The group of scientists at Pennsylvania State University developed a new thermal generator to help turn the amount of heat from car exhaust into electricity.
The internal combustion engine of the gasoline can produce a lot of energy by burning fossil fuels, but in fact it is less effective when about 75% of energy is lost in the form of heat from the engine. and through the exhaust.
Scientific group at Pennsylvania State University, USA, developed a new thermal generator to help turn this emissions into electricity, Futurism On February 16, reported. New research published in magazines ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Thermal power generator works based on temperature difference. Basically, when placing it close to or on something that produces heat, the electrons will be pulled from hot to cold side, creating electricity.
In this case, the research team uses semiconductors from Bismuth-Teluride to promote electricity production. The main challenge here is to maintain the temperature difference. Without intervention, the cold part of the generator will start to heat up, and the current disappears.
Water -cooled can be a solution, but it makes the device more complicated and bulky. So instead, experts use a smart and relatively simple radiator design. They use a cylinder with protruding fins around the exhaust pipe, providing additional surface area to dissipate the heat through forced convection – the surrounding air and bring heat. With a fast -moving vehicle like cars running on the road, this process happens naturally.
With a simple design, this device can be attached to the exhaust of cars or other vehicles such as helicopters. In a small experiment, the prototype of thermal power generator can produce 40 W electricity, enough to light a light bulb.
When simulating high -speed environments, the research team found that thermal generators generated up to 56 W electricity at the movement speed of the car. With the helicopter, this figure even increased nearly three times, reaching 146 W.
“This result can be paved for the integration of thermal equipment into complex systems to serve practical applications,” the team concluded.