______________________________________________________________________________ | File Name : THERMO.ASC | Online Date : 05/07/95 | | Contributed by : InterNet | Dir Category : ENERGY | | From : KeelyNet BBS | DataLine : (214) 324-3501 | | A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences | | KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187 | | Voice/FAX : (214) 324-8741 InterNet - keelynet@ix.netcom.com | | WWW sites - http://www.eskimo.com/~billb & http://www.protree.com | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| The following two files deal with a novel thermoelectric conversion idea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A New Form of Thermoelectric Energy Conversion Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories Path: news.cc.uch.gr!news.forth.gr!ecrc!Munich.Germany.EU.net!Germany. EU.net!EU.net! Austria.EU.net!siemens.co.at!oop!kainz From: kainz@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_DOMAIN_FILE (Gerhard Kainz) Subject: Re: A New Form of Thermoelectric Energy Conversion Sender: news@siemens.co.at (Newssoftware) Message-ID: <1995Mar15.212614.15006@siemens.co.at> Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 21:26:14 GMT References: <1995Mar15.205751.13910@siemens.co.at> Nntp-Posting-Host: oop.geu.siemens-austria Organization: SIEMENS Austria Corp., A-1100 Wien, Gudrunstr. 11 X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8] Lines: 220 A New Form of Thermoelectric Energy Conversion ============================================== Gerhard Kainz E-Mail: kainz@oop.geu.siemens.co.at 1.) Abstract ------------ Thermocouples can be used to convert heat in electrical energy. The principle is quite easy: A circuit of two different metals and a temperature difference is enough for this purpose, but unfortunately the efficiency of conversion is quite low. I want to introduce a new idea with an additional capacitor. This method may clear up some disadvantages of thermocouples and hopefully increases its efficiency. But most importantly, this method may work without a global temperature difference. 2.) Introduction ---------------- Figure 1 shows the basic arrangement for a thermocouple. Two wires of dis- similar metals (A and B) are connected at their ends and the junctions are being held at different temperatures (T1 and T2). Under these conditions an electric potential exists and therefore this circuit generates electrical power. This effect is called Seebeck effect. The left junction is absorbing heat and converting it to electrical energy, which cools this junction. At the other end, some of the generated electrical energy is converted to heat and so heating the right junction. It is important to note that different temperatures are a basic requirement. Otherwise, electricity can not be generated, regardless of the combination of the wires. Figure 2 shows an example, which surely generates no electricity. metal B --> e- metal B metal A +-------------------+ ***-----------####### | | * T1 T1 # | | * # /\ | | * # \/ T2 # # T1 * # ## # Ammeter # * # ## # /---\ # * T1 T1 # ## ########| A |######## ************------### candle metal A \---/ metal C Figure 1: Seebeck effect Figure 2: No electricity Figure 3 shows that if two metals are brought into contact, electrons will flow from the one metal to the other until the Fermi levels are at equal height. This potential difference is known as the contact or Volta potential difference. This happens even WITHOUT a temperature difference and a Cu-Li contact generates remarkable 2 Volt! But it is obvious that this potential difference can not be measured with a normal voltmeter because this would lead to a similar circuit as shown in figure 2. However the contact potential difference can be measured by "static voltmeters", because they do not need a direct contact to the metals. Another potential difference is the Galvani potential difference. Let the metals have energy differences EA and EB between the Fermi level and the bottom of the conduction band, respectively. The difference in potential energy EA-EB can be described by the Galvani potential difference. If EA e- +------------------------+ | | | | /|\ T1 | T1 | 2 Volt # | !! static !! # # | # # ########################## metal A Figure 3: Volta potential difference Figure 3 shows an example. Two electric neutral metals are connected at one end. Assume that work function of metal A is lower than of metal B. Due to the different Fermi level some electrons must flow from metal A to B through the junction and this cools it a little bit down, since EA e- +------------------------+ | | | | capacitor | - - | - - - plate B /|\ | -------+-------- | switch is T1 | T1 | opened # ################ plate A | # + + # + + + electric field # # # # ########################## Figure 4: First stable state (after loading up the capacitor) +------------------------+ | | | | | - | - | -------+-------- | switch is T1 | T1 | | e- closed # ################ \|/ (note the "|" inside # + # + the capacitor) # # # # ########################## Figure 5: Second stable state (after some e- flow to plate A) The operation can be divided in two parts: a) The switch inside the capacitor is open. So the contact potential difference pumps electrons into the capacitor until it is loaded. Figure 4 shows this first stable state. Any other distribution of the electrons, for example a discharged capacitor, will again loaded up due to the contact potential and the system will come again to the first stable state. This occurs without electrical energy from somewhere outside. But when electrons flow from metal A to B, the left junction slightly cools down so it is obviously that heath energy is converted into electric energy. Inside the capacitor an electric field arises from plate A to plate B due to the positions of the electrons. b) Figure 5 shows what happens when the switch inside the capacitor produces a short-circuit: Some electrons flow against the contact potential from plate B to plate A. On the left junction there occurs the full contact potential, but on the other junction inside the capacitor there is the contact potential but decreased from the electric field. So in sum the potential in the right contact is smaller and therefore some electrons flow to plate A. Unfortunately this lasts only a short time because the electric field is getting smaller the more electrons flow from plate B to A. So after a while a new state will turn up. Figure 5 shows this second stable state with the closed switch. How can we use this? We have only to open and close periodically the switch inside the capacitor and each time a small electric impulse will be generated. It is important to note that through this method heat energy will transformed in electricity, so the left junction will be cooled. A normal thermocouple (figure 1) generates a different contact potential through different temperature at the junctions. This new method uses a capacitor. If it is loaded and we produce a short-circuit, this junction also has a different contact potential due to the additional electric field. So in this moment, it occurs the same situation as the right junction would have a slightly higher temperature. The switch does not need energy himself, if we use a sort of electronic fuse. These elements get conductive, if an electric field exceeds a certain bound. In this case, the switch can automatically switch to the two stable states and each time transfers a little bit heat into electrical energy. 