Automobile air conditioning system employing thermoelectric devices

Claim 1

In an air conditioning system for a vehicle having a passenger space and an engine compartment isolated from said passenger space, an internal combustion engine in said compartment, an engine cooling system for removing heat from said engine during the operation thereof and comprising a source of water, means for circulating the water through said engine to transfer heat from the latter to the former, a radiator component through which heated water passes, and an air blower unit for blowing ambient air across said radiator to remove therewith heat from said water, said engine having an exhaust system including an exhaust manifold for carrying off heated products of combustion resulting from operation of said engine, said air conditioning system including, a plurality of thermoelectric units each comprised to two dissimilar semiconductors and having two junctions of said semiconductors, one of the junctions of each thermoelectric unit being disposed within said passenger space and other junction within said compartment, a thermoelectric generator device connected electrically with said thermoelectric units for producing and supplying DC current flow to said thermoelectric units whereby heat is caused to flow from one of the junctions of each unit to the other and vice-versa in correspondence with the direction of current flow in said units, and a fan unit in said passenger space for blowing air onto the junctions of said thermoelectric units disposed in said space and circulating same therein, the improvement of said generator device comprising a plurality of thermoelectric couples each comprised of two dissimilar semiconductors and having a hot side and a cold side, the hot sides of each being disposed interiorly of a common duct disposed in said compartment and carrying said thermoelectric couples, the cold sides being disposed exteriorly of said duct, said duct being connected by conduit means to said exhaust manifold for receiving heated products of combustion from said engine, said duct being disposed in said compartment in relation to said air blower unit such as to expose said cold sides to the air blown by said air blower unit for carrying heat therefrom.