Self-propelled glider uses ocean's heat to power itself

We've seen autonomous ocean gliders before, but the team at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has just completed the first successful run of a glider that doesn't require its own power -- instead, it uses the heat difference between the warm upper layers of the ocean and the colder depths to propel itself. Not needing an internal power source let the glider traverse the Virgin Islands Basin between St. Thomas and St. Croix at depths of 13,000 feet over 20 times when it was launched in December, and the team estimates that it could run for another six months if necessary. The ocean's heat differential is a "virtually unlimited energy source," according to one Woods Hole researcher -- hmm, beach-charger, anyone?

[Thanks, Charlie]

[Fraggle.Rock @ Feb 8th 2008 2:13AM]

Looks like a waterborne Tomahawk cruise missile to me :-)

Cool concept though...

[Mr.Tech @ Feb 8th 2008 2:34AM]

So why can't they create a body heated powered cell phone when you run out of battery?

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Feb 8th 2008 2:34AM]

Forget perpetual motion machines. It's all about the "ocean heat differential" now. Ha!

Btw there is a working perpetual motion machine. We live on it!

[Reader @ Feb 8th 2008 3:03AM]

What we live on is more a big battery than a perpetual motion machine.

[Mike10010100 @ Feb 8th 2008 6:14AM]

Actually, if the idea of the "big crunch" is to be believed, then the universe we live in is a perpetual motion machine.

[m @ Feb 8th 2008 2:42AM]

i think this technology could have a ready application in existing top-secret government cable-cutting robots.

[Ellianth @ Feb 8th 2008 9:41AM]

That really made me laugh. Nice one. +1 for you

[ByronGman @ Feb 8th 2008 2:49AM]

Sweet!!!!


Now we can cool off the oceans by tapping into their excess heat and reverse global warming....

[paul34 @ Feb 8th 2008 3:09AM]

IF only we could embed a giant generator into the core of the Earth and somehow allow it to spin about itself, using the Earth's rotation to power it.

If we ignore silly little things like temperature, pressure, and generally most of physics, this should work! THE MEGA GENERATOR

EPIC WIN

[YourTechSupport @ Feb 8th 2008 3:17AM]

Would the amount of electricity obtained be worth that of creating a wave-riding (or even submerged) power station?

[Nathan @ Feb 8th 2008 3:25AM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_power#Wave_farms

[JG @ Feb 10th 2008 8:09PM]

Actually zero electricity is generated here, the glider does infact contain regular batteries to power its computers/sensors/comms etc. The thermal 'engine' infact converts thermal difference into motion directly, using a triangular wave sort of path up and down thru the ocean. (btw the pic is of the regular battery powered glider, the thermal one looks a bit different)

[alexander @ Feb 8th 2008 9:22AM]

This is based on a technology called Ocean thermal energy conversion, which can be used for energy production and has some other applications, such as desalination, aquaculture, air conditioning and others. They've been running small trial installations in places like Hawaii for a long time but it's never been considered economic but with high oil prices and general interest in renewables this may change. The potential energy supply is almost limitless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_thermal_energy_conversion

[dean @ Feb 8th 2008 3:48PM]

I suppose this means dramatically increased onboard electronics battery life. This means much more in the way of monitoring ocean salinity/temperature/chemical content, and even monitoring ocean life. Its the fishes that have to worry about Big Brother.

Also a boon to military. Massive oceanic surveillance.

[filllx @ Feb 8th 2008 7:40PM]

I think I saw this 2 or 3 years ago on the discovery channel.

[ishai sagi @ Feb 19th 2008 5:33PM]

This is what Jules Verne used in the Nautilus. horray!