🧵 Thermoelectric material science?
Anonymous at Sun, 23 Jun 2024 04:58:41 UTC No. 16248762
I'm not sure what the exact name for this is but what is the deal with this area of material science inquiry? What in layman's terms is the problem with getting reasonable conversion efficiencies at any given temperature? I strongly feel that a high conversion efficiency thermoelectric converter would be a major gamechanger for a host of technologies especially making manned space travel considerably more accessible
I only have a GED and am an idiot sort of so I apologize if anything I said is dumb I just really find this field fascinating.
Anonymous at Sun, 23 Jun 2024 06:15:23 UTC No. 16248838
>>16248762
I just wanna say, before this potentially retarded thread is canned into oblivion that I do intend to go to college and get higher learning lol
Anonymous at Sun, 23 Jun 2024 06:54:34 UTC No. 16248864
>>16248762
>I only have a GED and am an idiot sort of so I apologize if anything I said is dumb I just really find this field fascinating.
Humility is the most noble of all virtues, well done.
From what I can tell, thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are rather inefficient and they are expensive to produce since they use some exotic materials. They also require a significant temperature gradient between a hot and cold sides, they work through that thermal gradient.
There are thermophotovoltaics (TPVs) though, and those work a bit like an infrared solar panel. They do not need a specifically designated "cold side" like TEGs, but if put in the middle of the desert heat, for example, though they would produce electricity, it would be a very inefficient system without a cooling mechanism because there is no significant temperature gradient, which increases their efficiency.
I'm not an engineer, and I hope I didn't say anything wrong, but that's my understanding.
Anonymous at Sun, 23 Jun 2024 08:36:39 UTC No. 16248967
>>16248864
Wow, I see..you need power to control the temperature differential. I wonder if ever it would be possible to build a converter that resists any kind of temperature, using all of it to generate electricity and forcing itself to be stuck in a low temperature state naturally.
Anyway. Thank you for the answer! I hope we make some headway into this.
But yeah if you're interested, one wonder material at the moment is apparently something called "Polycrystalline Tin Selenide". I don't know what it is about this subject but I think the quest to create a steamless generator from heat is really cool, and from a material science standpoint profound. A molecular generator..I dunno. Sorry for nerding out. Have an upvote, lol.