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By 2unstable
#3829
OK the idea is this, people have found many ways of cooling down that hot CPU and some people have used it for positive ideas like makeing coffie of the heat from the cpu or keeping their food warm. Well what im wondering is why no one has taken the heat from the CPU and contained it so the computer stays cool while the contained heat is used to power the computer. Taking the heat from the CPU and turning it into energy that the computer can use instead of wasting all that energy that the computer is giving off.

Reward: If you can do this i will give you a cookie
By carl
#4201
that is prity thick, what made you think you could possbly use the heat it would take a lot of stuff to tern the heat energy into electricity I'm talking alot.
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By Michael D. Grissom
#4204
IBM, after evaluation, rejected the computer mouse as a "bad idea". Bad ideas, mistakes, and failures are extremely important to the art of brainstorming and inventing good ideas. Keep an open mind.
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By FlatTop808
#4209
How about a small Sterling engine on the heatsink that turns a little generator? I don't know if you'd get any usable energy from it. Maybe just a visual treat, for all those people with clear case covers.
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By Michael D. Grissom
#4210
What a great idea FlatTop. I love the Sterling and Rankin Cycle engines and if one were made totally from clear plastic and used a liquid/gas suitable for the processor heat output, it would put on quite an educational show. The Rankin Cycle engine would never need to be refueled.

I just did a quick Google search to see if the latest Rankin Cycle fuel would do the job and -- bingo!
http://www.f-techinc.co.jp/pages/eproductsin.html
Attachments
This is the Rankin Cycle fuel molecule for the job.
This is the Rankin Cycle fuel molecule for the job.
ETFEAmol.gif (11.42 KiB) Viewed 13186 times
By adam-inc
#4333
You can use Thermoelectric Generators (thermocouples) to do this, they turn heat energy into electrical energy, but I think there has to be a difference in temperature between each side of it, all it is, pretty much, is a plate with 2 plates ontop of each other, when there is a temperature difference between the 2 plates (hot on the bottom, cold on the top for instance) a small current flows around the circuit.
By Rishi
#4440
It would be a neat trick indeed if we can make the comp run off its own waste heat. Unfortunately the inexorable second law of thermodynamics precludes free lunches.

The toal heat output heat from the comp will be less than the total electricity input into the comp. Since conversion efficiencies are lower than 100%(Second Law again), the energy that can be recovered is quite a bit less than needed to power the comp. However you can recover some energy, which may run a small device (game, Music? ).

Rishi
By sebin
#7970
diodes when they are connected reverse bias they do not conduct eletricity but when they are heated they starts conducting. But by increasing the heat above an optimum temperature they breakdown the optimum temperature varies with diodes...the idea is to make a thin layer of this thermionic diodes and attach it to the CPU thus getting electricity out of it.
i think this suggestion might work
By Rishi
#7978
sebin wrote:diodes when they are connected reverse bias they do not conduct eletricity but when they are heated they starts conducting. But by increasing the heat above an optimum temperature they breakdown the optimum temperature varies with diodes...the idea is to make a thin layer of this thermionic diodes and attach it to the CPU thus getting electricity out of it.
i think this suggestion might work
It is not quite that simple. Apart from issues regarding reverse biasing, breakdown voltage etc., all that happens is that the diode 's reverse bias resistance decreases. It does not generate any voltage. Only a thermoelectric device does that. Even if we succeed in making thinlayer diode films th device will not generate any power by heat.

rishi
By sebin
#7991
hey rishi,which part of India r u from? after rading ur post i checked about this idea in google and this is what i came up with..we got to use thermionics diodes..i found at in MIT website

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/elec ... -1205.html

"By careful selection of materials, ENECO scientists are creating highly efficient, solid-state conversion devices, called "thermal diodes," that will operate from 200 to 450 degrees C--typical temperatures for waste heat and for concentrated solar radiation.

An added plus: the technology is environmentally friendly. "Solid-state thermal-to-electric energy conversion converts energy due to how electrons transport in the conductor, a process that generates no pollution," Hagelstein said. He noted, however, that some of the materials used in the present generation of devices are toxic, which will affect the eventual disposal of the devices. "

here they are using this thermal diodes to tap waste energy released from generators..read this and give ur views...

cool website right...
By Rishi
#7996
sebin wrote:hey rishi,which part of India r u from? after rading ur post i checked about this idea in google and this is what i came up with..we got to use thermionics diodes..i found at in MIT website

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/elec ... -1205.html

"By careful selection of materials, ENECO scientists are creating highly efficient, solid-state conversion devices, called "thermal diodes," that will operate from 200 to 450 degrees C--typical temperatures for waste heat and for concentrated solar radiation.

An added plus: the technology is environmentally friendly. "Solid-state thermal-to-electric energy conversion converts energy due to how electrons transport in the conductor, a process that generates no pollution," Hagelstein said. He noted, however, that some of the materials used in the present generation of devices are toxic, which will affect the eventual disposal of the devices. "

here they are using this thermal diodes to tap waste energy released from generators..read this and give ur views...

cool website right...
Thank you sebin. What I said was about reverse biasing regular diodes. Such diodes cannot convert heat to electricity. I realize now that your later comments were about thermionic emission. My apologies for my misunderstanding.

Thermionics is indeed a well known phenomenon. The thermal diodes described in the site referred by you work by having a thermionic emission at the relatively low temperatures of 200 - 400 deg.C., which incidentally is somewhat higher than what is available in most appliances.

Technology marches rapidly. We may yety see a really low temperature thermionic diode soon. Good idea.

rishi
By sebin
#8073
thanks a lot my friend .. hope u post lot more ideas
By compugeek722
#8212
Well, from what I know radio waves have good potential to power things, better than heat does... and its hard enough to power a little clock radio with enough radio waves... but i don't know much about harnessing the power of heat... so it may be possible..
By Jack Nobbz
#8344
Yeah, I think direct heating of anything via the waste heat would naturally get you nowhere near hot coffee in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics. Converting it to electricity, saving the electricity up over time, then using it in a large burst would mean you could boil water with it, although you might have to leave your pc on a while ^-^
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