Thin film TEG harvests and converts waste heat into electricity

Nextreme has developed a miniature, thin film thermoelectric generator (TEG) that converts heat directly into electricity.

Suitable for waste heat conversion applications, the solid state TEG claims to deliver power generation densities (>3 W/cm²) in excess of those achieved using bulk materials and is optimised to provide power in a form factor that can be as much as 20x thinner than bulk material alternatives.

This opens up waste heat energy conversion applications for the Nextreme technology as well as remote power applications. Manufactured using semiconductor fabrication techniques, the TEG is scalable, cost effective and can be used in a broad range of markets and applications including automotive, military and aerospace, thermal batteries, medical implants and wireless sensor networks.

"In environments where a lot of heat is available, we have demonstrated power levels of up to 300 mW with devices that are not much bigger than a piece of confetti," said Dr Seri Lee, Nextreme chief technology officer.

"And in low-grade thermal environments, we have demonstrated microwatts of power " enough thermal energy conversion to power remote sensors and other distributed devices."

The TEG devices generate electricity via the Seebeck Effect, where electricity is produced from a temperature differential applied across the device. The temperature difference between the hot and the cold sources leads to a difference in the Fermi energy across the thermoelectric material yielding a potential difference, which drives a current.

For more information, visit www.nextreme.com.