Orest Symko and his physicist students at the University of Utah have come up with an efficient way to convert heat into electricity. “We are converting waste heat to electricity in an efficient, simple way by using sound,” says Orest Symko, a University of Utah physics professor who leads the effort. “It is a new source of renewable energy from waste heat.” The process involves two steps: convert heat into sound and then sound into electricity. The development could lead to a whole range of applications.

The first part of the process is similar to a person blowing air into an air instrument. That moving air is then translated into a single frequency of sound. And then those sound waves squeeze a piezoelectric device. That device turns that squeezing action into electricity.  This could lead to nice cooling devices that run on the heat of electronic equipment.  If the heat goes up, then the cooling devices kick in, running off of the heat, and cooling it down.  And these thermo acoustic engines are great on maintenance because they involved no moving parts.

But what about all that sound being generated?  “Symko says the devices won’t create noise pollution. First, as smaller devices are developed, they will convert heat to ultrasonic frequencies people cannot hear. Second, sound volume goes down as it is converted to electricity. Finally, ‘it’s easy to contain the noise by putting a sound absorber around the device,’ he says.”

Source: University of Utah

Photo Source: University of Utah

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