Better Thermoelectric Materials

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Better Thermoelectric Materials

That's not quite true.

The construction cost of the waste heat recovery device must also be taken into consideration.

For cars - weight is also a consideration.

Lastly the use for said recovered BTUs is also worth consideration. How useful would a thermoelectric device - even of perfect efficiency and minimal cost - be in an automobile?

There is definitely drag on a car's engine from the alternator - should demand load increase. Would thermoelectric recovery offset this to a significant degree? If so, this would improve mpg at least to some degree - though now much, is difficult to say.

Other everyday use might be to recover electricity from waste heat in ovens, refrigerators, and the like - however, the low cost of electricity would make the value prop. probably fairly poor, unless the devices were ridiculously cheap.

All good points, c1ue.

I don't expect thermoelectric generators to find much application in automobiles, your assessment is spot-on.

Industrial processes though, look more promising. Especially for combined cycle natural gas electric generation plants, and similar large hot exhaust stacks at refineries and chemical plants