Learn how to make a cell phone charger using excess heat from an open flame. This also explains the concept of thermodynamics and the process of converting heat to energy.
Project Page: http://www.tinkernut.com/wiki/page/Episode_316
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Hey gigafide i have 1 question. Does this project required cost & maintenanc cost is lesser than the normal mobile phone charger ?
This may be more expensive initial than a standard phone charger, but could be a lifesaver in the bush with a broken leg and a box of matches!
Cool use of a peltier device and step-up transformer!
Bonus points for the Thermodynamics!
One point here, as it relates to thermodynamics, is that the amount of work you get out of a given energy source depends, not on the quantity of energy in the source, but on the difference in energy concentration between the energy source and the environment. This difference is sometimes called ‘exergy’. A petroleum product like the jelly in your sterno can, or a lump of charcoal, for that matter, have higher exergy than your typical candle.
This is the main reason that, while the total energy falling from the sun onto the earth is greater than our total current energy needs we currently service by burning fossil fuels (billions of years of stored sunlight), it is impossible with our current, massively wasteful. methods of power distribution and consumption to maintain our current standard of living with solar power generation: the exergy is too low. Each individual photon of light has the same energy that it ever has, but collectively, those photons are diffusely spread out over half the globe at any time. Concentrating them takes work.
That said, I wonder how you might use relatively diffuse waste heat to generate 1.5 volts? Now that’s a sustainable hack!
A few ideas that come to mind:
Put the peltier device at the center of a solar oven?
The center of a compost pile often gets pretty hot due to anaerobic digestion…
Burn garbage to turn a windmill/propeller, to drive an alternator?
Keep up the cool posts!
you can get the peltier device on Amazon for $7. If you want to save a few bucks
You can get a 40mmx40mm peltier device from SparkFun for $15. That way you don’t have to mess around with dismantling the drink chiller. Lots of good thoughts for implementation in the comment section as well.
What kind of amps are we talking? That’s just as important as the voltage. My phone takes 1A to charge, so if this thing is only putting out 200mA, then it’s going to take quite a long time to charge it.
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I’m also wondering what the output current is. It looks like those AA charger doodads put out about 250ma when running on an AA battery, but how much current does it get with the candle?
I’ve found a deal on ebay for two peltier plate gadgets for less than twenty dollars, so I’m hoping to stack them and get a bit extra power out of it, or maybe use the second one for a DIY solar charger!
What is minimum temperature for this device to operate? I mean in what temperature it starts to produce around 1.5V? I ask, because I’ve heard such a devices require pretty high temperature to operate. And they’re very inefficient comparing to normal ways of producing electricity from heat (consider carbon dioxide production). If this would start work at let’s say 50-60C it may be worth to consider “recycling” part of energy from laptop CPU to extend it’s battery life.
How many phone charges can I expect from one $10 can of fuel?
use paper or wood for free
Gigafide can you make an operating system that is very easy to do?
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The suggestion to find the specs & work out the possibilities for using a Peltier device to scavenge energy from the heat in a laptop’s interior gets one to consider other things that would benefit from such a scavenge. Turbosuperchargers have been doing this principle for quite some time on piston engines & steam turbines.
Thanks for revving up my # of processes running…..