# Does condensation on a cooling element indicate lost cooling efficiency?

I have a box with 80%ish humidity, temp ~80f, a strong fan, and a TEC (peltier) with coolsink mounted-- the coolsink does NOT have a fan attached.

The TEC is ~68' normally and drips condensation from the coolsink.

My intuition is that if I was circulating air quickly enough, I should not see (or see less?) condensation since the air would transfer its heat to the TEC before the moisture could condense.

So I'm wondering if I could increase my cooling efficiency by increase the amount of airflow to the coolsink, but this isn't my area and I clearly don't know.

• You should calculate the dew point temperature of air for given humidity and atmospheric pressure. If air is cooled below this temperature, then condensate will form regardless of whether or not you are circulating air. – Deep Mar 24 '17 at 5:32

It's definitely lost cooling efficiency.

To take it from the vapour state into the liquid state requires $2257 \frac{kJ}{kg}$ .

Humid air also has a higher heat capacity in general.

Speeding it up could help some. Faster air should definitely increase your convective cooling rate regardless.

That said, depending on what you're doing and how you're doing it, I suggest using less humid air.

Before bothering with any of that it might be helpful to see how much actually condenses and estimate the energy lost because of it. It may be such a small fraction of the cooling that it's not worth the extra energy to try and prevent it.

• TVM, I can't reduce the humidity- it's by design, but collecting the water is a really good idea. – dethSwatch Mar 23 '17 at 18:44