Thermoelectric generator: history and modernity

Have you ever thought that a conventional stove or gas stove can not only give heat, but also be a source of electricity? Yes, there, even from an ordinary fire in a hike, you can get a small, but sometimes very necessary electricity ...

How it all began

The device, thanks to which such miracles are possible, is known as the "thermoelectric generator". He comes from the distant 19th century, like everything electric. One day, the German scientist Thomas Seebek decided to conduct an experiment. He took two wires made of different metals, and soldered them into a closed ring. Then one end of the spike was heated and saw that a current appeared in the ring. True, the scientist's discovery was not appreciated at once - the current was so miserable that it could only be used to measure temperature. What for a hundred years and did, using the discovery of Seebeck in the so-called thermocouples.

Everything changed after a century, when scientists became interested in semiconductors. In the 1930s, the Soviet physicist A.F. Ioffe soldered semiconductors in the ring and found that the current was produced quite a decent amount of power. Semiconductor rings are put on a kerosene lamp, like a collar. Their inner ends receive heat from the lamp, touching its glass. The outer ends are cooled by the large surface of the fins. So the thermoelectric generator has received a wider application. It was actively used in places where there was no electricity at all. For example, in the villages to power radios. The invention was also useful in war. Noiselessness of the generator at work allowed using it to power field radio stations.

Generator with dangerous stuffing

In the twentieth century, the idea of obtaining electricity from thermal energy led to the emergence of a new type of thermoelectric generators, which are "heated up" by radioactive elements. The so-called radioisotope thermoelectric generator in the USSR was used to power coastal lighthouses. In the USA, such generators were used for space objects. The fuel for the RTGs (abbreviated name of the devices) was strontium-90.

On the one hand, such a thermoelectric generator is durable, on the other hand it is a source of great danger. Especially it became clear in modern Russia, where a lot of RTGs on the coasts have long been out of order and now stand without any supervision, being a tasty morsel for scrap metal collectors. Therefore, they try to get rid of such devices whenever possible.

In the campaign and in industry

But it is not all that bad. In our time, a thermoelectric generator has become a sought after thing. Most of all, it is, as before, convenient in places where electricity can not wait. As a rule, such devices are compact and will be useful for a tourist on a hike, a sailor on a voyage, a rescuer or a hunter. The source of heat can be an ordinary fire, on which a ladle with water is put to get the temperature difference necessary for the generator. The energy received from the device is enough to charge a mobile phone or laptop. Some models of generators, for example, GTU-12-12, are made in the form of a bowler, which you can simply hang over fire.

They also use thermoelectric generators for industrial purposes. During operation of the internal combustion engine or gas turbine, as is known, a lot of heat is released. It is used to generate electricity, which can then be used as you like, or even make money by selling it. Do not abandon the idea of using nuclear fuel as a source of heat for the generator - in Russia and the United States have already developed the appropriate facilities.

And finally, as before, you can assemble a thermoelectric generator yourself. On the World Wide Web, a lot of training videos and articles with a detailed description of the assembly sequence. True, the main element of such a generator is a thermoelectric module - you still have to buy it. But in general, such a device will certainly be cheaper than branded models.