Not that waste heat in general hasn't been repurposed for non-wasteful activities before, but researchers at Doshisha University are now edging ever closer to making useful the previously annoying thermoacoustic phenomenon. For those not really tied into the science realm, said phenomenon is a nonlinear one in which "heated air autonomously transforms into sound when passing through small mesh holes in a wire sheet." Gurus are now developing a cooling technology that would have heat converted to sound, where it would then be transferred through a tube and reconverted into heat; furthermore, other whiz-kids are looking to generate actual electricity from the racket. In related news, the thermoelectric conversion is being used to transform waste heat from candles into energy for LEDs, which would emit more light than the candle powering it. Pop on past the break for a demonstration of the former.
Finally my dream will come true. Fart powered cars, because farts produce both sound and heat so no wasted energy. Then you could also collect and burn the methane. =)
The only question I have is this: Is converting heat, to sound, and then to electricity, more efficient then other methods that use fire to create electricity? (such as power plants that use fire, to boil water, that then spins generators)
Thats not the point. Its not a primary method of producing electricity, it would be secondary, using heat already coming from a source that would be producing heat either way.
The proofs of concept are just using fire, because that is a readily available heat source.
For a couple years now we've had a little fan that runs off electricity generated by the heat of the wood stove you sit it on. It works pretty good, there's even a heatsink behind the fan so it picks up the heat of the wood stove and throws it forward instead of just up.
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posted Dec 26th 2008 10:11PM
i can imagine this...
2058
fires break out.. all humanity destroyed.
But with a enough heat to power a fancy LED display with a message saying when the humans race died and what year.
Atleast you will hear when the fire is coming close.
In the future, energy use will be twice as efficient and twice as noisy.
"waste heat from candles into energy for LEDs, which would emit more light than the candle powering it"
That's cool, I got an idea for a car that's powered by the waste heat generated by several scooters running full blast.
Or how about a car that's powered it's own waste heat?
Wait...
Or how about a car that's powered it's own waste heat?
Wait...
Woops!
Finally my dream will come true. Fart powered cars, because farts produce both sound and heat so no wasted energy. Then you could also collect and burn the methane. =)
You dream about farts?
Ewwwwwwww! :P
Lol, you would need to eat a lot of beans.
Is your avatar a cooler version of the firefox logo on purpose?
No i didn't make this my avatar just for this one comment, but even if i did how exactly would it be relevant?
if its twice as noisy its less efficient
shit, was supposed to be attached to N30 G30
The future looks too noisy for me.
sounds eerie....
AAWWWOOOOOOOOooooooooo......gah....
My ears!
Can you imagine if they could harness energy from fanboy rants?
just enough to power my flux capacitor
Headline: Experiment to decide wether or not waste energy from online rants can be collected for a useful purpose
Participators: Me, all users of Engadget.com, iEye
Material: Verbal knowledge, computer terminal connected to internet
Result: Unknown / not yet determined.
Execution: Apple sucks!
The only question I have is this:
Is converting heat, to sound, and then to electricity, more efficient then other methods that use fire to create electricity? (such as power plants that use fire, to boil water, that then spins generators)
My answer: I doubt it.
Thats not the point. Its not a primary method of producing electricity, it would be secondary, using heat already coming from a source that would be producing heat either way.
The proofs of concept are just using fire, because that is a readily available heat source.
For a couple years now we've had a little fan that runs off electricity generated by the heat of the wood stove you sit it on. It works pretty good, there's even a heatsink behind the fan so it picks up the heat of the wood stove and throws it forward instead of just up.
I'm guessing that your fan is actually powered by a sterling engine, something entirely different than this....