New method to convert heat into electricity.

The new method is capable of cooling electronics, harnessing excess heat and sunlight to produce electricity.

Utal University physicists have developed devices that can convert sound into sound and then electricity. This technology offers promise for converting waste heat to electricity, harnessing solar energy to produce electricity and cool computers and radars.

"We are converting waste heat into electricity in an efficient and simple way by using sound," said Orest Symko, Utal University physics professor. 'This is a source of energy that can recover from waste heat.'

Symko's five doctoral trainees have recently invented a method to improve the performance of sound-heat motor devices to convert heat into electricity. They will present their findings on Friday, June 8, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Acoustics.

Professor Symko intends to test these devices for a year to produce electricity from waste heat at a military radar facility and at a university's hot water generation plant.

Professor Symko hopes that within the next two years, this device can be used to replace photovoltaic cells in converting sunlight into electricity. Heat engines can also be used to cool laptops and other computers emit more heat when their electronic devices become more complex. And Professor Symko anticipated the use of these heat-generating devices.

How to generate energy from heat and sound

Symko's work on converting heat into electricity through audio components to develop ultra-small thermoelectric refrigerators to cool electronic devices.

Using sound to turn heat into electricity has two key steps . Professor Symko and his colleagues have developed many different heat engines (technical names are negative heat energy sources) to complete the first step: converting sound into sound. They then converted the sound into heat using current technology: piezoelectric devices, which were compressed when under pressure, including sound waves and transformed that pressure into electrical current.

University physicist Utal Orest Symko ignited a small heat engine, which produced high-volume sound by turning heat into sound. Symkod's team is combining heat engines with current technology, technology that converts sound into electricity, creating devices that can harness solar energy to produce electricity in a new way, making Cool computers patch other electronic devices. (Photo: Utal University)

Most of the audio devices that switch from heat to electricity are made in Symko's lab located in cylindrical 'resonators' , these resonators fit within the palm of your hand. Each cylinder, or resonator, contains a ' stack ' of material with a large surface area - such as metal or plastic sheets, or fibers made of glass, cotton or steel - placed in the middle of the set. heat transfer parts and heat transfer parts.

When creating heat - by matches, welding lights or a heating element - the heat will reach the threshold. Then the hot air moves will produce sound at a single frequency, similar to the air blowing into the flute.'You have heat, this heat is messy and messy, but suddenly you have a sound coming out at a certain frequency,' Symko said.

After that, the sound waves will compress the piezoelectric device and create a voltage. Professor Symko said this is similar to when you strangle the nerves in the elbow, an electrical nerve impulse makes you feel very painful to be created.

The longer the resonant cylinders, the smaller the sound output, while the shorter tubes emit louder sounds.

Devices move from heat to sound and then to electricity, so such devices require little maintenance and have a longer lifespan. They do not need to be produced exactly like piston in engines, piston and lose efficiency when they are worn out.

Symko said these devices will not cause noise pollution. First, because the devices are so small they will turn heat into ultrasonic frequencies that people cannot hear. Second, the magnitude of the sound is reduced because it is converted into electricity. Finally, 'it's easy to contain noise by placing a noise receiver around this device,' he said.

Professor Symko is presenting a device that converts heat into sound and then into electricity - a promising new technology for collecting heat emitted in industrial processes and converting this waste heat into energy. electricity.In this picture, Symko uses batteries, not to turn on the light directly, but to heat the device in his hands.The device then converts the heat into audible sound and then converts the sound into electrical current, which causes the light bulb to light up in red.(Photo: Utal University)

Studies to improve the performance of audio equipment converted from heat to electricity.

Here are the research summaries of Symko doctoral trainees:

- Trainee Dr. Bonnie McLaughlin demonstrated that it is possible to double the efficiency of negative heat conversion by optimizing the geometry and insulation of the acoustic resonator and by directing the heat directly into the side. in the heat transfer section.

She created cylindrical devices 1.5 inches long and 0.5 inches wide and studied to improve the amount of heat converted into sound rather than the amount of heat released. Only with a temperature difference of 90 degrees F between the heat transfer unit and the cold heat transfer unit, the sound was generated. Some devices produce sounds of up to 135 decibels - the sound is as loud as a hammer.

- Doctoral intern Nick Webb demonstrated by compressing air in a similarly sized resonator also produced more sound and thus more electricity.

Mr. Webb also demonstrated that by increasing air pressure, a smaller temperature difference is needed so that heat can begin to turn into sound. This makes using audio devices to cool laptops and other electronic devices, devices that emit relatively small amounts of waste heat, become more practical, Symko said.

Professor Symko explains how heat is turned into sound by using a blowtorch to heat a metal shield inside the plastic tube, which then produces a loud sound, similar to the way air does. is blown into the flute.Professor Symko and his doctoral students are developing smaller devices, devices that not only turn heat into sound, but also can use sound to generate electricity.These devices can be used to cool electronics, harness solar energy to produce electricity in a new way and convert energy by converting waste heat into electrical energy.(Photo: Utal University)

There will need to be many devices that convert heat into sound and electricity to harness solar energy to produce electricity or to cool large industrial waste heat sources. Doctoral trainee Brenna Gillman learned how to make these devices - installed together to create a series of devices - working together.

In order for an array of devices to effectively convert heat into sound and electricity, each individual device must be connected to create an identical sound frequency and vibrate synchronously with each other.

Gillman used different metals to create racks to support five devices. She discovered that these devices could be synchronized if the rack was made of less heavy metal such as aluminum and, more importantly, if the ratio of the weight of the rack to the total weight of both devices are within a certain range. It is even better to synchronize these devices if they are connected when their sound waves interact in the air bag in the rack.

- Doctoral trainee Ivan Rodriguez uses another method of building a sound device to convert heat into electricity. Instead of using a cylinder, he created a component that resonated with a hollow steel tube with a diameter of 0.25 ich bent to create a circle of 1.3 inches in diameter.

In the cylinder-shaped resonators, sound waves hit the ends of the syringe. But when creating heat in Dr. Rodriguez's circular circular resonator, sound waves still move around in the device without being reflected back.

Symko said the circular component is twice as effective as cylindrical parts in converting sound heat and electricity. That's because pressure and the speed of air in a circular section are always in sync, unlike in cylindrical parts.

- Dr. Myra Flitcroft has designed a cylindrical heat engine that is about one-third the size of other devices. It is about half the size of a coin, producing sounds that are much louder than other resonators. When heated, the device produces 120 decibels of sound - equivalent to the level of sound produced by a siren or a rock show.

'It is an extremely small thermoelectric device - one of the smallest thermoelectric devices built - and it will pave the way for making them into a range of devices,' said Symko.

Thanh Van