Heat to Electricity via Sound
Published by Rob Flickenger June 6th, 2007 in Inventions
Physicists at the University of Utah are developing a way to produce electricity from heat by making sound. Heat is forced through a cylinder or ring, where it heats up the air and generates a sound wave. The sound then comes in contact with a piezoelectric device that produces electricity as it vibrates. They believe the technology could be used to harvest waste heat from electronics and other sources, and turn it back into electrical power.
“Symko expects the devices could be used within two years as an alternative to photovoltaic cells for converting sunlight into electricity. The heat engines also could be used to cool laptop and other computers that generate more heat as their electronics grow more complex. And Symko foresees using the devices to generate electricity from heat that now is released from nuclear power plant cooling towers.”
The article doesn’t mention the efficiency of energy transfer, but if they expect to compete with photovoltaic technology they will have to beat 30% or so. And construction of solar heat collectors and thermomechanical piezoelectric transducers could be much cheaper than making solar cells.
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