Converting Waste Heat to Power
Whenever we get around a machine of any kind, an automobile, an industrial factory machine, etc., we immediately notice heat, which, for all intents and purposes, can be called waste heat. And the problem of wasting heat had gone on for centuries up to the present time when finally knew technologies have been developed to convert even low heat to energy. In fact, soon, waste heat in domestic settings may be converted into electricity to charge cell phones.
Waste Heat Breakthrough at Yale
According to a recent article on Sci Tech Daily, “Yale Engineers Turn Wasted Heat Into Power,” researchers at the Yale Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering have developed a new technique for creating energy from low-temperature waste heat which is a byproduct of industrial and power plant operations. The new technology is called a Multiphase Thermoelectric Converter and is known as a combined heat and power (CHP) system.
To be sure, there are many existing technologies that reuse high-temperature heat and convert it to electricity, but these technologies don’t work with low-temperature waste heat. According to the Yale report, a new “nanobubble” membrane has been developed that facilitates the movement of water across the membrane when there is a temperature difference between a waste heat source and its environment.
For more on this technology, visit Yale News.
The following video explains how wasted heat is turned into electric power.
