The NASA spacecrafts Voyager 1 and 2 became household names overnight following the showing on television of the remarkable photographs of the rings of Saturn and more recently of Neptune and its mysterious moon, Triton. None the less remarkable is the source of electrical power which enables...

The increased activity in attempts to develop improved thermoelectric semiconductors for use in the direct conversion of heat into electrical energy results mostly from research sponsorship by the US Military and NASA. Thermoelectric generators have no moving parts and are difficult to detect by...

A number of prototype thermoelectric refrigerators are investigated and their cooling performances evaluated in terms of the coefficient-of-performance, heat-pumping capacity and cooling-down rate. The coefficient-of-performance of a thermoelectric refrigerator is found to be around 0.3-0.5 for...

The performance of a thermoelectric generator, among other aspects, depends on the use of an effective heat sink. While forced cooling using either air or water (or other coolants) is efficient, it is parasitic on the generated power and/or bulky and inconvenient. Heat pipes are known to be...

The explosive expansion in microelectronics, with a relentless drive towards smaller and smaller circuits, is accompanied by a requirement for miniature power sources. Thermoelectric generating devices offer a potential for meeting this requirement. In this paper an introduction to the...

A thermoelectric generator is a unique heat engine in which charge carriers serve as the working fluid. It has no moving parts, is silent in operation and very reliable. However, its relatively low efficiency (typically around 5%) has restricted its use to specialised medical, military and space...

A tracking parabolic concentrator was built from easily available and affordable components. Simplicity and ease of assembly were prime considerations. Considerable experience was gained in the design, assembly and testing. The system performed reasonably well considering its simplicity and...

Endoreversible thermodynamics are used for studying the influence of a planet's thermal conductance on conversion of solar energy into wind energy. Results indicate a strong dependence of the rate of wind energy generated on the amount of heat leaking by conduction form the illuminated side to...