Heat to Electricity to Radio – Thermocouple Electrical Power Generation? 27 - February - 2008
Posted by k9zw in Amateur Radio, K9ZW Just Rambled.Tags: Back Up Power, K9ZW, K9ZW Just Rambled
trackback
Electrical Power Generation From Heat – not far fetched, as isn’t that how a steam plant works?
But what about Direct Electrical Power Generation From Heat? That seems a bit more a task.
At my favorite coffee shop, The Red Cup on Washington Island, I noticed a self-contained electric fan. It used a thermocouple type of set up to generate enough power to run a small electric fan.
Very cool!
SO what about powering a radio this way?
Seems it has been done. England and Russia both had commerical offerings well into the 1950′s for Kerosene powered generators for radios!
Here is a website with several featured:
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/POWER/thermoelectric/thermoelectric.htm
In the modern market place these themogenerators are available and mostly used commerically:
http://www.globalte.com/index.php?pageId=2&sId=31
Now whether a small system would work for an amateur radio station needs to be worked out.
Certainly if buffered by a battery bank it would work.
Watching eBay for one of these vintage Thermo Electric Generators to give it w a whirl!
73
Steve
i can rember an article in practical wireless in the early sixtys of a chap listening to the radio whilst smoking a hooka with a thermocouple arranged around the top . i think he made it with an iron fe andcopper cu arrangement with about 15 joins .it was a long time ago but as a schoolboy i thought it was really cool although in those days i would have said good the chap was in persia or bombay,somewhere without mains electricity .so i was looking for constructional article and stumbled on this page – Steam Guy Willy from England