A large proportion of the energy we produce disappears unused into thin air via waste heat.
Tiny thermoelectric generators can tap this potential, whereby the electricity is produced by way of temperature differences. However, so far their production has been laborious and expensive. At the same time there is a lack of suitable materials. At the Hannover trade fair researchers are now presenting a new manufacturing process with which these generators can be cost-effectively produced in the form of large-area flexible components from non-toxic synthetic materials (hall 3, booth D25).
We are all familiar with them – the gigantic white clouds of steam billowing from power station cooling towers. As impressive as this spectacle may be, in reality it represents a waste of energy as large power stations only rarely manage to convert more than 40 percent of the produced energy into electrical power. The rest is released unused, mainly via the cooling towers, into the atmosphere. Researchers have been working on utilizing the potential lying dormant in the over 150 m high concrete giants. The magic formula for this is known as thermoelectrics. This area of physics is concerned with generating electricity from temperature differences, and it is precisely in cooling towers where there can be very large differences between the hot steam and cooler concrete skin under some circumstances.
The scientists‘ vision is described by Dr. Aljoscha Roch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden: ”Thermoelectric generators (TEG) currently have an efficiency of around eight percent. That sounds very small. But if we succeed in producing TEG cost-effectively, on a large scale and from flexible materials we can install them extensively on the insides of the concave cooling tower wall. In this way, through the enormous amount of energy produced in the huge plants – around 1500 liters of water evaporate per minute – we could generate large quantities of electricity”.
Together with his colleagues at the IWS, Roch has now taken a big step closer to this goal. The scientists have succeeded in producing TEG by means of a printing process. The miniaturized generators can not only be produced cost-effectively, on large surfaces and in a flexibly manageable manner, but an additional major advantage is that the materials used are environmentally-friendly. ”TEG are today largely produced by hand from toxic components which contain lead for example. We are now using modern 3D printing technology and harmless polymers (plastics) that are electrically conductive,” explains Roch.
The new printing technology functions in a similar way to an inkjet printer. The difference is that instead of a thin jet of ink, a thermoelectrically active polymer paste emerges from the cartridge and produces the around 20 to 30 micrometer thick thermoelectric layers. “The generators have to be of a certain thickness in order to build up electrical voltage from temperature difference. Currently available 3D printing processes could be very suitable for achieving the required depth,” says Roch. The IWS researchers are demonstrating the printed TEG for the first time in a cooling tower model at the Hannover trade fair.
Minimal temperature differences are sufficient
But how is the electricity then ”harvested” from these polymer generators which are only a few micrometers in size? The hot steam activates the electrons in the generator, the negatively charged particles migrate to the cooler side and an electrical voltage is produced. Even small temperature differences such as one degree are sufficient for this effect. This has been known to physics for almost 200 years, but due to the lack of efficient manufacturing methods and suitable materials it has not been extensively utilized. The manually produced, brick-like TEG are used in space travel and in the form of tests in the automotive industry. Mounted on the exhaust pipe they supply current for the vehicle’s onboard electronics, for example. To date 600 W, the power output of around 6 light bulbs have already been demonstrated. When multiplied by the many millions of vehicles on Germany’s roads alone, several thousand million kilowatt hours could be saved by TEG.
The Latest Bing News on:
Thermoelectric Generators
- Nasa engineers bring Voyager 1 back to life after interstellar glitchon April 27, 2024 at 5:00 am
After a sudden loss of contact in November, mission controllers were able to reestablish contact with the probe across 15bn miles of space ...
- NASA manages to fix Voyager's garbled data problem, even though it's more than 15 billion miles awayon April 24, 2024 at 7:57 am
Powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), it continued to send back data to Earth and in 2012, it crossed the heliopause and officially entered interstellar space. It's fair to say ...
- From Nuclear Shadows To Celestial Rays: Navigating The Evolution Of Power – Unravelling The Pioneering Visionson April 24, 2024 at 5:49 am
Ever imagined charging your phone just by being outdoors? Welcome to the future of wireless power, not just on Earth but extending into the vastness of space!
- NASA Works To Restore Voyager 1 Engineering Data Transmissionson April 24, 2024 at 1:48 am
The Voyager 2 and 1 missions were launched from Cape Canaveralon Aug. 20 and Sept. 5, 1977, respectively, to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune before departing the Solar System. Voyager 1 ...
- Voyager 1 back in action: NASA engineers fix 24-billion-km glitchon April 24, 2024 at 12:24 am
Voyager 1 is currently traveling at over 15km per second. Its primary mission was a five-year exploration of Jupiter and Saturn. However, the probe surpassed expectations, venturing beyond our solar ...
