Electronic (solar) Air condition

With present technology, the Siebeck effect is relatively inefficient, though it is useful in small apps if you want to avoid mechanical parts. It should work with photovoltaic (PV) solar.

A wind turbine could drive a refrigeration compressor directly, or a generator that in turn could power a motorized compressor and/or other items.

PV solar can also produce electricity and thereby run motors and other stuff.

A solar concentrator could power an absorption refrigeration cycle, no motors involved; or run a Stirling engine if mechanical output is desired. Neither of these technologies is well developed at a mass market level, but both may hold promise.

The Seebeck effect is the conversion of temperature differences directly into electricity and is commonly used in a device called a thermocouple.

Perhaps you were thinking of A Peltier cooler/heater or thermoelectric heat pump? It is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other. Peltier cooling is also called thermo-electric cooling (TEC).

GA/...was thinking the same. I have seen some peltier airconditioners on the WWW. I saw a dozen or more inside one unit. Claimed to be more energy efficient than compressor. I myself am somewhat bemused by the idea...may or may not work effectively.

Claims of energy efficiency are not necessarily true. To the best of my understanding, Seebeck/Peltier refrigeration is not very energy-efficient. However, it CAN be cost-efficient, especially in compact applications. It also has the advantage of no moving parts, or maybe only a small fan.

I don't know of any "Thimble Drome" size of refrigeration compressors, so for cooling a computer, a compression cycle might be more energy-efficient, but way less cost-efficient.

Btu/h moved versus W in....

Dear Mr.Gene,

You have explained the concept very clear. We can consider solar energy based adsorption refrigeration systems also. Heat driven sorption refrigeration cycles have existed in patent literature since at least 1909 and refrigerators were commonly available in the 1920s.Many researches throughout the world are working to commercialize this technology. We are still at a nascent stage of this promising technology. We are yet to travel a long journey in order to commercialize this new filed. Rams.

To Ace: my error in copying "Siebeck" from the OP. I thought it looked funny, but I didn't double-check. Whether Seebeck or Peltier, as I understand it the efficiency remains low.

To Mrswamy: I agree that this field should have lots of potential, especially in remote locations. I look forward to your paper as mentioned in a related thread. Alas, my location is really terrible for solar energy experiments (whereas my previous locale was excellent!)

Find a working RV (travel trailer or motor home) refrigerator. They use a propane burner to drive the absorption refrigeration cycle. Should be fairly easy to replace the propane burner with a solar collector as the heat source, and then reconfigure the coils and add fins to improve the rate of heat transfer from the air to the coils.