Cheap material converts heat to electricity
sciencemag.org
Cheap material converts heat to electricity
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Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#2[flagged]
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#3I wonder if you could get it small enough to use with CPUs. Could extend the battery of a laptop for example. I’m also thinking of AC units, where it could lower the power consumption at the same time as lowering the heat we diffuse into nature, especially in big cities where the most rooftops feel like saunas.
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#4Time to air-con the world, I guess
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#5I wonder if you could get it small enough to use with CPUs. Could extend the battery of a laptop for example. I’m also thinking of AC units, where it could lower the power consumption at the same time as lowering the heat we diffuse into nature, especially in big cities where the most rooftops feel like saunas.
> I’m also thinking of AC units, where it could lower the power consumption
Nope, if you use this on hot side, AC will have to work more to get rid of heat, but this device will still provide less power than ac must now use. Design criterium for AC's is that hot side should be as cool as possible (so it has a big fan to cool it down), but thermoelectrics require hot side to be as hot as possible.
AFAIK compressor units are still way more efficient than this device, so no reason to bog them down with something with less efficiency.
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#6> Those could be installed everywhere from .. water heaters .. to scavenge some of the 65% of fossil fuel energy that winds up as waste heat.
Modern condensing gas boilers for domestic use are better than 90% efficient, the exhaust gas is very cool so I don't think that thermoelectric devices have much to offer there.
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#7I wonder if you could get it small enough to use with CPUs. Could extend the battery of a laptop for example. I’m also thinking of AC units, where it could lower the power consumption at the same time as lowering the heat we diffuse into nature, especially in big cities where the most rooftops feel like saunas.
> I’m also thinking of AC units, where it could lower the power consumption Nope, if you use this on hot side, AC will have to work more to get rid of heat, but this device will still provide less power than ac must now use. Design criterium for AC's is that hot side should be as cool as possible (so it has a big fan to cool it down), but thermoelectrics require hot side to be as hot as possible. AFAIK compressor uni…
I don’t think that’s right.
The solid state methods can sustain a temperature differential with a given power/heat flow. If the hot side is cooler, the cold side can be cooler, or less power is required.
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#8> Those could be installed everywhere from .. water heaters .. to scavenge some of the 65% of fossil fuel energy that winds up as waste heat. Modern condensing gas boilers for domestic use are better than 90% efficient, the exhaust gas is very cool so I don't think that thermoelectric devices have much to offer there.
That is because the 90% is heat efficiency, this is for extracting electricity, which is much harder.
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#9> The polycrystalline tin selenide the team makes is spiked with sodium atoms, creating what is known as a “p-type” material that conducts positive charges. To make working devices, researchers also need an “n-type” version to conduct negative charges.
This is literally inventing half a solution. Shockley didn't go to the press when he'd built half a diode.
(OK, this is snarky, but I think this is another case where people need to understand the difference between "a small but valid advancement in the art" and "actual products". As a materials science paper this is valid.)
Re: Cheap material converts heat to electricity
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I’m also thinking of AC units, where it could lower the power consumption Nope, if you use this on hot side, AC will have to work more to get rid of heat, but this device will still provide less power than ac must now use. Design criterium for AC's is that hot side should be as cool as possible (so it has a big fan to cool it down), but thermoelectrics require hot side to be as hot as possible. AFAIK compressor uni…
I don’t think that’s right. The solid state methods can sustain a temperature differential with a given power/heat flow. If the hot side is cooler, the cold side can be cooler, or less power is required.
If you insert something between hot side and air to extract energy, there will be more heat resistance and lower heat transfer, but this resistance will be bigger than what you get from your energy extracting device.
If you use that new device as a cooling enchancer, you will have to provide some power. If your first cooler user more efficient method, you should just make bigger unit using more efficient method, because otherwise whole apparatus will be less efficient.