Back when my goal was a thermo-electric flue pipe insert, i experiment with different metals and metal oxides, and every time i would start to get interesting results, id realize, "MY GOD! I JUST MADE A THERMITE PIPE AND I WAS GONNA STICK IT ON THE STOVE!?!?" lol
@@railgap how about an powdercoating ceramic heat resistant "paint" applied with static attraction of the powder and fuse it in an oven (Standard procedure for some products) No time to practice it, I'm in it for the theoretical knowledge. Some build, I hint.
hi Robert...I work for a company (here in the UK)..that can make these.. magnesium silicide...we've carried out 5yrs of research and the biggest issue was working out the plating layer to get them to connect to the ceramic..and we work with ESA and NASA for the space industry....edit: we had devices working around 550-650 Deg Celsius..
@@ps3camtheman currently we've stopped production of this module but working on something better... antimonide modules..but still ironing out the process...it should withstand temperature around 400-500 Deg C....watch this space...
Hey Robert, I’m a new viewer to your channel, I’m 16 years old and your channel’s content is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I love in depth looks at things like this, keep up the amazing work! -Joe
not sure when i started looking into this as a way to generate electrical power, but your video was one of them that i distinctly remember watching . since this winter has sucked in terms of solar pv, i started digging into this. in my tests i was able to produce about 5.1watts with a delta t of about 250f. a wood stove and a 20psi boiler should be enough to produce a significant amount of power and by that my goal is 1200 watts. everyday i get a slightly better test than the day before. i also found a source for cheap units that seem to be testing out much better than spec claims. i can see about 200 or 300 of these devices getting the job done with a mppt solar charge controller to charge my 45kwh batter on days we have no sun, using a wood stove or two. time will tell. i already have thirty or so and just ordered another 30, for 60 units x 5w each for 300 watts. another thing is, i am surprised no one has had the level of power creation i have achieved out of a single unit. most people are only to produce about 100mW, i was able to achieve 51 times that, so the economics work out for me
Maybe you're just really good at engineering. TEGMO, in association with Kimberly stov es claimed theirs was putting out 10s of watts, which is 4 orders of magnitude more than the milliwatt laboratory prototypes for demo purposes. If I had endless water, or just a lot of water, I could keep a system operating at its best efficiency. The appeal of TEG is you can generate a small amount of electricity, without any moving parts Even the best of them are only using a tiny fraction of the power coming off a wood stove. If you really wanted power by burning stuff, just buy an electric generator powered by gasoline, or build a steam engine to turn a generator. There are other advantages. You can run the blower on your furnace for not much power. TEGs are good for blowers. I do think they're practical for charging electronics. They make a little camp stove that burns twigs that's about the size of a 1-pound coffee can. It runs a blower that forces air over the TEG to keep the cold side cold and it blows air on the fire to keep it hot and clean. It can charge a phone or a laptop, I think. Power LED lights. That sorrt of thing.
@@harrymills2770 i bought all the stuff to create maybe 1200 watts, if i remember right. i had bought boxes of the teg's, pumps, water blocks, many 4 channel thermocouple with data logging capability then i got a new job where i travel 6 out of 7 days a week. my goal was to use a wood stove for the hotside and outside temps for the cold side in the winter, where my solar produces almost nothing for weeks at a time. i also have all the gasoline powered generators, but just wanted to try something out. since taking the new job i hit the brakes on this project
Oh my gosh... 3x efficiency... So hold on ... Bismuth Telluride is at best below 10% efficient... Could we see an efficiency of say close to 30% or thereabouts? Gets mighty close to say a combustion engine... Amazing! All solid state...
I got a 160 mV with copper and aluminum over a candle last night and a 150 mV with copper and galvanized steel, but I'm not seeing consistency, when I try to replicate the tests with new wire. I though, at first that a longer, low conductivity metal (aluminum, galv. steel, oxidized iron) would work better at first, then I tried a longer high conductivity metal (copper) and that seems to improve results. It seems that when the copper is 3 times the length of the aluminum or galv. steel, the mV gets higher, but also that if the wires are too long, the energy is lost from the wire as heat, or burns/melts the wire at the join. I'm making some "ceramic" plates (joint compound) tonight and will try graphite dots for the highly conductive material paired with low conductivity materials. Lead free solder is mostly tin with about 5% antimony. Tin is low conductivity. Antimony is a pnictogen (meaning to choke + generator) in Group 15 of the periodic table, as are the elements nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), and moscovium (Mc). Lead free solder is an antimony doped tin. Sounds promising.
@@ignaciosuarez9265 If I recall, the copper-steel worked better than the copper-solder experiment. In either case, the energy harvest is low, so you would need a large array of plates tied to a battery bank.
@tersta1 Im wondering if it's possible to build the same but using a little bit insulation on each layer to increase the temperature gradient but keep conductivity by connecting some points like a sandwich 🥪 do you think that will work?
@@ignaciosuarez9265 I don't think it would. From what I understand, it's the temperature difference, between hot side and cool side, as well as between the conductivity of different metals that forces electrons to convert to electrical energy. I think the most economical way to increase the difference would be to paint the top side black and use the sun's heat. The bottoms of the plates would be in the shade, but if they were cooled, perhaps with evaporation, that would widen the temperature difference. Those are my observations, but I do encourage you to try out different designs. Test everything with a multimeter and then you will know which design yields the highest amount of energy. If you discover anything through experiment, I'd love to hear about it. Drop a reply, please. 💡
Hello Robert, as usual you are keeping us all on TH-cam in the know !!! Looking forward to see you get the Noble price for a super thermoelectric junction micro voltage device.
@@ThinkingandTinkering Roof mount solar water heaters and geothermal coupled TEGs would not have the hot spot failure problems of silicon cells. Not to mention being also able to use the heat directly at the tap.
@@ThinkingandTinkering What Is Islam? Islam is not just another religion. It is the same message preached by Moses, Jesus and Abraham. Islam literally means ‘submission to God’ and it teaches us to have a direct relationship with God. It reminds us that since God created us, no one should be worshipped except God alone. It also teaches that God is nothing like a human being or like anything that we can imagine. The concept of God is summarized in the Quran as: { “Say, He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him.”} (Quran 112:1-4) Becoming a Muslim is not turning your back to Jesus. Rather it’s going back to the original teachings of Jesus and obeying him
Robert, I found your channel when I was researching graphene. You were trying to make it in your kitchen oven then. I still follow your work. best wishes, ~tjb~ "give it a try" - Robert Murray-Smith
Thank you Robert, you are always an Inspiration and I am always delighted to see the notification that you have uploaded something to get the grey matter working!! Andrea and Critters. ...XxX....
