4 ms·
You'd be actively cooling your wood stove by much more than the power you'd extract, and you won't get more than enough to charge a phone or laptop. TECs are ju
by arghwhat 7y ago
You'd be actively cooling your wood stove by much more than the power you'd extract, and you won't get more than enough to charge a phone or laptop. TECs are just terrible.
You'd get much better result by making a small steam plant with the same setup: boil water on stove, drive plant (turbine or piston), condense outside, repeat.
However, if you really want to do this with TECs, stack them to lower the per-unit temperature differential, or distribute the heat energy over a larger area and run them in parallel.
- learc83 7y agoA small stirling engine would be easier and safer than a steam setup.
- 8bitsrule 7y agoThe good ol' Stirling engine was tried out -- at a few locations in the US Southwest 10 years back -- to generate megawatts of solar-powered electricity (25kW per engine) at the focus of parabolic mirrors. It got beat out by subsidized Chinese-produced PV panels (SES was forced into bankruptcy). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_the_Stirling_engine#Solar_power_generation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_the_Stirling_e... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Signal_Solar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Signal_Solar
- abdullahkhalids 7y agoMy senior year project ten years ago was exactly this - solar thermal + a Stirling engine. When we started the project, we estimated it 20% or so cheaper than solar PV. In that one year solar prices halved or so, leaving us at a dead end. I ended up consulting with leather plant for their hot water needs via solar thermal. At least that is still viable.
- 8bitsrule 7y agoInteresting. I just learned about that energy combo, and Stirling also makes a lot of sense for someone with a non-solar heat source! Amazing how China came along at the time it did. The hardball politics aimed against US solar startups since Carter has been a fascinating tale with little mainstream coverage.
- arghwhat 7y agoI'd argue that a steam setup is considerably easier and more proven, but a Stirling engine is certainly safer and more efficient. (A homemade setup would not be very efficient regardless of technology chosen, so I'm ignoring complexities of elaborate high-performance boilers.)
- debrice 7y agoI’d suggest doing that operation on the outdoor side exhaust where the heat loss would be irrelevant.
- arghwhat 7y agoI doubt there's enough heat to extract there. Low-pressure exhaust gas is useless, and I don't think a metal chimney exiting out through a wall would conduct enough heat on the outside on its own.