4.) Theoretical aspects ----------------------- Some people meant that this idea can not be utilized in an economic way, because the effects are too small. This may be right, but first of all it is important to clarify if this idea is (from a theoretical view) correct or not. "Doesn't this idea contradict the first law of thermodynamics?" No, but I want to point out that this is a novel idea. Normally thermoelectric circuits convert a difference of temperature into electric power, but with this method it might be possible to transform (simply) heat into electricity, however the energy is conserved in this closed system. "And what about the second law of thermodynamics?" This statement says that "heat will not flow spontaneously from a cold object to a hot object". But with this method, the heat does not flow without any reason. On the contrary the electrical potential difference of the metals is the cause. 5.) Thought experiment ---------------------- I want to present a short "thought experiment" to point out the different behaviour of electrons and gases. It is easy to produce coldness: we have only to expand compressed gas in a greater box. This step corresponds to figure 4, because the electrons also "expand" and generate a little bit coldness at the contact of the two metals. But after a while the gas pressure and the temperature stabilize and it is only possible to throw off the balance with energy from outside the system. Electrons behave in the same manner, except one important detail. They have an additional electric charge, which can be utilized to load a capacitor. Only this charge is sufficient to put off balance because more electrons flow in one metal than without the capacitor. But it is important to note that this happens without power. If you short-circuit the capacitor you can unbalance this distribution of the electrons and so some electrons will flow. Then you cut the connection and again some electrons will flow. But how would normal gas act, if it had the same behaviour? Suppose, inside the box is a wall then a very surprising thing would happen: On the one side of this wall the gas would be compressed and on the other the gas would be expand, and this occurred without energy from outside. This is, of course, impossible for normal gas, but I tried to show that electrons act like this. Maybe it is possible to use this effect, I hope so ... ************************ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories Path: news.cc.uch.gr!news.forth.gr!ecrc!Munich.Germany.EU.net!Germany.EU. net!EU.net! Austria.EU.net!siemens.co.at!oop!kainz From: kainz@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_DOMAIN_FILE (Gerhard Kainz) Subject: Re: A New Form of Thermoelectric Energy Conversion Sender: news@siemens.co.at (Newssoftware) Message-ID: <1995Mar15.205751.13910@siemens.co.at> Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 20:57:51 GMT References: Nntp-Posting-Host: oop.geu.siemens-austria Organization: SIEMENS Austria Corp., A-1100 Wien, Gudrunstr. 11 X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8] Lines: 54 Thank's for your response! B.Hourahine (py93bh@exeter.ac.uk) wrote: > I saw your posting on metal juctions with a capacitor (well obviously if I'm > posting a follow-up) and was slightly puzzled by your suggestion that the > system you outline doesn't break the 2nd law of thermodynamics . If as you > suggest you are extracting electrical work and also causing an increasing > temperature change, the overall entropy of your system MUST be decreasing > which is increadibly improbable (nigh on imposible) which tend to argue > against it working at all . That`s a good point. In fact, the entropy would decrease and I have discussed this matter with some people. I would say, that the 2nd law of thermodynamics in its "pure" form doesn't touch the entropy at all. This law is surprising general: "Heat will not flow spontaneously from a cold to a hot object." No one will question this, and my idea does not contradict this either. But indeed there are some conclusions (are they really correct?), which are more specific and they contradict my idea. > I would tend to guess that the system would > not have a p-d acros the capacitor at all since the other junction would > allow the metals to reach the same potential unless there was a thermal > gradient between it and the capacitor junction . The switch is the main problem of this idea. But first I only want to focus on the theoretical view. A perfect pn-switch has an unlimited resistance, and in this case the capacitor will be loaded up. A real pn-switch has a little leak, but maybe it isn`t enough to change the principle. Anyway I want to split up this idea into three parts: 1) Does the capacitor really load up only due to the Volta potential and without a temperature difference? 2) It is (theoretically) possible to produce a switch, which automatically short-circuits the capacitor having a certain electric field inside? (This is the idea Bearden expressed in his 'Final Secret to Free Energy' in 1994....KeelyNet/Jerry) 3) Is it possible, that after short-circuiting the capacitor, some electrons flow against the Volta potential, but together with the electric field? I would answer all three questions with "rather yes", so you see I'm not really convinced. But on the other hand, if I am wrong, at least one of these questions must be answered with "no", but until now, I haven't found someone, who said "no, because.." Sometimes I hope that one would do this, because I have many many other things to do, but nevertheless I am happy about any answer I get. Gerhard Gerhard Kainz E-Mail: kainz@oop.geu.siemens.co.at ------------------------------------------------------------------------------