New alloy that converts heat directly into electricity

Can you spin the metal into thread fiber?

Then I could wear it as underwear and when I fart I could charge my phone.

We have had this for years, its called a thermocouple. Big deal. You would still need lots of heat to get any useful power. Efficiency would have to be 50 percent or better to be of any use and you would still need a heat source and the sun would be more efficient using ordinary solar cells. Hydrogen research is the key to free power.

Change amount of heat within a specific range?
Not exactly sure what this is referring to.
I do not wish to assume.

Alternating heat? to produce alternating current?

in order for electricity to be produced from magnetism there has to be a change in the magnetic field, this can be achieved in normal bar magnets and coils by moving the bar magnet in and out of the coil..

the amount of flux or variance dictates the amount of energy transferred into the coil, or in other words how far you push the bar magnet in and out of the coil determines how much electrical energy comes out.

in the case of this new alloy being the substitute for bar magnet in the previous example the temperature needs to change within a range to change the mangetic field.

you cant just heat up the alloy and then expect electricity out of it, you have to heat it up, then let it cool, and repeat, this simualtes the bar magnet in the example i gave earlier moving in and out of the coil.

hope this is explaining what we have here, a metal that becomes a strong magnet when its heated (even slighly)

Great stuff, but something just tells me that:

A) the patent for this alloy will be bought up and buried by an oil company.

B) this alloy will probably be so expensive it will make gold look like dirt.

Hmmmmmmm. Obama will probably have those guys have unfortunate accident.

This could be used for terraforming planets using core heat to power device that build an atmosphere

I was thinking my laptop might produce enough heat to run on. :-):hf:

None of you deserve a Free Planet.

Why?

Because you PROTECT YOUR JAILORS, insane behaviour.

:)

That's a bit harsh FP. It takes time for 'one' to realise that he is a captive, let alone numbers of people to effect a change. (see Plato's cave, and that was 1000's of years ago!!)

You cant force people en-masse to embrace this. It has to happen one at a time, and reach a critical mass.

Worry about yourself first, and your family, make things right for your 'unit', and have patience that the right thing will eventually surface.

Your frustration tells me that you 'sense' it is beginning, but not fast enough.

I think we are on the verge, after decades of flat lining, to a sharp spike in the graph!

More and more of this type of work will come to the forefront, and more and more people will question the status quo.

WE are changing.

I think Tesla was onto something with wireless energy, local Tesla coils acting as repeaters or just supporting small neighborhoods or businesses.

If we can make it work, if it can somehow become viable it would be truly epic.

It is available to anyone who wants it, in the world.

I think Tesla had lots of great ideas.

But - I dont think those ideas were meant for that time, nor the short term ahead of us. There would be so much to change in all facets of life to enable the tech' and I dont see it being a smooth change.

But small moves forward, still embracing what the wankers who like to think they control the 'show' will chip away, until that kind of thinking no longer appeals to anyone.

Then, like this idea, many of the 'old' inventions will flourish and truly change the world.

Its a bummer, but I think that's how it will go down.

You call me a moran but you don't know the answer to a very simple question like where gas is stored on a vehicle?

If I go to a gas station and fill the tank on my car, it takes a handful of minutes and now my vehicle is full with high inefficient fuel, but filled still the same.

A battery, made from rare earth metal, which is very expensive, terrible for the environment in it's extraction, and production, and tends to get very hot, takes much longer than a handful of minutes to recharge which is the equivalent of "tanking up".

Now lets say you managed to produce electric cars, despite the massive cost financially, environmentally and towards human life itself, all the while convincing people to handout at charge stations anywhere from 2 to 6 hours to charge their vehicles on vacations, how do you plan on bringing this electricity to these fill stations with the extremely outdated and burdened infrastructure the US has?

Finally, you are still back to square one, you replace oil with another "fossil" fuel, natural gas or coal. Fracture drilling or "strip" mining does wonders for the environment and exposes tons of radioactive material that was more or less inert since it was covered with earth.

Let me guess, solar...........wind? Solar in extraordinarily inefficient, expensive despite silicon being so cheap it needs really rare earth metals to, you know, work, and IS NOT a solution to our energy issues.

