Thermoelectric Air/Soil Energy-Harvesting Device

TBMG-522

10/01/2005

Abstract
Content

A proposed thermoelectric device would exploit natural temperature differences between air and soil to harvest small amounts of electric energy. Because the air/soil temperature difference fluctuates between nighttime and daytime, it is almost never zero, and so there is almost always some energy available for harvesting. Unlike photovoltaic cells, the proposed device could operate in the absence of sunlight. Unlike a Stirling engine, which could be designed to extract energy from the air/soil temperature difference, the proposed device would contain no moving parts. The main attractive feature of the proposed device would be high reliability. In a typical application, this device would be used for low-power charging of a battery that would, in turn, supply high power at brief, infrequent intervals for operating an instrumentation package containing sensors and communication circuits.

Meta TagsDetails
Citation
"Thermoelectric Air/Soil Energy-Harvesting Device," Mobility Engineering, October 1, 2005.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Oct 1, 2005
Product Code
TBMG-522
Content Type
Magazine Article
Language
English