air conditioning because they are less expensive and more energy-efficient, resulting in lower operating costs. Car air conditioning systems generally utilize vapor compression systems, which consume a significant amount of energy. Additionally, some studies on thermoelectric cooling face challenges due to incompatible and difficult-to-install designs within vehicle cabins. To address this issue, this research was conducted on developing an innovative compact air conditioning (AC) system for the cabin of a pickup car. This system utilizes thermoelectric cooling (TEC) combined with a heat pipe sink. This cooling system features a practical and installation-friendly design compared to previous work, which can be integrated into existing pickup models without significant modifications. It is designed as a cooling box that generates and circulates cold air within the cabin. In this testing, the cooling box comprises six-unit thermoelectric cooling, where each unit varies using one-stage TEC modules and two-stage TEC modules. A 175-watt and 200-watt heat was applied and varied in the cabin to simulate the cooling load, and the air outlet duct's velocity also varied at 2 m/s and 3 m/s. The results showed that the thermoelectric cooling systems can significantly reduce cabin temperature increases, lowering the rise by 11.0 °C for a single-stage TEC system and by 10.8 °C for a double-stage TEC system compared to the cabin without a cooling system. The highest COP value of 1.4 was obtained in the single-stage TEC cooling system at a velocity of 3 m/s. The results show the potential of an innovative thermoelectric cooling (TEC) system when combined with heat pipes, offering an alternative cooling solution for the cabin of a pickup car. This proposed cooling system can be adapted for vehicles that require compact and energy-efficient cooling solutions.

Keywords

Thermoelectric cooling (TEC) Heat pipe sink Cabin pickup cars Cooling system Coefficient of Performance (COP)

