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Scientists work on generating energy from heat
Monday August 01, 2011 11:27:55 AM,
IANS
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Washington:
Scientists are working on generating energy from heat without
using sunlight at all.
While the principle involved is not new, engineering the surface
of a material to convert heat into specific wavelengths of light,
to match the wavelengths that photovoltaic cells can best convert
to electricity, makes the new system much more efficient than
previous versions.
The key to this fine-tuned emission lies in a material with
billions of nanoscale pits etched on its surface, the journal
Physical Review A reports.
When the material absorbs heat, whether from the sun, a
hydrocarbon fuel, a decaying radioisotope or any other source, the
pitted surface radiates energy primarily at these carefully chosen
wavelengths.
Based on that technology, MIT researchers have made a button-sized
power generator fueled by butane that can run three times longer
than a lithium-ion battery of the same weight; the device can then
be recharged instantly, just by snapping in a tiny cartridge of
fresh fuel, according to an MIT statement.
"Being able to convert heat from various sources into electricity
without moving parts would bring huge benefits," says Ivan
Celanovic, research engineer in MIT's Institute for Soldier
Nanotechnologies (ISN), "especially if we could do it efficiently,
relatively inexpensively and on a small scale".
According to the US Energy Information Administration, 92 percent
of all the energy we use involves converting heat into mechanical
energy, and then often into electricity -- such as using fuel to
boil water to turn a turbine, which is attached to a generator.
But today's mechanical systems have relatively low efficiency, and
can't be scaled down to the small sizes needed for devices such as
sensors, smartphones or medical monitors.
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