Wind has a very limited viability at the moment due basically to the need for certain conditions much like geotherm or hydro.

So forgive me for being a moran, but I am sick of the quick fix concepts that pollute the public like all electric world when it is so far from viable.

I reckon you have a good point there. Regardless of how good an idea is, it has to be weighed against the greater effects it has on our planet.

Remember all those crazy 50's infomercials showing house wives with nuclear ovens and the like!!

Hopefully this baby isnt the same.

The argument though about cars and their effectiveness with this or that fuel, masks the real problem!

Its the car itself!!! This one device has created the whole shite in the first place. Just think about how many industries feed in to this one product. Including oil.

Wiening ourselves off this device, along with fossil fuels will be a massive step, but at this stage, there doesnt seem to be a viable alternative, given how we WANT to live.

All comes down to responsibility I guess. Enough people want it, and it will happen.

I think you are right. Each "baby" step, so to speak, is one step closer to a better tomorrow. A move away from one energy choice, like oil for movement, natural gas and coal for electricity, but perhaps a move away from the concept of using stored energy in the earth or material and trying to develop something that is truly sustainable. Moreover, it could lead to a real understanding and usage of energy. Instead of extracting stored energy and then using that energy to heat water for steam or to attempt to harness the energy being released in a explosion but rather a direct use or manipulation of energy.

I sure hope that day will come and soon.

We need a "vast majority of people" for Free Planet to work, in that we have to decriminalise REFUSAL of the Corporate War Machine economy that's been ruining this planet in a concerted effort since THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

One or two refusenick CRIMINALS will just not cut the mustard. Yeah, I'm angry about this. And so should the rest of the world be.

We are ALL in our own Corporate War Prison Cells, whether we know it or not.

:(

Thought I'd post an update on this material.

Further experimentation, and expressions of interest in commercialisation in progress.

-----------

University of Minnesota engineering researchers in the College of Science and Engineering have recently discovered a new alloy material that converts heat directly into electricity. This revolutionary energy conversion method is in the early stages of development, but it could have wide-sweeping impact on creating environmentally friendly electricity from waste heat sources.

Related Content
• External link to University of Minnesota
• More news from University of Minnesota

Researchers say the material could potentially be used to capture waste heat from a car's exhaust that would heat the material and produce electricity for charging the battery in a hybrid car. Other possible future uses include capturing rejected heat from industrial and power plants or temperature differences in the ocean to create electricity. The research team is looking into possible commercialization of the technology.

"This research is very promising because it presents an entirely new method for energy conversion that's never been done before," said University of Minnesota aerospace engineering and mechanics professor Richard James, who led the research team."It's also the ultimate 'green' way to create electricity because it uses waste heat to create electricity with no carbon dioxide."

To create the material, the research team combined elements at the atomic level to create a new multiferroic alloy, Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10. Multiferroic materials combine unusual elastic, magnetic and electric properties. The alloy Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10 achieves multiferroism by undergoing a highly reversible phase transformation where one solid turns into another solid. During this phase transformation the alloy undergoes changes in its magnetic properties that are exploited in the energy conversion device.

During a small-scale demonstration in a University of Minnesota lab, the new material created by the researchers begins as a non-magnetic material, then suddenly becomes strongly magnetic when the temperature is raised a small amount. When this happens, the material absorbs heat and spontaneously produces electricity in a surrounding coil. Some of this heat energy is lost in a process called hysteresis. A critical discovery of the team is a systematic way to minimize hysteresis in phase transformations. The team's research was recently published in the first issue of the new scientific journal Advanced Energy Materials.



"In the lab, University of Minnesota researchers show how a new multiferroic material they created begins as a non-magnetic material then suddenly becomes strongly magnetic as the piece of copper below is heated a small amount. When this happens, it jumps over to a permanent magnet. This demonstration represents the direct conversion of heat to kinetic energy".