@James Cunliffe Lmao!! Jasper is insulted by your comment!! since hes Much better looking,and far more intelligent than me as well. Ive been having my Birthday month,Lol!! August the 12th! Friday,Ive had a beer or two,,Hic!! XxX ;)
@James Cunliffe Happy belated Birthday 🎉🎈🎉🎆🎊💞🥰💞❤️💞🍻🥴🍺🎉🎈🎈🎉💓❤️🥰🥴🍻💜🥳😎🍾🥂 Lol 🎈 HIC!!°°••`°•√%😎👍 I'm sorry I didn't know that you were having a Birthday!! I am going to have a beer 🍺 on your behalf!!🍻🥳🍺🍺🍻I have had an unpleasant surprise,,, I found out that none of my family actually want to have anything to do with me.... Lmao 🤣💞 My Dad, who Was my hero,my sister and step mom, I already gave up with mother and ghastly,lanky, useless streak of P*** of a brother,,, who I've never seen in over 25yrs,approx.. so I am going Hard at the Celebrations!!🥳🍺🥂🍻🍺🍾🥴🎈😎🍺🍻😁💞 My eldest Sister's Dead so I guess that she can't disown me.. I just want to know ~WHY?!~🥺 and wtf have I done wrong?!🤷🤦🤷🤦 I used to hide mother's "secret" vodka so she'd be seeking it high and low,, only to find its in the place she hid it,,,or Out There on The Living Room Table, So as everyone else got to see, Lmao 🤣💞 Yes I Know I was a horrible child and teen... (Kept this going til the day she moved down south, Bwahahaha!) Damnit Man, why do you have to go out to get away from noise?!! The Heat is unforgiving so I think that you must be out in the woodlands quite a lot hon?!! 🥺 Are you doing Okay?!!!😎 Absolutely you have to contact me if you are not too good, even if it just a natter Here?!~Im getting that half can of beer out of the Freezer and I am going to be sending you some kind thoughts and vibes, may you have the strength to deal with life's challenges and the humour so you can laugh at the absurdity Too. Namaste 🙏 to both you and your Hoodie, from Peru!! Andrea and Impending hangover!!🥴🍻😁🥰💞🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗💞🥴🎈❤️🎄🎊🎆.XxX....
Thanks for another thermo electric video Rob. I have wondered what the effect would be should someone encapsulate the junction in a highly insulation brick. Heated side on one end, cooled end on the me other. Running through the insulation.
How would these thermo electric generators score against solar panels? If you had a thin layer of TEG about the same size as a solar panel, would it produce more or less under the sun's heat?
Solar would win. Solution: don't build thermo electric generators like you build a solar panel ! 😁 This is like asking _if we built airplanes in the shape of boats, would they float just as well_ ? Well, no, but you you're kinda missing the point. Don't build airplanes in the shape of boats. They wouldn't float as well, and they wouldn't fly that well either.
@@danielch6662 exactly, this stuff would work better in radiators, one side hotter than the other? Sounds to me like a TEG! Recycling waste heat from power plants becomes more efficient with better TEG's, many factories that use heat in their production recycle heat as well so they can benefit too. Lowering electricity consumption of those energy heavy industries will make for a greener planet. Also, if you have a good enough TEG tech you could create a heatpump based TEG to harvest ambient heat.
I would think less - to my understanding they work on temperature difference and putting one in the sun would shade the other - the temperature difference would therefor be a couple of degrees at most - they are different beasts mate - it's a bit like asking which is better - apples or flour - they are just used in different circumstances
@@ThinkingandTinkering I meant a heat pump, as in a compressor with the cold output exposed to airflow and the cold side of the TEG and its hot output insulated except the hot side of the TEG, thus it will harvest heat out of the air and only lose it through the insulation or through energy generated. In theory.
Hi Robert. Could a simple generator be made by simply filling a copper tube with magnesium fillings? If each end was sealed, excluding the air, presumably the magnesium would not be able to ignite?
@@ThinkingandTinkering Question: What do you get when you match a Brillouin Energy Hydrogen fueled *fusion* heater to a thermoelectric generator? Answer: Potentially, enough energy to recover sufficient Hydrogen from the water vapor in the air to fuel the Brillouin Energy Hydrogen fueled *fusion* heater, with enough energy left over to power a useful load.
@Robert Murray-Smith - As you heated the capacitor-loaded junction I kept wondering what capacitor had been attached. Then I noticed the voltage kept climbing even after you removed the torch, and now I really must know... Was it pico Farads, nano Farads, micro Farads? Or larger?
It kept climbing because heat is still transferring from one side to the other... so if a fan was attached it would not immediately stop if you removed the flame etc...
How about adding those thermal generators to a vehicle to take advantage of the heat products through inefficiencies. What would they produce for an output in the winter, when it would be easier to achieve a better temperature differential?
Is there a way to electrically connect the two dissimilar metals surface whilst preserving the effect? I would imagine using solder to connect them would disrupt the whole thing - is that correct?
My understanding is that the voltage is created in the thermal gradient of the wire from the hot side to the cold side. Introducing a third metal at the junction shouldn't matter. So brazing or soldering should probably work if the metals in question can be joined that way. The typical way to do it though is to weld the wires together. They sell wire welders for making thermocouples, but you can also do it with capacitive discharge welding by charging a big bank of capacitors up to a controlled voltage and discharging it into the junction. This lets you control the amount of energy applied so that you don't vaporize the wires.
A huge leap forward for power generation, perhaps from solar heat bounced off a solar cell. I assume its a leap forward for cooling as well. Not sure where you find all this stuff but am grateful you do and that you share it. "Cast the seeds of knowledge to see what take root to bear undiscovered fruit."
I was thinking about putting a deep oven tray on top of my wood stove filling full of water and then floating another oven tray on top of that with those thermoelectric squares and then putting another pan on top of that and and drip water on that cool cool water on that which would basically be warmed up as it as it went across and dropped off that way you'd be assured that you would not burn out those thermoelectric squares any thoughts
If you could tell us what was the capacity of the capacitor we could calculate charging current (estimation). As you know CU=q, so q(t)=CU(t), then just derivative and we get current, for constant capacitance.
From Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Modelling and simulation of magnesium antimonide based thermoelectric generator - they seem to be talking a little over 1W from freezing to boiling. Areal parameters are also given.
@@cymacymulacra2301 great but. First please give maybe doi number or at least full title of the paper. Second frezeeing and boiling of what? Water, table salt, aluminum? 1W is a measure of power, what does it mean in this context? 1w per square meter of such junction, with temperature difference of 100 kelvin? The information you are giving us are a bit useless. Lastly, these are simulations, so it might be a bit different for real device.
Recent advancements in thermoelectric generators include improvements in thermoelectric materials, enhanced performance, and increased efficiency. Scientists are focusing on improving energy harvesting-based power generators, such as thermoelectric generators (TEGs), which can directly convert thermal energy into electrical energy through the Seebeck effect. These TEGs are environmentally friendly, operate silently without mechanical structures, and can be fabricated on various substrates like silicon, polymers, and ceramics. Additionally, there have been promising advances in thermoelectric materials, making TEGs a viable option for large-scale energy recovery and power generation.
we struggled about our studies , can you help me because our study is same to your invention , we need to make a stove that can generate electricity, without using TEG module
I don't know why these are not built into Tesla car batteries. As you use the battery you can get a % back from the heat. b4 running it through a cooling system. The hot and cold are there, why not use these to get a little energy out of it.
here is a general article scitechdaily.com/buzz-about-thermoelectric-generators-heats-up-with-promising-new-magnesium-based-materials/ but there is a ton of info if you go to google scholar and put magnesium thermoelectric generator as your search term
Hey Robert could you have a look at ZVS's please. If you put a transformer after it you can power huge resistive loads at the very least as an extremely efficient inverter, there is lots of work out there that looks as if you get more and was wondering on your thoughts on it.
Hello Robert, I have seen your video on the thermal electric 🍩. I made one for some paperclips and a bit of wood to see if the tech works. It did but after I was thinking to myself which strings theory which I know very very little about could be applied to this, so I took a bit of aluminum wire for mock-up. Then I went to a video I saw a while back on a four dimensional Rubik's cube and followed their turnpaths with the wire is there a way I can send you pictures of this?
