The Seebeck Effect....

[OnlQQker]

What I can't seem to get any information on is, 'does increasing the heat cause more electricity, if so what are the temperature ratings of the chromel & Alumel' wires?

 

[Julie.]

What I can't seem to get any information on is, 'does increasing the heat cause more electricity, if so what are the temperature ratings of the chromel & Alumel' wires?

Yes Increasing the temperature increases the thermoelectric junction voltage, however it is in the mV range. (0.2-1mV/K)

It is basically how thermocouples work, they are very reliable, and accurate for temperature measurement.

Not very efficient in generating voltage, and small current though.

 

[OnlQQker]

Yes Increasing the temperature increases the thermoelectric junction voltage, however it is in the mV range. (0.2-1mV/K)

It is basically how thermocouples work, they are very reliable, and accurate for temperature measurement.

Not very efficient in generating voltage, and small current though.

Thanks Julie,

It was whilst I was studying thermocouples that has guided me down this path.

I have this hairbrained idea about using heat produced by compost, but I've got to research the ingredients for the compost which produces a constant heat all year around without having to turn it to often.

All without causing some kind of explosion!

 

[Julie.]

Thanks Julie,

It was whilst I was studying thermocouples that has guided me down this path.

I have this hairbrained idea about using heat produced by compost, but I've got to research the ingredients for the compost which produces a constant heat all year around without having to turn it to often.

All without causing some kind of explosion!

May be better off capturing the gas and using that....

 

[pc1966]

Thermoelectric generators are not very efficient, but have the advantage of no moving parts to theoretically a very long reliable life:

Thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Where they do find a niche use is deep space probes using a radio isotope for heat, not just because you get damn-all sunlight out there, but also the "waste heat" is valuable in keeping stuff that has to be at normal electronic operating temperatures at them when all around is heading towards -270C or so:

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[newfutile]

Buy a cheap peltier device and experiment with that (this has many PN junctions) , the trouble is keeping one side hot and the other cool .

 

[OnlQQker]

Thanks for all the replies, searching 'peltier device' above has sent me on a funny old journey of the 'Radio Photovoltaic Generator'

For anybody interested this came up in the top results of YouTube

I might need to grow my hair long like this guy

​

 

[pc1966]

Buy a cheap peltier device and experiment with that (this has many PN junctions) , the trouble is keeping one side hot and the other cool .

Easy, just reverse the power flow and one get hot, the other cool