Technical Editor Margery Conner's PowerSource streams the latest developments in electronic power design and related technologies. Follow Margery on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/margeryc.
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Blog
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Evaluate tiny thermoelectric generator with this thermoelectric power generation kit
Dec 18 2008 10:43AM | Permalink |Comments (4) |
If you’re evaluating energy harvesting technologies, you may want to check out this thermoelectric power generator kit from Nextreme. Nextreme wants to make it as easy as possible to get you started with its Seebeck effect-based thin-film embedded thermoelectric generator. (The Seebeck effect is present in two different metals or semiconductors where a thermal difference produces a voltage across the two.)
The evaluation kit provides a thick-film heater as a controllable heat source, Nextreme’s eTEG UPF40 power generator module, a heat sink/fan assembly, and thermocouples for temperature measurement. All you need to provide is a power supply for the heater and a volt meter to measure the voltage generated by the eTEG across a load resistor. The kit costs $295.
Nextreme claims the eTEG produces output power levels of >90mW at ΔT of 70°C and >260mW at ΔT of 120°C. With modules measuring just 1.6mm x 3.2mm, the eTEG has corresponding output power densities of about 5W/cm2 at 120°C.
Related entries in: Power Sources/Controllers | Power Supplies |
Reader Comments
at 12/19/2008 11:08:40 AM, TomW said:
Technically, the Seebeck effect occurs within a wire that has different temperatures at its ends. You need 2 wires with different Seebeck coefficients (different materials)to measure the potential difference with a meter or harvest energy. The potential difference does not occur at the junction.
at 12/28/2008 3:08:42 AM, matthew_W said:
does any know what sort of effcency you get out or this sort of device ???
at 1/8/2009 7:54:50 PM, DaltonC said:
What metals are the eTEG made out from? What is the maximum temperature that the eTEG can handle with out melting or loosing its optimization? I have a situation where i want to use a considerable amount the eTEG to produce electricity roughly 1kW at around 500C. Any advice will be helpful thank you.
at 1/29/2009 4:27:55 PM, Greg_G said:
Cool science fair project.. Does anyone remember the World Book Encyclopedia project where you could run a radio off a candle using an array of copper and iron wire junctions around a flame? I wonder how well the unit cools things like laser diodes. I have a system that consumes more for temp stabilization than it does producing light.
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