Thermoelectricity
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We've already heard about hoses that get wrapped around existing hot water pipes, using heat radiated from the pipe to heat water inside the hose. A new wrap-around device, however, uses that same pipe-heat to generate electricity.
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A new thermoelectric material may be the most efficient one yet. The new and improved polycrystalline form of purified tin selenide has all the right properties to make it a practical material for converting waste heat into electricity.
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Thermoelectric generators produce an electric current through a temperature gradient. Now, engineers have created a new device that absorbs heat from the Sun on one surface and emits it from another, allowing it to generate electricity day and night.
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A new device from scientists at the University of Colorado explores the everyday potential of thermoelectric technology, demonstrating a ring that harvests energy from the human body and can even repair itself when damaged.
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By putting a new spin on decades-old thermoelectric technology, scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a tiny microscopic cooling device they describe as the "world’s smallest refrigerator."
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A new prototype device works like a kind of reverse solar panel, harvesting energy from the cold night sky to passively power an LED.
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There’s no shortage of portable lighting options out there for campers or people living in developing countries. But the Lumir K lamp is aiming to be the right mix of inexpensive, safe, bright, portable and efficient, using any old cooking oil as a fuel source to light up an array of LEDs.
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Engineers from the University of California San Diego have developed a proof-of-concept armband that can keep the wearer's skin at a constant temperature, even when the ambient temperature is raised or lowered. And the technology is being scaled up to vest size.
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Energy is all around us – we just need to work out how to tap into it. Now a team from MIT has developed a device called a thermal resonator, which could essentially pull electricity out of thin air by taking advantage of gradual ambient temperature changes over the course of the day.
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Created by Norwegian waste-heat reclamation company ThermTech, the Luminiser Lantern that's currently the subject of a crowdfunding campaign uses a tea candle to power an array of LEDs for up to six hours.
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Wearable electronic devices are starting to save some battery power by harvesting an energy source that’s right underneath them: human body heat. Now a team from North Carolina State University has developed a system using liquid metal components, making it flexible, efficient and self-healing.
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Researchers at the University of Utah have developed a new thermoelectric material that doesn’t use the toxic chemicals common in others, but is still efficient and affordable enough for use in everyday products, meaning the day a phone can be charged by a cooking pot may not be far away.
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