Article Details

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

References

  1. Wartaplus, “Mengapa banyak mobil pick up di Indonesia Tak Pakai AC,” Wartaplus. [Online]. Available: https://wartaplus.com/read/1567/Mengapa-Banyak-Mobil-Pick-up-di-Indonesia-Tak-Pakai-AC
  2. G. Satriya and A. Kurniawan, “Beli Mobil Tanpa AC dan Pasang Sendiri Lebih Untung, Kok Bisa,” Kompas. [Online]. Available: https://otomotif.kompas.com/read/2023/09/08/092200915/beli-mobil-tanpa-ac-dan-pasang-sendiri-lebih-untung-kok-bisa-
  3. M. Setiyo, B. Waluyo, N. Widodo, M. L. Rochman, S. Munahar, and S. D. Fatmaryanti, “Cooling effect and heat index (HI) assessment on car cabin cooler powered by solar panel in parked car,” Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, vol. 28, p. 101386, Dec. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.csite.2021.101386.
  4. P. P. Ratnaparkhi, S. Fartade, P. V Nagarhalli, N. Todkar, and R. Nagare Sr, “Implementation of IR Cut and Solar Green Glass to Optimize the Heat Load for Air Conditioning in Electric Buses,” Sep. 2023, p. 4. doi: 10.4271/2023-28-0006.
  5. B. C. Purnomo, I. C. Setiawan, and H. A. Nugroho, “Study on Cooling System for Parked Cars using Mini Air Cooler and Exhaust Fan,” Automotive Experiences, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 81–88, Jul. 2020, doi: 10.31603/ae.v3i2.3801.
  6. Y. D. Herlambang et al., “Study on Solar Powered Electric Vehicle with Thermal Management Systems on the Electrical Device Performance,” Automotive Experiences, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 18–27, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.31603/ae.10506.
  7. R. Sukarno, A. Premono, Y. Gunawan, A. Wiyono, and A. Lubi, “Experimental Investigation of Using Thermoelectric Coolers under Different Cooling Methods as An Alternative Air Conditioning System for Car Cabin,” Automotive Experiences, vol. 7, no. 2, 2024, doi: 10.31603/ae.11485.
  8. B. O. Bolaji, D. O. Bolaji, and S. T. Amosun, “Energy and cooling performance of carbon-dioxide and hydrofluoroolefins blends as eco-friendly substitutes for R410A in air-conditioning systems,” Mechanical Engineering for Society and Industry, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 35–46, 2023, doi: 10.31603/mesi.8591.
  9. F. I. Abam et al., “Thermodynamic modelling of a novel solar-ORC with bottoming ammonia-water absorption cycle (SORCAS) powered by a vapour compression refrigeration condensate for combined cooling and power,” Mechanical Engineering for Society and Industry, vol. 3, no. 2, 2023, doi: 10.31603/mesi.10365.
  10. I. I. Hakim, N. Putra, R. Sukarno, M. R. Audi, and F. F. Rachman, “Experimental study on utilization of heat pipe heat exchanger for energy conservation of air conditioning system in a hospitals and its techno-economic feasibility,” in The 4th International Tropical Renewable Energy Conference (I-TREC 2019), 2020, p. 030067. doi: 10.1063/5.0014138.
  11. R. Sukarno, A. Premono, Y. Gunawan, and A. Wiyono, “Experimental study of thermoelectric cooling system for a parked car with solar energy,” Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 2596, no. 1, p. 012052, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/2596/1/012052.
  12. J. Ko and J. H. Jeong, “Status and challenges of vapor compression air conditioning and heat pump systems for electric vehicles,” Applied Energy, vol. 375, p. 124095, Dec. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124095.
  13. Y. Duan, Y. Zhou, Z. Dou, Q. Dai, Y. Yu, and Q. Li, “Performance study of a novel indirect evaporative/air-cooled thermoelectric cooling air conditioning system,” Building and Environment, vol. 265, p. 111977, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111977.
  14. X. Su, L. Zhang, Z. Liu, Y. Luo, D. Chen, and W. Li, “Performance evaluation of a novel building envelope integrated with thermoelectric cooler and radiative sky cooler,” Renewable Energy, vol. 171, pp. 1061–1078, Jun. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.02.164.
  15. N. T. Atmoko, A. Jamaldi, and T. W. B. Riyadi, “An Experimental Study of the TEG Performance using Cooling Systems of Waterblock and Heatsink-Fan,” Automotive Experiences, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 261–267, Jun. 2022, doi: 10.31603/ae.6250.
  16. K. Ivanov, I. Belovski, and A. Aleksandrov, “Design, Building and Study of a Small-size Portable Thermoelectric Refrigerator for Vaccines,” in 2021 17th Conference on Electrical Machines, Drives and Power Systems (ELMA), IEEE, Jul. 2021, pp. 1–4. doi: 10.1109/elma52514.2021.9503057.
  17. S. H. Zaferani, M. W. Sams, R. Ghomashchi, and Z.-G. Chen, “Thermoelectric coolers as thermal management systems for medical applications: Design, optimization, and advancement,” Nano Energy, vol. 90, p. 106572, Dec. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2021.106572.
  18. E. S. mohamed, “Experimental evaluation of the thermoelectric package air conditioning for an automotive interior application,” International Journal of Refrigeration, vol. 174, pp. 34–46, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2025.02.009.
  19. J. M. Giri and P. K. S. Nain, “Recent Progress in the Design of Sustainable Thermoelectric Cooling Systems,” in Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, 2023, pp. 375–385. doi: 10.1007/978-981-19-1618-2_37.
  20. W. Zhang, Z. Liu, Y. Wang, L. Chu, and L. Shen, “Investigation of heat and humidity regulation in air-to-air thermoelectric air conditioner with large cooling capacity,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 268, p. 125944, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.125944.
  21. D. Kim et al., “Design and performance analyses of thermoelectric coolers and power generators for automobiles,” Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, vol. 51, p. 101955, Jun. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.seta.2022.101955.
  22. C.-Q. Su, Z.-Z. Wang, X. Liu, X. Xiong, T. Jiang, and Y.-P. Wang, “Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers,” Energy Reports, vol. 8, pp. 795–803, Nov. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.egyr.2022.10.153.
