Re:New thermoelectric cooling breakthrough nearly doubles ef...
by Nvorzula on Thursday September 25, 2025 @05:41PM
(#45379493)
I'll throw in my own niche usecase for thermoelectric - deep sky imaging.
I do astrophotography as a hobby (taking pictures of galaxies/nebulae/etc). This involves doing long, multi-minute, exposures repeatedly all night long. The heat generated from such long exposures produces what are called "hot pixels" - noise generated by heat disrupting the electronics.
To combat this, dedicated deep sky imaging cameras run a thermoelectric cooler to bring the sensor to sub-zero temperatures. These sensors tend to be about 23.5×15.7mm in size.
Niche, sure. But I saw an opportunity to bring up an aspect of my own life where I sincerely do not think even the smallest compressors would be practical. Plus, the lack of moving parts in thermoelectric is very attractive.
I do astrophotography as a hobby (taking pictures of galaxies/nebulae/etc). This involves doing long, multi-minute, exposures repeatedly all night long. The heat generated from such long exposures produces what are called "hot pixels" - noise generated by heat disrupting the electronics.
To combat this, dedicated deep sky imaging cameras run a thermoelectric cooler to bring the sensor to sub-zero temperatures. These sensors tend to be about 23.5×15.7mm in size.
Niche, sure. But I saw an opportunity to bring up an aspect of my own life where I sincerely do not think even the smallest compressors would be practical. Plus, the lack of moving parts in thermoelectric is very attractive.