- NASA Gets Engineering Data from Voyager 1 After Months of Garbled Transmissionson April 23, 2024 at 10:59 am
Voyager 1 launched 46 years ago, so you'd expect a little wear and tear on the spacecraft. The Voyager team has kept the probe online, although some of its more power-hungry instruments have been shut ...
- Writer Leonardo Padura chronicles life in Cuba as his detective 'alter ego' solves gripping crimeson April 23, 2024 at 8:50 am
Cuban writer Leonardo Padura has managed to turn his series of detective novels into a social and political chronicle of Cuba, especially his native Havana ...
- Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep spaceon April 23, 2024 at 8:30 am
Voyager-1 is more than 24 billion km (15 billion miles) away, so distant, its radio messages take fully 22.5 hours to reach us. "Voyager-1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and ...
- Ion thermoelectric conversion devices for near room temperatureon April 22, 2024 at 1:59 pm
The electrode sheet of a thermoelectric device consists of ionic hydrogel, which is sandwiched between the electrodes to form, and the Prussian blue on the electrode undergoes a redox reaction to ...
- Abuja Cosmopolitan University AI Innovation in Agricultureon April 22, 2024 at 6:27 am
Cosmopolitan University in Abuja declared that the University will start using a supercomputer cluster to support agricultural technology.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Thermoelectric Generators
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Thermoelectric Generators” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”] [/vc_column_text]The Latest Bing News on:
TEG
- Westmeath withstand late Longford comeback to win the Andrew Corden Cupon April 30, 2024 at 2:39 pm
Just a solitary point separated the sides in a very exciting end as determined Longford almost completed a dramatic comeback against Westmeath in the Leinster U-20 Football Andrew Corden Cup Final at ...
- Ludhiana: 6 days on, 4 held for kidnapping, robbing man; arms, car seizedon April 30, 2024 at 10:20 am
Police in Ludhiana arrested four men, recovering cash, weapons, and a vehicle used in a robbery. The accused, all 23, targeted victims for drug money. Hunt ongoing for fifth suspect.
- Birth anniversary of 9th Sikh guru Sri Guru Teg Bahadur was celebrated with great enthusiasmon April 29, 2024 at 9:30 am
AMRITSAR: The birth anniversary of 9th Sikh guru Sri Guru Teg Bahadur was celebrated with great enthusiasm here on Monday.
- PM Modi pays tribute to Sikh guru Teg Bahadur on birth anniversaryon April 29, 2024 at 3:45 am
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid tribute to the ninth Sikh Guru Teg Bahadur on his birth anniversary, saying his life serves as a guiding light, illuminating the path of righteousness and ...
- Nagar kirtan taken out ahead of Guru Teg Bahadur’s birth anniversaryon April 27, 2024 at 6:48 pm
Devotees took part in the nagar kirtan taken out to mark Parkash Purb of Guru Teg Bahadur in the holy city on Saturday.
- Iowa City animal services needs your help to identify dog from Teg Drive biting incidenton April 24, 2024 at 11:48 am
Iowa City animal services needs your help to identify a dog reported in a bite case.On Wednesday in the 1300 Block of Teg Drive, a dog described as having a med ...
- TAG Immobilien AG TEGon April 22, 2024 at 4:59 pm
Morningstar Quantitative Ratings for Stocks are generated using an algorithm that compares companies that are not under analyst coverage to peer companies that do receive analyst-driven ratings ...
- Haemonetics' (HAE) New TEG 6s Cartridge Gets FDA Approvalon April 5, 2024 at 8:02 am
The recent development will fortify Haemonetics’ portfolio of hemostasis diagnostic systems. More on TEG 6s Cartridge Clinical data from a multi-center trial with 335 patients undergoing cardiac ...
- Haemonetics' (HAE) New TEG 6s Cartridge Gets FDA Approvalon April 5, 2024 at 6:48 am
Haemonetics Corporation HAE announced receipt of the FDA 510(k) clearance for the TEG 6s hemostasis analyzer system Global Hemostasis-HN assay cartridge. This new cartridge expands Haemonetics ...
- Haemonetics Receives FDA Clearance for New TEG® 6s Global Hemostasis - HN Cartridgeon April 3, 2024 at 11:30 pm
This new cartridge extends Haemonetics' TEG 6s viscoelastic testing capabilities to serve fully heparinized patients in adult cardiovascular surgeries/procedures and liver transplantation in both ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
TEG
[google_news title=”” keyword=”TEG” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]