Just off the top if you’re charging a piece of metal as a battery would having a larger amount away from the heat working as the negative, produce more of a charge? Or if you use a different metal with less protons and more electrons encourage a larger energy flow.
I have an interesting thought. This would work in Spring/Summer. Perhaps aluminum heat sinks or something pushed into the cool earth in the cool side. Outside temperature or sun heated on the other side, the hot side. You would not have to rely on solar. So it's a theory of earth is always cool and Summer air is warm. Even shade would be warmer than earth temp and theoretically useable. The problem with solar in my eyes is having to have tree cleared areas to work. The price of these things is maybe 3 bucks each here in The States.
Time for a flame eater motor generator video. I am working on my house in Portugal and I will be doing your sand heat storage but using an indoor wood oven. It will heat the house and cook food. Bear this in mind we distribute heat around a house using water in a central heating system. Air is not very good too low a thermal capacity BUT if the air is something like at 500 to 800C the that's a lot more heat so I am going to try it blowing air round a pipe circuit round the house. Of course if a flame eater engine could 'inhale' from the wood oven I could have my electric free as well. All exiting stuff no bills sticking it to the man.
You should use a big temperature difference like one side minus 200 degrees C and the other side at say 150 degrees C. Would that work well. If yes! Just pop to the Webb telescope where those conditions apply ! Space travel got easier ?
The only commercially available TE modules are Bi2Te3 based. These consist of many PN unicouples to get a usable product. The difficulty is the interconnects and brazing alloy. Antimonides at elevated temperatures can lose antimony and also diffuse antimony into the interconnects causing module failure. Making the material alone is just the start of the work. Although, ball milling magnesium and antimony is an excellent way to make a TE material. That method introduces a lot of defects which decrease thermal conductivity and allow better energy harvesting. Just keep the air out during the ball milling.
I bet making the alloy is pretty straight forward. Magnesium melts at 650c and antimony at 630c. get the right stoichiometric ratio, put it in an evacuated vial and put in a furnace at 650ish and that will probably do it.
I looked it up. Magnesium Antimonate has 5 oxygens. An evacuated tube is wrong. Here's what I found: "Magnesium antimonate can be prepared by firing MgO and antimony pentoxide in air at 1000°C for 18 h."
nice find mate - that's actually not that difficult to do - I can give that a go for sure - though I only;y have antimony trioxide so I will have to oxides that with nitric acid first
Hi, I‘m usually not really into physics so excuse my maybe very stupid question. I was wondering if this could be used to charge really small battery’s and, for the case it is possible, how efficient it would be. Again I’m sorry if this is a stupid question please.
Read something long ago about two dissimilar wires twisted on one end ,heating the junction produced a small voltage,is this the same type of process and could a usable voltage be produced by a bank of a few thousand of these twists say under a large lens?
Bob, The radio wasnt powered directly from the lamp - the lamp charged a built in battery in the radio . When the battery was charged ( must have taken some time ! ) then they could listen to it.....
I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I'm very sure that there were a number of different types of these, my mother was in Holland during the Nazi occupation.. And I was told about the many different ways that people had to be able to knock device's together with whatever was about.. It's a horrible and sad thing that it's sometimes wars that push the scientific work forwards.... Namaste 🙏 Andrea and Critters. ...XxX....
Rob, I have seen you make all manner of contraptions - electrical generating devices - so many things. I want to ask, what if you took an actual generator, say a 3500 watt genny, and found a way to power it without petrol? Reason I'm asking- very serious here- it seems to me that there is a strong push from the GOV to move to green energy at the expense of the people. I don't want to get political, but it sure would be nice to be able to quietly power a freezer of food if the power is shut off. Many thanks for your consideration and I will continue supporting the channel as long as they let there be a channel... 🤔
True, but there must be a lot of ways to do it without a wood fire drawing attention. I imagined using magnets to heat metal with eddy currents - boiling water to make steam. Most power generation relies on making steam. Local coal fired plants all the way up to nuclear powered aircraft carriers. The main point was "quietly powering a freezer". I assume I would also use a battery storage system and a timer to turn it off and on most efficiently. Battery storage systems would be a good topic as well. Perhaps Rob could make it a topic for a video contest. Cheers and thanks for the suggestion.
@@undernetjack "Most power generation relies on making steam" to turn a turbine spin -- see Maxwell. The modern idea is to go from natural sources like sunlight and sun heat directly to electricity. Save on machinery, energy loss (perhaps), size of device, etc. Remember, entropy makes the world go around and we can't get off that merry-go-round. But maybe we can convert some of that energy from nature to electricity we can use.
How would this compare in a conventional TEG form factor? Easy way to work it out would be measuring the same amount of silicon material on that setup and then multiplying the magnesium one by the difference
It seems the reason light v heavy metals seemed to work is neither holds onto outer electrons much (making them conductive metals) and the heavier metals held onto their outermost electrons least. At a given temperature, the higher the better, the heavier metal's electrons have a greater likelihood of getting into the lighter metal than the reverse, potentiating net electron flow. Some alloys of light and heavy metals are, as it were, uncomfortably tight for the heavy metal's outermost electrons, so they are held even more weakly than in the bulk material of that heavy metal -- and once temperature sets then wandering . . . RTGs exploit thermionic emission from a solid into a solid, is my understanding.
I like the Thermionic Convertor more. It does not need a cold side. It "boils" electrons off the the emitter to the collector. Used in satellites & efficiency is about 15% for a long time but was improved with graphene recently.
That has a cold side, as it won't work if the electrode catching the electrons is the same temperature as the ones emitting them. It sounds cool though.
FWIW: I think Silicon Carbide may hold some promise on better TEG performance. You might be able to do some simple experiments since SiC (Grit) isn't expensive. You can also turn some SiC (Grit) crystals into crude LEDs by applying a voltage across them. That said I don't think TEG will real be practical because TEG require big temperature differences and electrically conductive materials are also decent thermal conductors, thus making it difficult to maintain large temperature differences between the two junctions.
What in the world is going on with electrical ideas? Wind, solar-cells, batteries are getting lots and lots of experimental money. So, where is the thermocouple big bucks for such a simple technology? Several thermoelectric articles are over 10 years old. Solid State TC arrays are easy to mass produce in the factories. 😎 Wonderful Thermoelectric video. Thank you. Thermocouples can handle outside sunlight temperatures to produce electricity. ☀
now to make one to run my old Lasonic trc-975 Gettoblaster Radio LOL that would take quit a few i presume .No really neat stuff ill bet one could hack something together that would do something cool potential is their
Could you use a heat pipe to transfer the energy across a short distance in order to keep the magnesium out of direct flame? Or would the energy loss be too great?
now add a step up capacitor.i know nothing about electronic stuff but found a bloke on you tube who use step ups too make deadly tasers.might be a idea..or not
what you are thinking about are Marx generators or Cockcroft Wheaton bridges mate - either will step a voltage up - but when a voltage goes up the amps go down
00:53 Those tables do not include the right numbers because they lack m³ Without it they are almost totally useless. We are missing the melting temperatures too, so we could calculate how much electricity we could get out of the material. 04:08 It looks like it was 154 000 mV if there is a comma we can't see it.
Wow very fascinating information. Thankyou. I'm wondering what your thoughts on these new Diamond Nuclear batteries that are being developed, they use Beta-voltaic cells to produce power from nuclear wast products? I think the idea is great but there are some TH-cam;s (e.g. ThunderF00t & EEVblog) who are claiming it's bogus.