In addition to Professor James, other members of the research team include University of Minnesota aerospace engineering and mechanics post-doctoral researchers Vijay Srivastava and Kanwal Bhatti, and Ph.D. student Yintao Song. The team is also working with University of Minnesota chemical engineering and materials science professor Christopher Leighton to create a thin film of the material that could be used, for example, to convert some of the waste heat from computers into electricity.

"This research crosses all boundaries of science and engineering," James said. "It includes engineering, physics, materials, chemistry, mathematics and more. It has required all of us within the university's College of Science and Engineering to work together to think in new ways."

[link to www.sciencenewsline.com]


They are also working with a Taiwanese team who have also created a new alloy for hard disk drive platters, with the hope that the disc and the ferro magnetic properties, plus the motion, plus the heat/power generating properties might actually power a drive itself, with minimal input.

I really dig that idea!!!!!!!!!!!!

self sustainability in the far north is very difficult

firewood is essential

so far ive only seen boilers with steam, but steam boilers are dangerous because of high pressure, you'll need some coursing to maintain it

depending on how much this gives and the price, it could be a big breaktrough

solar is fine if you live in the right place, like arizona, mexico, sahara or similar

but up here its not much to consider, will only work for a few months

Solar and heat energy simultaneously!

If I didn't misunderstood this, it means that a small source of heat, can generate electricity. Well, I might be tripping, but how about use it as "clothes" and generate electricity from our own bodies? Or better, use this combined with a big magnifier to channel sun heat onto it and generate even more energy? The possibilities here are endless, we have heat all around us, think of the possibilities, just use your imagination.
BTW, if this has already been said in the thread, I'm sorry, didn't read the whole thing.

Nah, that's a great idea!! I think a few have mentioned it.

These research labs are great, but out of the box folk, like those who frequent GLP might have a few nifty ideas that might surprise them.

I recjon it's not about a total solution, but by getting the alloy every where, in every little thing, you start to take the load off the grid.

Eventually, with solar, wind, geothermal, wave etc, PLUS this, you start to have a nice clean solution to energy development.

What I like about it, is that it satisfies the corporates need of making money off something.

We all hate that idea, but the pricks arent going to drop oil, coal and gas, as it's too easy to make money from. They need an alternate way of making money, making power, and doing the right thing by the environment.

Small steps...

Yeah, buildings, roadways, ships, planes, you name it, some part of the structure could trickle a small amount either back in to it's own running, or back in to the grid.

Dont forget jewellery, and clothes too! Not quite the matrix... eeek, but still pretty valuable in terms of heat generation and therefor potential power generation.
(without the plugs, and gooey bath!!)

Remember you read about it...because you'll never see it...happen.

Look maybe not in our lifetime, just as Tesla's ideas are only really scratching the surface of commercial reality.

But they exist, and one day will be implemented, when the asswipes that currently have us in a strangle hold dont mean anything to us any longer.


I really hope you're wrong though!

Was thinking that Apple, with the use of alloy chassis, rather than injection moulded plasics, was on the right path to making products that last.

Mind you, the processing of alloys is equally ghastly in terms of pollutants and energy requirements.

But, by making things less of plastic, you have less oil requirements and loading, and pollution.

You also have a mind set of better life span of products, quality etc.

It plays directly in to this heat/electric alloy being used integrally as a supplement to the power source.

ANYthing that lessens oil useage is good in my book.

Haha, was having a laugh about all the things we make that get hot, and that heat being used to do something more in the process.

Like a saucepan for instance. The material itself, or a skin or pad in the base could be used to illuminate it internally, so you can see what's inside, or through a transducer, put the power it generates back into the stove top or grid itself.

The ideas can just go on forever.

They are playing with heat being turned into energy, but was thinking about the opposite of it? In a state of zero energy, could even tiny amounts of light/heat/waves be changed into power? Every bit counts.. This stuff works within a particular band of energy, but I wonder if it could be tuned to various energy bands for specific functions?

I thought I'd bump this, as I havent found anything on it regards development.

Has it been shelved? What do they say in Russia? "dissappeared"

Real shame, as the likes of Elon Musk would surely have jumped at it with all his solar stuff going on.

This would have been really complimentary.

Anyone else seen anything like this being developed or used currently?