  23. Q. Wan, Y. Deng, C. Su, and Y. Wang, “Optimization of a Localized Air Conditioning System Using Thermoelectric Coolers for Commercial Vehicles,” Journal of Electronic Materials, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 2990–2998, May 2017, doi: 10.1007/s11664-016-5089-x.
  24. R. Sukarno, A. A. Maldini, R. Musyaffa, N. G. Yoga, and D. R. B. Syaka, “Preliminary study of the thermoelectric cooler and heat pipe application for the cooling system in cabin pickup car,” Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 2866, no. 1, p. 012090, Oct. 2024, doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/2866/1/012090.
  25. X. Lin, S. Mo, L. Jia, Z. Yang, Y. Chen, and Z. Cheng, “Experimental study and Taguchi analysis on LED cooling by thermoelectric cooler integrated with microchannel heat sink,” Applied Energy, vol. 242, pp. 232–238, May 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.03.071.
  26. L. Wang et al., “Advances and future perspectives in thermoelectric cooling technology,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 332, p. 119621, May 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2025.119621.
  27. H. M. Hu, T. S. Ge, Y. J. Dai, and R. Z. Wang, “Experimental study on water-cooled thermoelectric cooler for CPU under severe environment,” International Journal of Refrigeration, vol. 62, pp. 30–38, Feb. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2015.10.015.
  28. R. Pakrouh, A. A. Ranjbar, M. J. Hosseini, and M. Rahimi, “Thermal management analysis of new liquid cooling of a battery system based on phase change material and thermoelectric cooler,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 231, p. 120925, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2023.120925.
  29. S. Hu et al., “A portable design and demonstration of two-stage thermoelectric cooling system for 200 K cryogenic applications,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 268, p. 125838, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.125838.
  30. Y. Liu and Y. Su, “Experimental investigations on COPs of thermoelectric module frosting systems with various hot side cooling methods,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 144, pp. 747–756, Nov. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.08.056.
  31. M. W. Hadi, N. Putra, T. Trisnadewi, R. Sukarno, A. M. Fathoni, and N. A. Bhaskara, “Innovative Thermal Management System for Electric Vehicle Batteries: Phase Change Material, Heat Pipe and Heat Sink Box Integration,” Heat Transfer Engineering, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 503–513, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1080/01457632.2024.2325275.
  32. S. Alireza Mostafavi, M. Khalili, S. Saeed Keshvari Tabatabaei, and H. Moghadamrad, “Design and fabrication of a heat pipe and thermoelectric cooler-based food delivery box for vehicles,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 249, p. 123401, Jul. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2024.123401.
  33. R. Sukarno et al., “Experimental investigation of a thermoelectric generator assisted with heat pipe sinks for pickup car exhaust waste heat recovery,” Communications in Science and Technology, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 106–116, Jul. 2025, doi: 10.21924/cst.10.1.2025.1661.
  34. N. N. M. Zawawi, A. H. Hamisa, W. H. Azmi, T. Y. Hendrawati, and S. Safril, “Performance of hybrid electric vehicle air-conditioning using SiO2/POE nanolubricant,” Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, vol. 52, p. 103717, Dec. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.csite.2023.103717.
  35. C. Lertsatitthanakorn, P. Bamroongkhan, and J. Jamradloedluk, “Performance study of thermoelectric dehumidification system integrated with heat pipe heatsink,” Results in Engineering, vol. 17, p. 100901, Mar. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.rineng.2023.100901.
  36. N. P. Bayendang, M. T. Kahn, and V. Balyan, “A Structural Review of Thermoelectricity for Fuel Cell CCHP Applications,” Journal of Energy, vol. 2020, pp. 1–23, Jul. 2020, doi: 10.1155/2020/2760140.
  37. E. Sofia, N. Putra, and E. A. Kosasih, “Development of indirect evaporative cooler based on a finned heat pipe with a natural-fiber cooling pad,” Heliyon, vol. 8, no. 12, p. e12508, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12508.
  38. I. Ibnu Hakim, R. Sukarno, and N. Putra, “Utilization of U-shaped finned heat pipe heat exchanger in energy-efficient HVAC systems,” Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, vol. 25, p. 100984, Oct. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.tsep.2021.100984.
  39. B. Waluyo et al., “Cooling effect characteristic of the novel half-cycle refrigeration system on a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fueled vehicle,” Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, vol. 34, p. 101405, Sep. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.tsep.2022.101405.
  40. H. A. Ahmed, T. F. Megahed, S. Mori, S. Nada, and H. Hassan, “Performance investigation of new design thermoelectric air conditioning system for electric vehicles,” International Journal of Thermal Sciences, vol. 191, p. 108356, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2023.108356.
  41. S. A. A. Mousavi, H. Aghakhani, B. Baghapour, and S. Lv, “Integrating radiative cooling and thermoelectric: A comprehensive review,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 222, p. 115946, Oct. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2025.115946.
  42. R. Buchalik and G. Nowak, “Technical and economic analysis of a thermoelectric air conditioning system,” Energy and Buildings, vol. 268, p. 112168, Aug. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.112168.
  43. N. M. Shatar, M. F. M. Sabri, M. F. M. Salleh, and M. H. Ani, “Energy, exergy, economic, environmental analysis for solar still using partially coated condensing cover with thermoelectric cover cooling,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 387, p. 135833, Feb. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135833.
  44. X. Cui, Y. Zhu, Z. Li, and S. Shun, “Combination study of operation characteristics and heat transfer mechanism for pulsating heat pipe,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 65, no. 1–2, pp. 394–402, Apr. 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.01.030.