The problem is the low output, profoundly lower than what you'll see the various VC-baiting documents are trying to infer. It's a bit like expecting those trintium -> beta -> electron -> phosphorous lights to illuminate a room like a 20W LED bulb; it's just not realistic.
ABOUT TIME TIME YOU GET OUT OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS AND ENJOY GOOD CLIMATE WITH AFFORDABLE RECYCLED OR UPCYCLED TECHNOLOGY HELPING OTHER PEOPLE AS WELL WITH PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS
Since 15 years, I have been dealing with angular energy electricity generation systems (R&D). My positive designs about angular continue. In this regard, my own financial means are insufficient, I had meetings with many businessmen, they accepted the financing of the project, but they gave up when it came to signing a protocol, that is, when it came to formalisation. If there is an entrepreneur who will take firm steps with me on this path, who is idealistic, has financial means and wants to make an official protocol, I would like to meet. 98% of the published videos are wrong and do not work. I know the mistake they all make.
@@tommyboi0I want to create a clean energy system for a cleaner world. No mechanical wheel system whose angle does not change can produce energy. No system will work against the laws of physics. You can promote this project in your country. I want to realise this project and get a worldwide patent. Of course, I need a solid and idealistic investor to realise these works. I convert angular energy into mechanical and electrical energy. I am an inventor. I am ready to realise this project in any country that will support me.
I am not sure I understand - the quick answer is no - the junction is formed of two dissimilar materials - so by definition can't be symmetric - but I am sure you know that - so to my mind you must be asking a question I don't understand - can you expand a little?
Love your work Robert. Quick question, why is this type of generation being considered for the mars rover? Do the atmospheric conditions on mars make solar or wind power less practical?
NASA have been using thermoelectric generation for years mate - though usually it is nuclear based - so I would think the decisions are more around experience in use, reliability and predictability more than anything
Mars's atmosphere is on average 600 pascals, compared to 101 000 pascals for Earth's atmosphere so wind power is not even considered. Solar is doable, but still hard because Mars being farther from the Sun, it receives about 600 watts per meter squared at best, compared to Earth's 1000 watts per meter squared at best. Also Mars has dust storms that can last weeks to even months blocking out the Sun, so solar energy is problematic to say the least. That's why NASA is interested in onboard energy production.
@@ThinkingandTinkering Will do, right now I'm toying around with sheet metal and seeing how I can bond two layers of differing metal together while keeping oxidation down.
If use a “classified material “ in a specific use, you would do well to start with an alloy of magnesium and “thallium” although the latter is a nasty poison. As an added bit of knowledge from the old valve industry where I have/ had a patent! The election removal “work function” is improved by a thin film of Osmium which is deposited by either sputtering or my patented method . Electrons leaving a surface easily is interesting.
But what's the pattern? Why do some alloys work better than others and once we can model that, can the model suggest 'bizarre' combinations which work even better?
Hi Robert, your talking here about mv . Iv'e come across Ghost Voltage unto 13v , enough to power your Christmas tree lights and its free power!, Here is how it works, take a 25m coil of 10mm microbore copper heating pipe, expand the coils and tie wrap an extension lead tight along the length of it, run something at the other end of the extension, a drill, lamp hairdryer what ever. measure the voltage generated off the copper pipe. Let us know how you get on on you next vide. Cheers Steve
no mate I am not going to do that - the voltage generated in the copper pipe is near field induction - same way as a cordless phone charger works - it's not 'free' your electricity meter will register the extra load - just as it does with phone charger
I have a Question regarding your Carbon heater video. I don't have much money and don't want to purchase a whole amount of carbon as I can't afford it. My question is, Can you Get cloth carbon? like a blanket size in which I could hang up on 2 poles at either side then connect my wind turbine to it to heat it up. If I could get a carbon blanket I could then move it to any room in my house and heat it with the turbine for free heat. I live around 1500 above sea level and gets very windy here so I could have 2 or 3 heating up my house for no cost. If You can get Carbon Blankets does anyone have a link as I cant find any, that's why I ask. Thanks in advance
Back when my goal was a thermo-electric flue pipe insert, i experiment with different metals and metal oxides, and every time i would start to get interesting results, id realize, "MY GOD! I JUST MADE A THERMITE PIPE AND I WAS GONNA STICK IT ON THE STOVE!?!?" lol
lololol - yeah that could be an issue lol - laughing with you mate - laughing with you
Worry Not!!
At least you Realised that Before you installed it!!
😎👍👍
how about not letting the magnesium oxydize?
@@ericmieremet Got ideas on how to manage that? Try them out, let us know how you get on.
@@railgap how about an powdercoating ceramic heat resistant "paint" applied with static attraction of the powder and fuse it in an oven
(Standard procedure for some products)
No time to practice it, I'm in it for the theoretical knowledge.
Some build, I hint.
hi Robert...I work for a company (here in the UK)..that can make these.. magnesium silicide...we've carried out 5yrs of research and the biggest issue was working out the plating layer to get them to connect to the ceramic..and we work with ESA and NASA for the space industry....edit:
we had devices working around 550-650 Deg Celsius..
Hi Richard, I’m in the US and working on a project for home heating. Is that something I can buy for my application?
@@ps3camtheman currently we've stopped production of this module but working on something better... antimonide modules..but still ironing out the process...it should withstand temperature around 400-500 Deg C....watch this space...
@@richardlyd7450 any chance i could get the name of the company or a name to search to buy something like this
@@richardlyd7450 Just following up a year later. Any developments?
Hey Robert, I’m a new viewer to your channel, I’m 16 years old and your channel’s content is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I love in depth looks at things like this, keep up the amazing work! -Joe
References???
not sure when i started looking into this as a way to generate electrical power, but your video was one of them that i distinctly remember watching . since this winter has sucked in terms of solar pv, i started digging into this. in my tests i was able to produce about 5.1watts with a delta t of about 250f. a wood stove and a 20psi boiler should be enough to produce a significant amount of power and by that my goal is 1200 watts. everyday i get a slightly better test than the day before. i also found a source for cheap units that seem to be testing out much better than spec claims. i can see about 200 or 300 of these devices getting the job done with a mppt solar charge controller to charge my 45kwh batter on days we have no sun, using a wood stove or two. time will tell. i already have thirty or so and just ordered another 30, for 60 units x 5w each for 300 watts.
another thing is, i am surprised no one has had the level of power creation i have achieved out of a single unit. most people are only to produce about 100mW, i was able to achieve 51 times that, so the economics work out for me
do you do videos on this? would love to see these diy projects
Maybe you're just really good at engineering.
TEGMO, in association with Kimberly stov es claimed theirs was putting out 10s of watts, which is 4 orders of magnitude more than the milliwatt laboratory prototypes for demo purposes.
If I had endless water, or just a lot of water, I could keep a system operating at its best efficiency.
The appeal of TEG is you can generate a small amount of electricity, without any moving parts Even the best of them are only using a tiny fraction of the power coming off a wood stove. If you really wanted power by burning stuff, just buy an electric generator powered by gasoline, or build a steam engine to turn a generator.
There are other advantages. You can run the blower on your furnace for not much power. TEGs are good for blowers.
I do think they're practical for charging electronics. They make a little camp stove that burns twigs that's about the size of a 1-pound coffee can. It runs a blower that forces air over the TEG to keep the cold side cold and it blows air on the fire to keep it hot and clean. It can charge a phone or a laptop, I think. Power LED lights. That sorrt of thing.
Tegmo? TEG-Pro?
@@dr_melski no, there are no videos, well none that i published.
