Hot to Voltage

[QUAZ HOLT]

This project started with this thingy found a while back.

It is a cooler box P diode array. How much voltage and current will it produce?An Acetylene torch is hot enough to silver solder the copper chambers.

Here are all of the finished pieces.

Hot and cold chambers will be attached to my in floor heating system. The hot side runs at a maximum 80 degrees c and the return side 10 degrees c.

The P diode is installed using thermal paste sandwiched between the hot and cold.

First test on the unit produced 1.316 volts and 500 milli amps aprox. one half a watt. My conclusion very inefficient and you would need lots of them to get any real power.Back to the drawing board. Bill

[nanotech]

I played around with a couple Peltier junctions a while back.  Originally thought to use one for a new form of cooling for my overdriven CPU on my computer.

That experiment ended up costing me $100 for a new CPU.  That was back when I had more money than common sense.

Next I tried using two of them to help chill the water for a closed circuit cooling system on the CPU.  The two of them lowered the cooling water a whopping 2 degrees F.  Then the water block on the CPU sprung a leak.  That little experiment cost me another $100 for another CPU, $75 for a replacement sound card, and $40 for a relacement power supply.

It was at that point that I gave up on alternative cooling systems for my computer and went back to the trusty heat sink and a massive fan.

My prognosis as to Peltier junctions?

They work pretty good for small scale cooling of Coleman ice boxes.  That's about it.

[SmoggyTurnip]

Not only are you only getting 1/2 watt but

you are stealing it from the heating system,

because it had to cool the hot water to

get the energy.  If it did give you the power

you were looking for your floor would be cold.

No free lunch.

.

[ghurd]

Not sure you want to hear this... They make them 2 ways. One for moving heat with electricity, and one for making electricity with heat.

Not sure how much better the kind you want is, compared to the kind from the surplus houses.

Was it tested with a load?

G-

[QUAZ HOLT]

No Free Lunch. The spot where I installed the unit was just before the wood fired boiler. The wood was free and cold was free. Lunch cost $5.69 can. Bill

[Bruce S]

bill;

   Look on the brite side. You now have a back up heater for your wood stove:-) sure it could drain a battery system trying to heat water up by only a few degrees but what the heck.:--)

Also the hot/cold sides are indeed truely reversable, to make the hot side cold switch the two wires.

AND the output while it might be small, is enough to charge a simple NiCd set and this will be at a fairly constant rate.

Since you've already done all the hard work, go ahead and get one of those milti-AA battery holders wire it up in parrallel and you'll have NiCds ready when you need them.

Question? WHere did you get those water blocks? make then too? or ?

Cheers

Bruce S

[QUAZ HOLT]

Bruce, The water boxes were cut out of 1/16 inch copper plate, folded and silver soldered. Heating with electricity is the most efficient way to spend your cold cash. Bill,