BMW wins ÿkoGlobe 2008 award for thermoelectric generator
BMW has won an ÖkoGlobe award for the second straight year. The award was presented to the Bavarian automaker for its work on a thermoelectric generator. Um, what's that? Basically, using a process known as the Seebeck effect, electricity can be generated by a difference in temperatures. All right, fine... who cares? Under the hood of every car ever sold that has an internal combustion engine, a huge amount of heat is generated while the engine creates power to drive the vehicle. In fact, only about a quarter of all the energy released by the fuel's combustion is utilized in even the most efficient engines. Therefore, there is a great source of untapped energy already in each car on the road. BMW's researchers and engineers would love to tap into that unused energy with a thermoelectric generator, which could help capture some of that potential energy in the form of electricity that could then help power either the car directly or at least some of its peripheral systems. Very cool, and we hope something good comes from the research.
[Source: BMW]
PRESS RELEASE:
BMW Group Wins Award For Thermoelectric Generator
MUNICH – September 23, 2008: The BMW Group has received the prestigious ÖkoGlobe 2008 award for its development work on a thermoelectric generator.
The award was presented by the DEVK insurance group, the Automobil-Club Verkehr and the Center Automotive Research, Gelsenkirchen University of Applied Sciences.
It marks the second consecutive year in which the BMW Group has won this coveted distinction.
Dr. Klaus Draeger, BMW's Director of Development, accepted the ÖkoGlobe 2008 on behalf of the BMW Group, in the category "Development of the Combustion Engine",
It was awarded in recognition of research on implementing the Thermoelectric Generator in the car. This enables the utilisation of energy from waste heat from the combustion engine and is an example of how the BMW Group is exploiting new potentials for energy generation.
Prof. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, Director Center Automotive Research, said at the award presentation: "The BMW Group's EfficientDynamics measures for raising the efficiency of series production vehicles point the way ahead for the automotive industry. The Thermoelectric Generator shows how this efficiency enhancement can be further developed in the future. Thanks to EfficientDynamics, the BMW Group has succeeded in maintaining driving pleasure while at the same time contributing to the lowering of emissions."
In his response, Dr. Klaus Draeger said: "We feel extremely honoured by what is now our third ÖkoGlobe, which we have been awarded this time for our Thermoelectric Generator. It strengthens our resolve to continue developing BMW EfficientDynamics for the benefit of our customers and of the environment."
Up to September 2008, the BMW Group had already delivered more than 1million vehicles with BMW EfficientDynamics technology to customers. 28 BMW Group models already have CO2 emissions of 140g CO2/km or lower. Until the end of this year 150 million litres of fuel will be saved in comparison to 2006 and the environment will be disburdened of 370,000 tons CO2.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave 7:10PM (9/25/2008)
This is so cool....MAYBE!!!! It must be a long, LONG way from being real because nobody who talks about gives ANY numbers to tell you if it's worth the scrap metal they put together to make this thing.
Does it give you 5kW of energy from an average v6 engine for a cost of $300 per motor to install? Does it give .05kW for an average V6 for a cost of $5,000 per installation???
How can anyone even know if we should care about this? I've seen many announcements about these types of devices in the last few months but....is it really so bad that nobody will even give us a hint????
Come on guys. Throw us a bone.
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Dave 10:32PM (9/25/2008)
Well said, other Dave.
How do we know this is any better than a sterling generator? Or a turbine generator?
Until we have some numbers, it could be more expensive and less efficient than either.
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Dave 10:50PM (9/25/2008)
LOL Why thank you Dave. You are obviously a man of discerning taste and brilliant intellect as well.
Seriously, I really hope this is useful. I just wish we had a way to compare it to other pursuits to improve fuel economy and lower emissions vs. cost.
Oh well, maybe one day someone will tell us some real numbers.
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JDP 9:10AM (9/26/2008)
um, GM, just a thought:
If this works....buy the technology off of the Germans and PUT ONE IN THE CHEVY VOLT. let it charge up the battery, since we've found out that actually driving the car does not charge the battery at all. The current setup in the Volt is that after the 40 miles of electric drive, the gas engine simply generates electricity which directly powers the motor, not charging the battery. If there was one of these thermoelectric generators in the mix too, charging the batteries or powering the extra equipment, just think of the range possibilities! Anyway it doesn't look like too big or too expensive a piece of tech to install. just a thought GM.