@@harrymills2770 i bought all the stuff to create maybe 1200 watts, if i remember right. i had bought boxes of the teg's, pumps, water blocks,
many 4 channel thermocouple with data logging capability then i got a new job where i travel 6 out of 7 days a week.
my goal was to use a wood stove for the hotside and outside temps for the cold side in the winter, where my solar produces almost nothing for weeks at a time. i also have all the gasoline powered generators, but just wanted to try something out.
since taking the new job i hit the brakes on this project
Oh my gosh... 3x efficiency... So hold on ... Bismuth Telluride is at best below 10% efficient... Could we see an efficiency of say close to 30% or thereabouts?
Gets mighty close to say a combustion engine...
Amazing!
All solid state...
I agree mate - it is amazing
I got a 160 mV with copper and aluminum over a candle last night and a 150 mV with copper and galvanized steel, but I'm not seeing consistency, when I try to replicate the tests with new wire. I though, at first that a longer, low conductivity metal (aluminum, galv. steel, oxidized iron) would work better at first, then I tried a longer high conductivity metal (copper) and that seems to improve results. It seems that when the copper is 3 times the length of the aluminum or galv. steel, the mV gets higher, but also that if the wires are too long, the energy is lost from the wire as heat, or burns/melts the wire at the join.
I'm making some "ceramic" plates (joint compound) tonight and will try graphite dots for the highly conductive material paired with low conductivity materials. Lead free solder is mostly tin with about 5% antimony. Tin is low conductivity. Antimony is a pnictogen (meaning to choke + generator) in Group 15 of the periodic table, as are the elements nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), and moscovium (Mc). Lead free solder is an antimony doped tin. Sounds promising.
What happened?
@@ignaciosuarez9265 If I recall, the copper-steel worked better than the copper-solder experiment. In either case, the energy harvest is low, so you would need a large array of plates tied to a battery bank.
@tersta1 Im wondering if it's possible to build the same but using a little bit insulation on each layer to increase the temperature gradient but keep conductivity by connecting some points like a sandwich 🥪 do you think that will work?
@@ignaciosuarez9265 I don't think it would. From what I understand, it's the temperature difference, between hot side and cool side, as well as between the conductivity of different metals that forces electrons to convert to electrical energy. I think the most economical way to increase the difference would be to paint the top side black and use the sun's heat. The bottoms of the plates would be in the shade, but if they were cooled, perhaps with evaporation, that would widen the temperature difference. Those are my observations, but I do encourage you to try out different designs. Test everything with a multimeter and then you will know which design yields the highest amount of energy. If you discover anything through experiment, I'd love to hear about it. Drop a reply, please. 💡
Hello Robert, as usual you are keeping us all on TH-cam in the know !!! Looking forward to see you get the Noble price for a super thermoelectric junction micro voltage device.
lol - cheers mate and I should wish!
@@ThinkingandTinkering
Roof mount solar water heaters and geothermal coupled TEGs would not have the hot spot failure problems of silicon cells. Not to mention being also able to use the heat directly at the tap.
@@ThinkingandTinkering ne meant NOBEL but NOBLE is appropriate too...
@@ThinkingandTinkering What Is Islam?
Islam is not just another religion.
It is the same message preached by Moses, Jesus and Abraham.
Islam literally means ‘submission to God’ and it teaches us to have a direct relationship with God.
It reminds us that since God created us, no one should be worshipped except God alone.
It also teaches that God is nothing like a human being or like anything that we can imagine.
The concept of God is summarized in the Quran as:
{ “Say, He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him.”} (Quran 112:1-4)
Becoming a Muslim is not turning your back to Jesus.
Rather it’s going back to the original teachings of Jesus and obeying him
@@ahmdabdallah5811 Sounds like it's just another religion.
Robert, I found your channel when I was researching graphene. You were trying to make it in your kitchen oven then. I still follow your work. best wishes, ~tjb~
"give it a try" - Robert Murray-Smith
Give it a go :)
wow - cheers mate and thanks for letting me know
@@ThinkingandTinkering Graphene is very toxic, please be careful!
Thank you Robert, you are always an Inspiration and I am always delighted to see the notification that you have uploaded something to get the grey matter working!!
Andrea and Critters. ...XxX....
cheers Andrea
⛈️🕯️🤪.
@James Cunliffe Lmao!! Jasper is insulted by your comment!!
since hes Much better looking,and far more intelligent than me as well.
Ive been having my Birthday month,Lol!! August the 12th! Friday,Ive had a beer or two,,Hic!! XxX ;)
@James Cunliffe Happy belated Birthday 🎉🎈🎉🎆🎊💞🥰💞❤️💞🍻🥴🍺🎉🎈🎈🎉💓❤️🥰🥴🍻💜🥳😎🍾🥂 Lol 🎈 HIC!!°°••`°•√%😎👍 I'm sorry I didn't know that you were having a Birthday!!
I am going to have a beer 🍺 on your behalf!!🍻🥳🍺🍺🍻I have had an unpleasant surprise,,, I found out that none of my family actually want to have anything to do with me....
Lmao 🤣💞 My Dad, who Was my hero,my sister and step mom, I already gave up with mother and ghastly,lanky, useless streak of P*** of a brother,,, who I've never seen in over 25yrs,approx.. so I am going Hard at the Celebrations!!🥳🍺🥂🍻🍺🍾🥴🎈😎🍺🍻😁💞
My eldest Sister's Dead so I guess that she can't disown me.. I just want to know ~WHY?!~🥺 and wtf have I done wrong?!🤷🤦🤷🤦
I used to hide mother's "secret" vodka so she'd be seeking it high and low,, only to find its in the place she hid it,,,or Out There on The Living Room Table, So as everyone else got to see, Lmao 🤣💞 Yes I Know I was a horrible child and teen...
(Kept this going til the day she moved down south, Bwahahaha!)
Damnit Man, why do you have to go out to get away from noise?!!
The Heat is unforgiving so I think that you must be out in the woodlands quite a lot hon?!! 🥺
Are you doing Okay?!!!😎 Absolutely you have to contact me if you are not too good, even if it just a natter Here?!~Im getting that half can of beer out of the Freezer and I am going to be sending you some kind thoughts and vibes, may you have the strength to deal with life's challenges and the humour so you can laugh at the absurdity Too.
Namaste 🙏 to both you and your Hoodie, from Peru!!
Andrea and Impending hangover!!🥴🍻😁🥰💞🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗💞🥴🎈❤️🎄🎊🎆.XxX....
Thanks for another thermo electric video Rob.
I have wondered what the effect would be should someone encapsulate the junction in a highly insulation brick. Heated side on one end, cooled end on the me other. Running through the insulation.
Like a thermal battery add on, neat idea.
I agree with Barskor - that is a neat idea - thanks for sharing mate
Dumb question . Can you roll the copper around the magnesium and still make it work? As a way of keeping the air off the magnesium.
I dunno mate - I can't see why not
How would these thermo electric generators score against solar panels? If you had a thin layer of TEG about the same size as a solar panel, would it produce more or less under the sun's heat?
😎👍👍
Solar would win.
Solution: don't build thermo electric generators like you build a solar panel ! 😁
This is like asking _if we built airplanes in the shape of boats, would they float just as well_ ? Well, no, but you you're kinda missing the point. Don't build airplanes in the shape of boats. They wouldn't float as well, and they wouldn't fly that well either.
@@danielch6662 exactly, this stuff would work better in radiators, one side hotter than the other? Sounds to me like a TEG!
