Thursday, March 20, 2008
Thermoelectric coolers and power generators were handed a 40-percent boost in performance recently by a nanotechnological reconstruction of a classic bulk material. The technique is suitable for mass production, according to its inventors at Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), making it useful in both industrial and consumer cooling applications--from semiconductors to nanoscale power generators. The material improved by the researchers is used in a variety of applications from generating power for remote spacecraft to cooling automobile seats during summer heat waves. The auto industry has also been experimenting with ways of converting the heat from can exhausts into electric current that charges the batteries of hybrid cars. Now all these applications, and other new ones, could be boosted by a 40-percent efficiency gain.
Posted by R. Colin Johnson at 11:21 AM