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brn 11:22AM (9/26/2008)
JDP writes "since we've found out that actually driving the car does not charge the battery at all" in reference to the Volt.
That's not true. The bloggers have been extremely misleading (flat out wrong) on this.
It will charge the battery to around the 30% mark. I suspect they believe that's sufficient for operating the vehicle under most expected conditions. If you dig into it, it makes a lot of sense. It's not the topic of this thread so I won't go on any further other than to say don't believe everything you read in a blog.
stas peterson 5:11PM (9/27/2008)
@Dave,
An apt analysis. It cuts right to the heart of the matter.
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RIck 10:26AM (9/26/2008)
Everyone relax. This is a RNG, similar to the ones used by NASA in deep space probes to produce electricity from nuclear decay. They've been also called 'nuclear batteries'. It's a semiconductor product. A heat source will produce a voltage across the device. Yes, they can be scaled up, but don't get excited, they're only good for a couple of kWs in something the size of a dorm frig.
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Mike 7:24PM (9/26/2008)
GM is also working on thermoelectric generators. See link http://www.autoinsiderdaily.com/2008/08/exhaust-heat-will-save-fuel.html
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paulwesterberg 12:58PM (9/26/2008)
For anyone interested in more details here is a government report about producing energy from waste vehicle heat:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/deer_2006/session6/2006_deer_fairbanks.pdf
They expect 10% vehicle efficiency improvement now and 20-35% improvement in a few years.
I think this would be a great system in electric vehicles to capture waste heat from batteries. The tesla battery pack currently uses active cooling and limits acceleration when the pack becomes hot.
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Raum 2:14PM (9/26/2008)
The device that makes it work is called a thermoelectric module or couple. Here is a site with some info on them. http://www.electracool.com/moduleworking.htm
Last I knew, their efficiency rate is capped out at about 3%. That's not even close to a cheap solar cell. A sterling engine would only need about 8 degrees of temp. difference to work. TECs need a large difference but have zero moving parts and very low weight.
An example for use in a car: If you followed the link above, that TEC was an 11-couple device. If you want 12 volts of power at 1 amp. You would need a 127-couple module and the air temp. would have to stay less than 70 deg. C or it won't work well. (they depend on a difference of temperature from one side to the other to work well).
Early stages yes, but they are getting power from the engine heat which hasn't been done before.
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John Rowell 9:49PM (9/26/2008)
A thermoelectric generator could replace the alternator as the car's source of electricity. Sounds good to me!
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Chris M 1:48AM (9/27/2008)
Reminds me of a thermoelectric device that attached to the stovepipe of a wood burning stove, it would produce just enough power to run a small fan. Efficiency and power output are determined by the temperature difference between hot and cool sides, but even in optimum conditions efficiency is rather low.
Advantages are light weight, compact size, no moving parts, good reliability.
Disadvantages are low efficiency and modest power output for the cost, and it requires its own cooling system.
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gf 8:13AM (2/11/2009)
The principle involved with the subject under discussion, reminds me of a "reverse"
Peltier effect. This device is, solid state of course, it follows that the principles existed before the age of the transistor. I read somewhere that some research had been made into the transmission of whole sale packages of electrons within a furnace, in fact , it was the "Flue pipe" with in which a collumn of electrons were accelarated.
If you cast your mind back to the methods employed by the thermionic tube, to obtain amplification, a heater was used as the main source of electrons, inso far as a cathode was "indirectly " heated to a bright red state in order to make available an ocean of excited free electrons.The anode ,was charged positive to attract these, the same quantity of electrons could have easily been made available with a bunsen burner..
This is where the research was being directed, a high temperature steam of gas from the fire was being influenced with electrodes within the exhaust flue.
Although high voltages were applied between cathode, grid and anode, it was the fire which provided the out put current. This was taking place at ambient air pressure, not in a vacuume. I never heard what happened to this line of research, never did see any patent claims along these lines.
GF
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