Recycling waste heat from power plants becomes more efficient with better TEG's, many factories that use heat in their production recycle heat as well so they can benefit too. Lowering electricity consumption of those energy heavy industries will make for a greener planet.
Also, if you have a good enough TEG tech you could create a heatpump based TEG to harvest ambient heat.
I would think less - to my understanding they work on temperature difference and putting one in the sun would shade the other - the temperature difference would therefor be a couple of degrees at most - they are different beasts mate - it's a bit like asking which is better - apples or flour - they are just used in different circumstances
@@ThinkingandTinkering I meant a heat pump, as in a compressor with the cold output exposed to airflow and the cold side of the TEG and its hot output insulated except the hot side of the TEG, thus it will harvest heat out of the air and only lose it through the insulation or through energy generated.
In theory.
Hi Robert. Could a simple generator be made by simply filling a copper tube with magnesium fillings? If each end was sealed, excluding the air, presumably the magnesium would not be able to ignite?
I think the magnesium has to be one continuous electrically conductive piece, and only connected to the copper at an end
Love this channel, always something new to learn, thanks Rob
Thinking outside of the box is where every great new invention starts.
absolutely mate!
@@ThinkingandTinkering Question: What do you get when you match a Brillouin Energy Hydrogen fueled *fusion* heater to a thermoelectric generator?
Answer: Potentially, enough energy to recover sufficient Hydrogen from the water vapor in the air to fuel the Brillouin Energy Hydrogen fueled *fusion* heater, with enough energy left over to power a useful load.
Except of course the box within a box :0
@Robert Murray-Smith - As you heated the capacitor-loaded junction I kept wondering what capacitor had been attached. Then I noticed the voltage kept climbing even after you removed the torch, and now I really must know... Was it pico Farads, nano Farads, micro Farads? Or larger?
It kept climbing because heat is still transferring from one side to the other... so if a fan was attached it would not immediately stop if you removed the flame etc...
@@Wingnut353 Obviously, but that was not the question.
How about adding those thermal generators to a vehicle to take advantage of the heat products through inefficiencies. What would they produce for an output in the winter, when it would be easier to achieve a better temperature differential?
Is there a way to electrically connect the two dissimilar metals surface whilst preserving the effect? I would imagine using solder to connect them would disrupt the whole thing - is that correct?
My understanding is that the voltage is created in the thermal gradient of the wire from the hot side to the cold side. Introducing a third metal at the junction shouldn't matter. So brazing or soldering should probably work if the metals in question can be joined that way. The typical way to do it though is to weld the wires together. They sell wire welders for making thermocouples, but you can also do it with capacitive discharge welding by charging a big bank of capacitors up to a controlled voltage and discharging it into the junction. This lets you control the amount of energy applied so that you don't vaporize the wires.
you can just crimp them together mate
@@ThinkingandTinkering Is there a reason why you made a point-contact instead of say 2 plates pushed together for more surface area?
A huge leap forward for power generation, perhaps from solar heat bounced off a solar cell.
I assume its a leap forward for cooling as well.
Not sure where you find all this stuff but am grateful you do and that you share it. "Cast the seeds of knowledge to see what take root to bear undiscovered fruit."
I was thinking about putting a deep oven tray on top of my wood stove filling full of water and then floating another oven tray on top of that with those thermoelectric squares and then putting another pan on top of that and and drip water on that cool cool water on that which would basically be warmed up as it as it went across and dropped off that way you'd be assured that you would not burn out those thermoelectric squares any thoughts
If you could tell us what was the capacity of the capacitor we could calculate charging current (estimation). As you know CU=q, so q(t)=CU(t), then just derivative and we get current, for constant capacitance.
From Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Modelling and simulation of magnesium antimonide based thermoelectric generator - they seem to be talking a little over 1W from freezing to boiling. Areal parameters are also given.
@@cymacymulacra2301 Thank You!!
Much appreciated!!😎👍👍
I was thinking of doing a separate vid on how to use capacitors in this situation - nice reminder to do that - cheers mate
@@cymacymulacra2301 great but. First please give maybe doi number or at least full title of the paper. Second frezeeing and boiling of what? Water, table salt, aluminum? 1W is a measure of power, what does it mean in this context? 1w per square meter of such junction, with temperature difference of 100 kelvin? The information you are giving us are a bit useless. Lastly, these are simulations, so it might be a bit different for real device.
Recent advancements in thermoelectric generators include improvements in thermoelectric materials, enhanced performance, and increased efficiency. Scientists are focusing on improving energy harvesting-based power generators, such as thermoelectric generators (TEGs), which can directly convert thermal energy into electrical energy through the Seebeck effect. These TEGs are environmentally friendly, operate silently without mechanical structures, and can be fabricated on various substrates like silicon, polymers, and ceramics. Additionally, there have been promising advances in thermoelectric materials, making TEGs a viable option for large-scale energy recovery and power generation.
Iron and copper also works and was used in a product that would charge a phone from a cook stove.
lots of things work mate - it's not a question of if they work but how well they work
we struggled about our studies , can you help me because our study is same to your invention , we need to make a stove that can generate electricity, without using TEG module
Hi Rob when exactly is the deadline for the bike competition? Thanks
8th of august mate - there will be a reminder vid going up tomorrow
I don't know why these are not built into Tesla car batteries. As you use the battery you can get a % back from the heat. b4 running it through a cooling system.
The hot and cold are there, why not use these to get a little energy out of it.
Perfect for a sand battery!
ahhh - yes - nice
Use an entire beach as your energy source? Hmmm, so I could work at the beach. I like it.
Any idea how efficient Nitinol would be?
Asked the question before getting to the end of the video :)
lol - no worries mate - you should try it though and share your results
Do you have a link to the info? Really interested in the percentage of increase they've seen using magnesium over silicon
Exactly
here is a general article scitechdaily.com/buzz-about-thermoelectric-generators-heats-up-with-promising-new-magnesium-based-materials/
but there is a ton of info if you go to google scholar and put magnesium thermoelectric generator as your search term
Dear Rob,
I just hope you're alright. :(
You are a light in so many dark places.
This is awesome, I want to buy a TIG with those materials just for fun to charge a phone at home with a candle it might even work
Hey there, would I be able to put these in parallel to produce way more power.
yes
If it doesn't make noise it is a pretty good device in it's own right. What kind of radio or emf static do these things generate?
I love thermoelectric ideas
Hey Robert could you have a look at ZVS's please. If you put a transformer after it you can power huge resistive loads at the very least as an extremely efficient inverter, there is lots of work out there that looks as if you get more and was wondering on your thoughts on it.
will do mate
@@ThinkingandTinkering Thank you!
Respect and gratitude. Unlimited
cheers mate
Hello Robert, I have seen your video on the thermal electric 🍩. I made one for some paperclips and a bit of wood to see if the tech works. It did but after I was thinking to myself which strings theory which I know very very little about could be applied to this, so I took a bit of aluminum wire for mock-up. Then I went to a video I saw a while back on a four dimensional Rubik's cube and followed their turnpaths with the wire is there a way I can send you pictures of this?
Just off the top if you’re charging a piece of metal as a battery would having a larger amount away from the heat working as the negative, produce more of a charge? Or if you use a different metal with less protons and more electrons encourage a larger energy flow.
