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vrancean
iniewski
I agree with @new2coding: from thermodynamics point of view re-charging your ...
Thermoelectrics could harvest car's heat
R Colin Johnson
12/21/2010 11:48 PM EST
PORTLAND, Ore.—Today's state-of-the-art thermoelectrics are only about 5 percent efficient, but new research indicates that a class of material called skutterudites—plus a new technque for aligning their atoms—could improve thermoelectric efficiencies to as much as 20-percent, enough for commercialization.
Such high-efficiency thermoelectric converters on the exhaust pipe of an automobile, for instance, could convert enough heat into electricity to charge the batteries of a hybrid vehicle.
Sutterudites conduct electricity well, but conduct heat poorly. However, University of Michigan professor Ctirad Uher recently discovered that certain configurations of a barium alloy in the compound could drastically increase the materials' efficiency. The technique effectively lowers the thermal conductivity of skutterudites, thus drastically increasing their conversion efficiency. Uher performed the work with fellow professor Massoud Kaviany.
The researchers claim that automobile manufacturers could use their new material to harvest the heat from the exhaust pipe of an automobile to generate electricity. "That's a big source of heat that you paid for already," said Uher.
The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the University of Michigan's Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion.
Such high-efficiency thermoelectric converters on the exhaust pipe of an automobile, for instance, could convert enough heat into electricity to charge the batteries of a hybrid vehicle.
Sutterudites conduct electricity well, but conduct heat poorly. However, University of Michigan professor Ctirad Uher recently discovered that certain configurations of a barium alloy in the compound could drastically increase the materials' efficiency. The technique effectively lowers the thermal conductivity of skutterudites, thus drastically increasing their conversion efficiency. Uher performed the work with fellow professor Massoud Kaviany.
The researchers claim that automobile manufacturers could use their new material to harvest the heat from the exhaust pipe of an automobile to generate electricity. "That's a big source of heat that you paid for already," said Uher.
The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the University of Michigan's Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion.
The conversion of energy between light and electricity (LEDs/solar cells) and between light and heat (light bulb/greenhouse) is complemented by thermoelectric conversion between electricity and heat.
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hm
12/22/2010 1:20 AM EST
This is wonderful innovation. This can be used in other electronics assembly. One field of interest will be LED lighting. It will increase the efficincy of light source and make its life longer with more uniform light source.
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R_Colin_Johnson
12/22/2010 2:10 PM EST
Yes, I agree regarding LEDs. Today a lot of effort is being put into keeping solid-state lighting cool, since am LED's lifetime is drastically shorted by overheating. Using thermoelectrics could cool LED arrays and recycle the energy to lower your electricity bill too!
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wilber_xbox
12/22/2010 3:09 PM EST
not only LEDs, we can think of myriad applications where efficient heat conversion into electricity can be used. Depending on how expensive the material will be, it can be alternative way to generate electricity.
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chanj
12/22/2010 2:52 AM EST
On one hands, this is a fantastic news. Energy harvesting is going to be, if not already, the next biggest research area in this decade. There will be more people benefit from the result.
On the other hands, more rare earth material is going to be used. I hope there is innovation in material science and nanotech that an alternative will be found in the near future.
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agk
12/22/2010 9:55 AM EST
The TEG devices or the TEC devices need to maintain a highest possible temp difference across its sides for maximum efficiency .This is highly complicated.If this new invention does not need this to be done then it will have a commercial win.
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DrQuine
12/22/2010 11:40 AM EST
After the catalytic converter, how much heat can be "mined" from the vehicle exhaust before there are environmental or operational efficiency impacts? This technology could also harvest waste heat from furnaces while electronically ensuring that the temperature doesn't get too low which would increase chimney deposits and impair the necessary vertical convection draft.
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R_Colin_Johnson
12/22/2010 2:07 PM EST
For automotive applications, the researchers said the thermoelectric material would recover the heat before the exhaust enters the catalytic converter, which usually have temperature sensors inside. Of course, temperature would have to be monitored by the control electronics to make sure the thermoelectric do not cooled the catalytic converter below its optimal operating temperature.
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selinz
12/22/2010 1:07 PM EST
Any time we can get energy recovered from petroleum that would otherwise exit the tail pipe, that's a plus. Hopefully it wiil be enough to overcome the negatives
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goafrit
12/22/2010 5:08 PM EST
These are technologies that would have made the future innovations of the 2011. I did not see this technology in the list of technologies to watch for.
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iniewski
12/22/2010 5:58 PM EST
Very interesting idea...one problem is obvious: you need to increase efficiency, the second is probably less obvious: how rare is this material?...we see now that some technologies based on rare materials can be expanded on a massive scale due to material shortages (and increased material costs)...Kris
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Dave.Dykstra
12/22/2010 11:03 PM EST
This is a fascinating area. Sooner or later, some technology will reach the point where the efficiencies enable adoption and we all reap the benefits. This could go a long way toward making the hybrid vehicle more electric.
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prabhakar_deosthali
12/23/2010 12:57 AM EST
I am just wondering whether this technology can be applied to refrigerators. In that case the heat exchanger design will be radically changed and the heat taken out from the fridge compartment could be recycled back to run the fridge itself or may be used to charge the mobile batteries or run some other appliances in the kitchen
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kinnar
12/23/2010 2:28 AM EST
In fact equally as Solar Energy this source of energy is completely left aside and no one has looked much into it. When we drive car excessive amount of heat gets generated and needs to be radiated out using radiator. Same if the case with Refrigerators and Air-conditioners. If we can convert this heat in some other form of energy too much amount of energy can be saved/earned. When food is being cooked out of 270 deg for heat spread is wasted.
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Amcfarl
12/23/2010 7:29 AM EST
Take a look at Coolchips/Powerchips. These are nanometer gap Peltier-type devices which have been waiting in the wings for years but have a claimed Carnot efficiency of at least 45%, better than this new material, if they can get them to work!
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GREAT-Terry
12/29/2010 4:10 AM EST
Interesting! Is there any comparison on the efficiency of those thermal electric generators? I wonder what the efficiency finally means. What we care is how much cost and weight is added in order to get the wanted power. Just for the peltier type device, we can always use matrix of devices to generate as much energy as we want if cost is not a matter.
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p_g
12/23/2010 7:32 AM EST
Another idea could be to harvest solar heat by consolidating it using solar cooker (glass changer with hi CO2) and converting to electricity. Not sure if it will be more efficient than solar energy conversion or may complement it.
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iniewski
12/23/2010 10:24 AM EST
To @p_g: it has been shown that solar cooker is more efficient than photovoltaics...the problem is you need industrial scale installation, so you can't do it at home...I believe Spain has the best installations...Kris
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iniewski
1/20/2011 8:32 PM EST
I agree with @new2coding: from thermodynamics point of view re-charging your batteries using waste heat doesn't make any sense, the math just does not work...perhaps small fraction but I highly doubt whether this gadget will ever pay off in a car, show me the money or ROI...Kris
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vrancean
3/24/2011 1:06 PM EDT
from ferotec:
this type of application was on the TE application list for many many years,
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