Young lady - in this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

OMG! Ponies! Deservs It

2% is still ~half a million barrels/day.

mferrari

@TheDude06: Yeah, its a basic thermocouple principle at work here. This thing isn't that exciting, but assuming they ever get room temperature superconductors figured out (like carbon nanotubes are supposed to be able to do if made correctly, according to some), applying that principle would mean massive increases in efficiency as we reclaimed the waste heat of so much of our technology as usable energy. Computers and petrol engines, of course, but also things like lasers would theoretically become several times more energy efficient.

I Think We're Property

didn't MIT do this like 2 months ago? I couldn't find the link so I could just be remembering wrong.

Shub-Niggurath

This sounds like a peltier thermocouple (the things 'extreme' overclokers use to cool their CPU's)

peltiers get hot on one side, and cold on the other when electricity is applied. they also work in the opposite. heating one side, and cooling the other generates electricity.

TheDude06

Wow. 2% doesn't sound like much individually, but imagine how much that could save overall! I really hope this is 1) cheap, 2) easy to upgrade to, and 3) becomes mandatory for all vehicles, assuming it works as advertised.

I love reading about all these exciting new innovations that will soon change our world, even if slowly.

Aristeia

I could be totally wrong but this is different from the peltier effect used in cooling systems for computers and other devices. A peltier cooler uses electricity to produce the transfer of heat across the two sides.

This technology is similar to that effect...except it generates electricity instead of consuming it. The material they've created, if I understand it correctly, turns the heat difference between the two sides into electricity. It seems too good to be true...which is why I think a lot of people are confusing this with the peltier effect.

thor79

So where would this be installed to make it effective? I suppose it could be installed on the exhaust somewhere maybe in the same location as the cat?

lilaliendog

Thermoelectric has always worked in reverse. That is the major property of the thermoelectric effect.

1) Have electricity, Get Heat on one side cold on the other. The greater the voltage, the greater the heat/cold ratio (differential).

2) Have a differencial between heat/cold, get electricity. The greater the differential the more electricity generated.

Seems from reading the article, they have improved the heat dissipation on the 'cold' side to allow a greater differential in temp between the hot side (exhaust) and the 'cold' side. The greater the differential, the greater the efficiency of the effect.

-Bob

PocketLint

A couple of these embedded in my office chair would run my computer all day long. Furukawa dudes!

GiltProto

So, this isn't a new idea, it's a new take on an old idea (thermocouple) that's been around a while. Glad to see something like this coming into the market, but the efficiency of this device will drop as outside ambient temperature rises.

Xavoc

in 5 years the worlds oil needs will have increased much more than 2%, so this will only be a small dent in the problem (if it is even economical, unlike hybrids). but, thats not to say this is not good news, every bit helps. the ultimate solution is to apply every fix there is, open the flood-gates: nuclear, more drilling, wind, solar, and of course little tech advances like this.

superdemon

@superdemon: Well, this could be applied to any heat-creating device in the drivetrain in parallel I'd think The manifold, or an electric motor, or a battery pack in a hybrid/electric vehicle...

Xavoc

actually by the description, this is exactly a peltier thermocoupler. Boo for news

QAdam

thor79- peltier thermocouplers can work as heat pumps, but can also work in reverse to create electricity. This does not seem very new here..just the application.

QAdam

The LAST thing we need is MORE complexity to an already inefficient engine. ICE's are already so damn complicated by sensors and computer monitored and controlled whatevers, I am amazed that anyone's car can run at all. The service time, and consequently labor charges, required to repair ICE's is ridiculous as it is. Hybrids only double that complexity... at least.

I believe an EV is the only way to end this nonsense.
The batteries just aren't there yet.

Where's my damn Shipstone's already!

DarthSensate

The conversion of a temperature differential to a potential (voltage) is the Seebeck effect. The Peltier effect is the creation of a temperature differential due to current. Both are thermoelectric effects.

lord.hypnos

yeah there is a good reason you havent seen this technology applied before, peltiers are crazy expensive to make, and arent very efficient

TheDude06

These things need to go into furnaces. Right now I always have gas (heh) but if the electricity is out the furnace won't run and the house stays cold. If enough of these would generate enough wattage to power the air circulation fan I'd be all warm and toasty while the neighbors would have chilly-willies.

GiltProto

Great! Another way to use all those strip-mined rare metals. 2% efficiency increase sounds like a fair trade for square miles of chewed up mountains.

pdok

Cool! I can connect this to the heat sink on my CPU and I won't need to plug my computer in anymore... Right?! ;-)

biostuart

The device looks relatively heavy. I wonder if the 2% energy savings would equate to the amount of energy spent propelling the extra mass attached to the car.

Also, would this work in laptops for longer battery life?

Obsidian

2%, like a now famous 3% savings, amounts to about 16 gallons saved by someone driving 16,000 miles a year, getting 20 MPG, and using 800 gallons of gasoline.

A saved 16 or 20 gallons won't change our oil usage reality.

Ralph48

I can't remember the name of another tool used to gain energy from heat, it's the process that converts water to steam that turns fans connected to generators.

a student in the US found a way to make it smaller, it uses the smoke in the tailpipe yielding an increase in energy efficency of 20 percent.

polymer

it's gonna be really expensive, this type of system is in natural gas stove burners, you hold a pilot light proving switch, which produces 0.020 volts after 45 seconds, which makes a coil click open and allow the burner to remain lit.

just one of those costs a $100+

skulldriveshaft

Umm... New Technology??? Jean Peltier and Thomas Seeback were doing this back in the 1830s. It's called the Seebeck Effect. Looks to me like they've just slapped a goofy looking Peltier plate on the exhaust manafold and from the sound of it they're getting cheated on their return in electricity. I love how companies try to pass stuff off as "New" technology.

[en.wikipedia.org]

ttaber

Ya know, here in Florida during the day, the road's hot enough to burn the skin off your feet. I say we make the roads out of this stuff and let the road power the cars...
Corvette slot car FTW!

allenjnl

So... if I put this between my laptop and my lap, the laptop powers itself..?

Kewl!

ideaman2020

this is one of the most important inventions of our time, take into account that even nuclear plants use steam to convert heat to electricity...

pharago

@Shub-Niggurath:
Yeah I think so, I was having the same thought. It was made to work in automobiles. Its most efficient area to produce electricity was from 450- 950 degrees if I remember right.

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