I have an interesting thought. This would work in Spring/Summer. Perhaps aluminum heat sinks or something pushed into the cool earth in the cool side. Outside temperature or sun heated on the other side, the hot side. You would not have to rely on solar. So it's a theory of earth is always cool and Summer air is warm. Even shade would be warmer than earth temp and theoretically useable. The problem with solar in my eyes is having to have tree cleared areas to work. The price of these things is maybe 3 bucks each here in The States.
Time for a flame eater motor generator video. I am working on my house in Portugal and I will be doing your sand heat storage but using an indoor wood oven. It will heat the house and cook food. Bear this in mind we distribute heat around a house using water in a central heating system. Air is not very good too low a thermal capacity BUT if the air is something like at 500 to 800C the that's a lot more heat so I am going to try it blowing air round a pipe circuit round the house. Of course if a flame eater engine could 'inhale' from the wood oven I could have my electric free as well. All exiting stuff no bills sticking it to the man.
Great news! Very interesting. Thanks for sharing 🎉
no worries mate and all the best
hey Robert Greatings from a DIY guy from across the pond. good show. i like your videos keep it up.
You should use a big temperature difference like one side minus 200 degrees C and the other side at say 150 degrees C. Would that work well. If yes! Just pop to the Webb telescope where those conditions apply ! Space travel got easier ?
it works on temperature difference - is yes!
The only commercially available TE modules are Bi2Te3 based. These consist of many PN unicouples to get a usable product. The difficulty is the interconnects and brazing alloy. Antimonides at elevated temperatures can lose antimony and also diffuse antimony into the interconnects causing module failure. Making the material alone is just the start of the work. Although, ball milling magnesium and antimony is an excellent way to make a TE material. That method introduces a lot of defects which decrease thermal conductivity and allow better energy harvesting. Just keep the air out during the ball milling.
Is it milled in a vacuum or is an inert gas used?
cheers mate
Milling under argon is the easiest. It’s the method of choice for preparing other TE materials in bulk.
@@richardblair3021 Thanks.👍
The key is in the valence. Using a magnesium silver ceramic alloy would yield very interesting results.
God bless ya brother 👍
Thank you kindly sir
I bet making the alloy is pretty straight forward. Magnesium melts at 650c and antimony at 630c. get the right stoichiometric ratio, put it in an evacuated vial and put in a furnace at 650ish and that will probably do it.
I looked it up. Magnesium Antimonate has 5 oxygens. An evacuated tube is wrong. Here's what I found: "Magnesium antimonate can be prepared by firing MgO and antimony pentoxide in air at 1000°C for 18 h."
nice find mate - that's actually not that difficult to do - I can give that a go for sure - though I only;y have antimony trioxide so I will have to oxides that with nitric acid first
Could magnesium powder in a sealed argon filled type arrangement? Could just shake for a new junction
Super! Thank you very much!
Hi, I‘m usually not really into physics so excuse my maybe very stupid question. I was wondering if this could be used to charge really small battery’s and, for the case it is possible, how efficient it would be. Again I’m sorry if this is a stupid question please.
Read something long ago about two dissimilar wires twisted on one end ,heating the junction produced a small voltage,is this the same type of process and could a usable voltage be produced by a bank of a few thousand of these twists say under a large lens?
Your channel is such a breath of fresh air! Always practical and at the bleeding edge of every topic!
wow - thank you mate
Bob,
The radio wasnt powered directly from the lamp - the lamp charged a built in battery in the radio . When the battery was charged ( must have taken some time ! ) then they could listen to it.....
I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I'm very sure that there were a number of different types of these, my mother was in Holland during the Nazi occupation..
And I was told about the many different ways that people had to be able to knock device's together
with whatever was about..
It's a horrible and sad thing that it's sometimes wars that push the scientific work forwards....
Namaste 🙏
Andrea and Critters. ...XxX....
I am sure that is exactly what was done mate
Rob, I have seen you make all manner of contraptions - electrical generating devices - so many things. I want to ask, what if you took an actual generator, say a 3500 watt genny, and found a way to power it without petrol?
Reason I'm asking- very serious here- it seems to me that there is a strong push from the GOV to move to green energy at the expense of the people.
I don't want to get political, but it sure would be nice to be able to quietly power a freezer of food if the power is shut off.
Many thanks for your consideration and I will continue supporting the channel as long as they let there be a channel... 🤔
You can power it using a wood-burning steam engine.
True, but there must be a lot of ways to do it without a wood fire drawing attention. I imagined using magnets to heat metal with eddy currents - boiling water to make steam.
Most power generation relies on making steam. Local coal fired plants all the way up to nuclear powered aircraft carriers. The main point was "quietly powering a freezer".
I assume I would also use a battery storage system and a timer to turn it off and on most efficiently. Battery storage systems would be a good topic as well.
Perhaps Rob could make it a topic for a video contest. Cheers and thanks for the suggestion.
@@undernetjack "Most power generation relies on making steam" to turn a turbine spin -- see Maxwell.
The modern idea is to go from natural sources like sunlight and sun heat directly to electricity.
Save on machinery, energy loss (perhaps), size of device, etc.
Remember, entropy makes the world go around and we can't get off that merry-go-round. But maybe we can convert some of that energy from nature to electricity we can use.
You have to twist the 2 metals together and apply the heat to the twisted section.
How would this compare in a conventional TEG form factor?
Easy way to work it out would be measuring the same amount of silicon material on that setup and then multiplying the magnesium one by the difference
It seems the reason light v heavy metals seemed to work is neither holds onto outer electrons much (making them conductive metals) and the heavier metals held onto their outermost electrons least. At a given temperature, the higher the better, the heavier metal's electrons have a greater likelihood of getting into the lighter metal than the reverse, potentiating net electron flow. Some alloys of light and heavy metals are, as it were, uncomfortably tight for the heavy metal's outermost electrons, so they are held even more weakly than in the bulk material of that heavy metal -- and once temperature sets then wandering . . .
RTGs exploit thermionic emission from a solid into a solid, is my understanding.
Thinking outside the box. Everyone should try it 😜
at least once lol
I like the Thermionic Convertor more. It does not need a cold side. It "boils" electrons off the the emitter to the collector. Used in satellites & efficiency is about 15% for a long time but was improved with graphene recently.
That has a cold side, as it won't work if the electrode catching the electrons is the same temperature as the ones emitting them. It sounds cool though.
FWIW: I think Silicon Carbide may hold some promise on better TEG performance. You might be able to do some simple experiments since SiC (Grit) isn't expensive. You can also turn some SiC (Grit) crystals into crude LEDs by applying a voltage across them.
That said I don't think TEG will real be practical because TEG require big temperature differences and electrically conductive materials are also decent thermal conductors, thus making it difficult to maintain large temperature differences between the two junctions.
Hey Robert!!❤️ Got anything on heat engines based on Bimetallic strips?
could combinig salt water for the cold terminal add voltage with right metal
What in the world is going on with electrical ideas? Wind, solar-cells, batteries are getting lots and lots of experimental money. So, where is the thermocouple big bucks for such a simple technology? Several thermoelectric articles are over 10 years old. Solid State TC arrays are easy to mass produce in the factories. 😎 Wonderful Thermoelectric video. Thank you.
Thermocouples can handle outside sunlight temperatures to produce electricity. ☀
now to make one to run my old Lasonic trc-975 Gettoblaster Radio LOL that would take quit a few i presume .No really neat stuff ill bet one could hack something together that would do something cool potential is their
I agree mate the potential is there - and any way I think I would just be scared to see you running your ghetto blaster from a flame lol
Any plumbers in this group
why do you want a plumber mate?
wait... if silicon has a seebeck coefficient of 440, and its melting point is at 1410*C why arent we just using that?
