Air-to-air cooler/ heater

Louise Davis

Laird has developed a smaller, more efficient option to cool or heat vital electronics used in outdoor kiosks and enclosures including telecom, battery backup, industrial and other cabinets. The AA-230 Series air-to-air thermoelectric assembly (TEA) offers lower cost of ownership by maintaining the appropriate temperature range using less energy than standard air-to-air systems due to its high coefficient of performance (COP). 

In addition, the AA-230 Series TEA can be mounted inside enclosures to accommodate short partitioned shelf heights. Instead of cooling the entire cabinet, a single smaller AA-230 cooler protects only the specific electronics that require cooling, which translates to significant energy cost savings.

"Too many electronic cabinets are cooled needlessly with expensive, bulky compressor-based air conditioners. Standard air-to-air temperature control systems with vertical mounts are often too large to fit inside a enclosure, so instead they are mounted on an exterior wall to provide temperature control to the entire space inside," explains Anders Kottenauer, Senior Vice President of Laird's Engineered Thermal Systems business. "There's no need to cool the entire enclosure, it's a waste of time, energy, and money."

Because of its design, the new AA-230's steady state construction requires less maintenance than standard compressor based air conditioners. 

The AA-230 uses impingement flow to transfer heat and offers dependable, compact performance by cooling objects via convection. The AA-230 has 230 Watts of cooling power and at ?T=0°C. Heat is absorbed and dissipated thru custom designed heat exchangers with a high aspect ratio. The dual cold side air ducts can be oriented in any direction to accommodate obstructions and maximise circulation. The heat pumping action occurs from custom designed thermoelectric modules that achieve a high coefficient of performance (COP) to minimise power consumption.

Key System Features:

Horizontal mount to accommodate tight spaces

Flexible cold side air duct orientation

Input power accommodates a nominal/float voltage of 24/28 or 48/56 VDC

Power cycle tested up to 70K cycles

Environmentally friendly solid state operation with no CFC refrigerants

* Cooling and heating in the same unit to maintain compact form factor.

The AA-230 compliments the product family of Outdoor Coolers but can also be easily retrofitted as a substitute for compressor-based air conditioners used in medical diagnostic and analytical instrumentation for cooling and heating applications where maximising system uptime is required.