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High-Power Thermoelectric Generator Utilizes Thermal Difference of Only 5C (newelectronics.co.uk)

A silicon-nanowire thermoelectric generator has been developed by a team of researchers from Waseda University, Osaka University, and Shizuoka University. From a report: According to the Japanese researchers, this experimentally demonstrated a high-power density of 12 microwatts per 1cm2, enough to drive sensors or realise intermittent wireless communication, at a small thermal difference of only 5C. Silicon-based thermoelectric generators conventionally employed long, silicon nanowires of about 10-100nm, which were suspended on a cavity to cut off the bypass of the heat current and secure the temperature difference across the silicon nanowires. However, the cavity structure weakened the mechanical strength of the devices and increased the fabrication cost. The team says their generator has overcome this issue.

"Because our generator uses the same technology to manufacture semiconductor integrated circuits, its processing cost could be largely cut through mass production," says Professor Takanobu Watanabe of Waseda University. "Also, it could open up a pathway to various, autonomously-driven IoT devices utilising environmental and body heats. For instance, it may be possible to charge your smartwatch during your morning jog someday."

14 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Forget 5C, how about higher differentials? by ZorinLynx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Being able to efficiently convert heat into energy is a holy grail. Are these TEGs better than previous tech when you have large differentials?

    1. Re:Forget 5C, how about higher differentials? by michelcolman · · Score: 2

      This thing could already power watches as if by magic. My watch battery lasts a few years, and if I did the math correctly, that's well below 60 microwatts. Surface area is more than 5 cm2, and temperature differential is well over 5C, so it should be plenty of power.

      (Not talking about smartwatches, obviously).

  2. 12 uW/cm^2 isn't much by Nutria · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Unless my math is wrong, that's less than an eighth of a watt per square meter.

    --
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    1. Re:12 uW/cm^2 isn't much by Zocalo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Depends on what OP meant by "intermittent". There are plenty of telemetry sensors that only need to transmit a tiny amount of data at intervals in excess of an hour, or in the event of a given condition being met, for which 12 uW/cm^2 might be more than enough to charge up a battery or capacitor with enough juice to do so when the time comes.

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    2. Re:12 uW/cm^2 isn't much by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

      That makes sense. It doesn't matter if you have 1 centimeter or 1 meter or 1 kilometer of generator - you will be "off by a factor of 1000".

    3. Re:12 uW/cm^2 isn't much by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

      I was going to say that too, but I guess iggymanz is the expert, so I think we should notify the researchers.

    4. Re:12 uW/cm^2 isn't much by DrTJ · · Score: 4, Informative

      "experimentally demonstrated a high-power density of 12 microwatts per 1cm2"

      Somebody need to work on their adjectives. Solar panels are in the order of 10-20 mW/cm, i.e. 1000x more.

      If 12 uW/cm qualifies as "high-power density", then solar panels must be "super-power density".

      Maybe the researchers are from Krypton.

  3. I already charge my smartwatch while jogging. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just leave it at home on the charger.

  4. Re:Trump will die in Federal Prison by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You don't want Trump to die. You want Trump to live a long, healthy life, completely and totally discredited and disgraced, and never forgotten as the liar, cheat, and villian that he is. You want him to be a constant reminder to everyone of all the evil selfish destructive things he's done, and be punished for it until his last breath is drawn, and then only when he's died of purely natural causes and is put in the ground (face down, preferably), forever immortalized in the history books as the worst president the United States has ever had, an example to all future candidates of what not to be when you're sitting in the Oval Office, and a warning to future generations of the GOP.

  5. Doesn't take much by foxalopex · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have a solar powered Casio watch that does atomic clock synchronization every day. It's pretty cool in that it keeps very accurate time and has been running for years and years. All it needs is some ambient office lighting to keep it charged everyday. I've heard the rechargable lithium battery will eventually wear out however.

  6. Re:Trump will die in Federal Prison by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Plus that Pence is a political insider and doesn't have any of the baggage that Trump carries with him. He knows how to talk politics with out antagonizing his rivals. He is true political animal unlike Trump is.

    And that makes him 10 times more dangerous. All the mistakes we are seeing from Trump people with TDS want to attribute to Trump being mentally addled. Which isn't the case, they are simply the mistakes of a political novice. Pence will not make those mistakes.

    Since Pence's policy positions are the same as the Republican party, he has a much greater chance to pull them off. To make it worse Pence thinks he on a mission from God to put women back in the kitchen and gays back in the closet.

    Trump dying or being removed from office will be the worse thing that could happen.

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  7. Re:Trump will die in Federal Prison by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Yet that's somehow still preferable to a president who is just one snappy decision away from starting WW3

    Which won't happen. Contrary to popular myth there is no "Big Red" button that Trump can push to start WWIII. Outside of a retaliatory strike where nuclear weapons are first used against the US or her alias, the first use of nuclear weapons by the US government is a complex process that requires several levels of cooperation within the armed forces.

    It was done this way to prevent just such a scenario as people with TDS like to envision about Trump rolling out of bed and pressing the "big red button."

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  8. Re:Trump will die in Federal Prison by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Which probably won't happen. Unlike is predecessors, Trump has shown a reluctance to use military force as a first response. It is very doubtful that Trump would order any such attack against NK. More likely things would simply resort to the status quo.

    I know the TDS infect media has so many people quaking in their boots about Trump starting WWIII but you should just ignore such scare tactics. We are doing just fine.

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  9. Re:Your deep in the tank for trump by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    He's the only President who casually makes nuclear threats against his enemies. (on twitter no less).

    Which directly lead to NK coming to the negotiation table, which lead to a end of the Korean War, which lead to a path to disarming NK of its nuclear weapons. Not bad for a few tweets.

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