Could you use graphene instead of magnesium? I hear they've got a few different graphene 3d printers available now
Would using the copper cooling pipes for pc’s allow the magnesium to be used as a cooling fin on the end while you heat the other?
Perhaps combining some of how a heat sink works with the TEG would speed the flow of heat to increase the V output.
How about measuring the power output compared to the power in the torch flame?
Make a thermoelectric lampion, with 8 generators on the side and one more on top.
I think you will enjoy the video in the link
I heard aluminum to iron works well too and it is more resistant to high heat.
Completely off-topic, but I don't where/how to ask about this.
Is an 'electrostatic pump' viable? Like a linear motor.
Thanks.
yes - they exist - a variable capacitor is a kind of electron pump
Could you use a heat pipe to transfer the energy across a short distance in order to keep the magnesium out of direct flame? Or would the energy loss be too great?
Heatpipes will usually only work at "low" temperatures up to around 100°C afterwards they are very likely to pop.
where are you now sir? hope you are well and good. i miss to see you on tour video.
I bet you could use a catalytic hand warmer to apply heat more efficiently to your thermoelectric generator
NASA used radio isotope thermoelectric generators. What to they use in the thermopile? It’s probably very expensive.
Thanks for sharing.
now add a step up capacitor.i know nothing about electronic stuff but found a bloke on you tube who use step ups too make deadly tasers.might be a idea..or not
what you are thinking about are Marx generators or Cockcroft Wheaton bridges mate - either will step a voltage up - but when a voltage goes up the amps go down
00:53 Those tables do not include the right numbers because they lack m³ Without it they are almost totally useless. We are missing the melting temperatures too, so we could calculate how much electricity we could get out of the material.
04:08 It looks like it was 154 000 mV if there is a comma we can't see it.
Interesting. 👍🏽
cheers mate
Wow very fascinating information. Thankyou. I'm wondering what your thoughts on these new Diamond Nuclear batteries that are being developed, they use Beta-voltaic cells to produce power from nuclear wast products? I think the idea is great but there are some TH-cam;s (e.g. ThunderF00t & EEVblog) who are claiming it's bogus.
The problem is the low output, profoundly lower than what you'll see the various VC-baiting documents are trying to infer. It's a bit like expecting those trintium -> beta -> electron -> phosphorous lights to illuminate a room like a 20W LED bulb; it's just not realistic.
I'll do a video mate
So its a simple matter of excluding oxygen and water while heating it. That should be doable.
I got great results with Graphite and Aluminum
ABOUT TIME TIME YOU GET OUT OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS AND ENJOY GOOD CLIMATE WITH AFFORDABLE RECYCLED OR UPCYCLED TECHNOLOGY HELPING OTHER PEOPLE AS WELL WITH PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS
How would carbon felt work alongside nichrome wire for a Thermogenerator, as opposed to say carbon graphite or graphene?
Since 15 years, I have been dealing with angular energy electricity generation systems (R&D). My positive designs about angular continue. In this regard, my own financial means are insufficient, I had meetings with many businessmen, they accepted the financing of the project, but they gave up when it came to signing a protocol, that is, when it came to formalisation. If there is an entrepreneur who will take firm steps with me on this path, who is idealistic, has financial means and wants to make an official protocol, I would like to meet. 98% of the published videos are wrong and do not work. I know the mistake they all make.
You certainly have my attention.
@@tommyboi0I want to create a clean energy system for a cleaner world. No mechanical wheel system whose angle does not change can produce energy. No system will work against the laws of physics. You can promote this project in your country. I want to realise this project and get a worldwide patent. Of course, I need a solid and idealistic investor to realise these works. I convert angular energy into mechanical and electrical energy. I am an inventor. I am ready to realise this project in any country that will support me.
@@SINANOZYOLDAS how to I communicate with you privately?
@@tommyboi0We can discuss in more detail. You can easily find me on other platforms. Many articles are not published here. Thank you very much.
Thanks for the great content.
Glad you enjoy it!
Are thermo-electric junctions symmetrical?
I am not sure I understand - the quick answer is no - the junction is formed of two dissimilar materials - so by definition can't be symmetric - but I am sure you know that - so to my mind you must be asking a question I don't understand - can you expand a little?
Love your work Robert. Quick question, why is this type of generation being considered for the mars rover? Do the atmospheric conditions on mars make solar or wind power less practical?
NASA have been using thermoelectric generation for years mate - though usually it is nuclear based - so I would think the decisions are more around experience in use, reliability and predictability more than anything
@@ThinkingandTinkering Thanks Robert I'd thought the rovers were mostly solar powered.
Mars's atmosphere is on average 600 pascals, compared to 101 000 pascals for Earth's atmosphere so wind power is not even considered. Solar is doable, but still hard because Mars being farther from the Sun, it receives about 600 watts per meter squared at best, compared to Earth's 1000 watts per meter squared at best. Also Mars has dust storms that can last weeks to even months blocking out the Sun, so solar energy is problematic to say the least. That's why NASA is interested in onboard energy production.
I'm gonna play with this
awesome - let me know how you get on
@@ThinkingandTinkering Will do, right now I'm toying around with sheet metal and seeing how I can bond two layers of differing metal together while keeping oxidation down.
Thank you.
might give a small boost to the back of a solar P.V cell
it might well do mate
I believe there are already PV solar panels with heat collectors as well. Modify a bit with a TEG and away ya go.
If use a “classified material “ in a specific use, you would do well to start with an alloy of magnesium and “thallium” although the latter is a nasty poison. As an added bit of knowledge from the old valve industry where I have/ had a patent! The election removal “work function” is improved by a thin film of Osmium which is deposited by either sputtering or my patented method . Electrons leaving a surface easily is interesting.
it is and I am not sure about the thallium - for obvious reasons lol
"The election removal..." - Didn't they do that in the USA in 2020?
1:30 Robert, 2 or 300 degrees ? The solder used in these devices melts at much lower temperatures, like 90 degr C.
How I know ? Guess 😊👍🏻🤝🏻🇳🇱
But what's the pattern? Why do some alloys work better than others and once we can model that, can the model suggest 'bizarre' combinations which work even better?
Hi Robert, your talking here about mv . Iv'e come across Ghost Voltage unto 13v , enough to power your Christmas tree lights and its free power!, Here is how it works, take a 25m coil of 10mm microbore copper heating pipe, expand the coils and tie wrap an extension lead tight along the length of it, run something at the other end of the extension, a drill, lamp hairdryer what ever. measure the voltage generated off the copper pipe. Let us know how you get on on you next vide. Cheers Steve
no mate I am not going to do that - the voltage generated in the copper pipe is near field induction - same way as a cordless phone charger works - it's not 'free' your electricity meter will register the extra load - just as it does with phone charger
I have a Question regarding your Carbon heater video.
I don't have much money and don't want to purchase a whole amount of carbon as I can't afford it.
My question is, Can you Get cloth carbon? like a blanket size in which I could hang up on 2 poles at either side then connect my wind turbine to it to heat it up. If I could get a carbon blanket I could then move it to any room in my house and heat it with the turbine for free heat. I live around 1500 above sea level and gets very windy here so I could have 2 or 3 heating up my house for no cost.
If You can get Carbon Blankets does anyone have a link as I cant find any, that's why I ask. Thanks in advance
Is energy generated or manifest.
Form follows function.
Typo in the video name
Great info as always
cheers mate and fixed the typo