Another team figures out how to convert waste heat into energy

Not that mad scientists haven't figured out a way to convert waste heat into energy, but a team from Ohio State University has developed a new material that does the same sort of thing... just way, way better. The new material goes by the name thallium-doped lead telluride, and at least in theory, it could actually convert exhaust heat from vehicles into electricity. According to a new report about to hit the journal Science, the material packs "twice the efficiency of anything currently on the market," though it still seems as if it's a good ways out from being ready for commercial applications. Nanotechnology geeks -- you've got a real treat waiting in the read link.

[Via CNET]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2008 2:56PM]

Put an accelerometer (or several) on the car and turn vibration into electricity.

[Farris Posted Jul 25th 2008 3:54PM]

Um... AFAIK, an IC chip won't put out more voltage than is piped into it, which is usually called the rail. So if you put an accelerometer in there, hooked up 5V to power it, the most you could possibly get back is 5V in a 100% efficient world.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2008 5:10PM]

Accelerometors may not turn vibration into energy, but Piezo-electric devices can. Univeristy of Utah has been researching practical applications.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2008 10:09PM]

I-O

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2008 3:29PM]

Waste heat is a sign of inefficiency. Fix that first so we don't need tech like this.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2008 12:21AM]

OK, I'll take on the second law of thermodynamics if you tackle the first. Go team! We can do it!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2008 3:41PM]

Automakers could just skip the inefficient waste heat power generation with thermoeletrics and go straight to nuclear battery powered cars (France gets most of its power from nuclear, maybe they are interested).
It's a great breakthrough, but I think the whole car part was thrown in for a "wow" factor for the laymen reader.

[Ken J Posted Jul 28th 2008 11:16AM]

So you'd trust radioactive materials with the same schmuck I drove behind today that had his gas cap hanging out?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2008 5:01PM]

I wonder how this material's application to automobiles compares to a simple turbocharger in efficiency.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2008 7:32PM]

Change heat into electricity....??????

Didn't read the full artical bute it sound like old news to me, they simply perfect the technic may be...

http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5CF%2D800

http://www.magma.ca/~barkhm5/ecofan.htm

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0geu80WYopIAjkBx9BXNyoA?ei=UTF-8&p=Ecofan&fr2=tab-web&fr=b2ie7

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2008 10:36PM]

Lead - poison
Thallium - RAT poison

[rudefyet Posted Jul 25th 2008 11:01PM]

I can turn my exhaust into energy too, it's called a turbocharger. ZING!

[Ken J Posted Jul 28th 2008 11:34AM]

What this article proclaims is a more efficient TEC (aka Peltier cooler). This is awesome news.

My concerns are with thermal expansion coefficients. This thing is supposedly most efficient at 800-900°F which means it has to survive a thermal cycle of at least 1000°F (!). Current Peltier coolers/generators have a very tough time with thermal expansion with only a couple hundred degrees range.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 28th 2008 12:55PM]

This is a little of catch-22 because ideally the energy should be used for powering the car but if it's electric it won't emit CO2.

Here's an article about "the greening of academic internet R&D" at http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=506&doc_id=159733&f_src=flffour

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 12th 2008 3:23AM]

in an internal comb engine the cylinder of the piston gets heated up and instead of using a coolant we could use nanowires to harness that heat energy and conv it into electrical energy,it may also be eco friendly.sorry if i am wrong i am only in my 1 sem of engg