Generating electricity from waste heat

Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories (USA) have developed a small device, based on silicon, that can use waste heat to generate DC current. The new method was developed mainly to recover energy from waste heat (infrared radiation). One application, for example, is to use engine heat and convert it into electricity for a hybrid vehicle.

I wrote previously that it is hard to pass the EXIT / AUSGANG gates at the embedded world trade show in Nuremberg and not have a few demo or dev kits in your sponsored rucksack. That’s why the show is a must-attend for serious electronicists of all ages. I consider myself one but this year I was unable to attend the show and what do you think, I still I received a kit — it simply arrived in the mail a few days later. It is the Otii Arc Demo kit from IoT developers Qoitech in Sweden hence the polar bear on the box. On the Arc box proper I saw “Sony Belgium” printed.

Many people are interested in a more detailed view of their energy consumption than the dull rolling numbers on the traditional domestic watt-hour meter. Likewise, energy suppliers and network operators need better insight in “consumption patterns”. The SmartPi “bidirectional” smart meter is an interesting and affordable solution for both types of user.

For a long time, television sets and monitors were all equipped with cathode-ray tubes, but now that is ancient history. At the turn of the millennium there was a shift to flat-screen liquid-crystal displays, which consume less energy but still do not qualify as true low-power devices. That’s because LCDs do not generate their own light, but only change the polarisation of light shining through them.

Researchers from Purdue University were able to demonstrate experimentally how an effect called ‘negative capacitance’ makes a new transistor type more energy efficient. This proves a theory proposed in 2008 by a team at Purdue University...

Designed to support the supervisory circuits of microprocessors, the APX803L micro-power voltage detector from Diodes offers a detection between 1.2 and 5.0 V in 0.1-V steps, while consuming a trifling 1 μA (typical; 2.5 μA max.).

Here comes a dazzling DYI project allowing you to touch an electric arc (30 kV hey presto) with your bare fingers. No harm from that. Though powered by a mere USB charger, Spiral Micro Tesla generates spectacular and sonorous sparks. Instead of a large and potentially dangerous coil, Elektor presents this safe printed Tesla coil with limited energy, powered at under 5 V. The maximum power is 5 watts which can’t cause much damage, despite the staggering voltage.

A research group at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan has been working on submersible turbines to generate electrical energy from ocean currents and waves...

The impact of energy harvesting could be economically huge and, more importantly, it could be massive for the environment. Consequently we must start thinking about how to best protect and preserve it. Environmental energy is naturally occurring both at massive scale and infinitesimally small; the technologies have been widely and efficiently disseminated. How much energy is available around us? What kind of energy sources do we have? What is their utility?

SMART energy monitors are being rolled out by the Caribbean tourism industry to reduce extremely high utility costs.