How to build a thermoelectric lamp

The thermoelectric lamp generates electricity off the temperature difference between the hot candle and the cool heat sink. This we can use to power small devices, like a radio or very bright LEDs.ý You may be able to charge an mp3 player off of it too!

Here's what we'll need:

A thermoelectric peltier chip, the bigger the better. I used a 100W version.
A large heat sink, I used a dell one with heat pipes. The success depends on this heatsink, get the best you can!
An emergency phone charger (we are going to steal the joule thief out of it)
A Small amount of Rock wool insulation, small amounts available from garden centers.
A small tin can with a lip around the top. (Heinz beans will do)
A coke can.
Thermal heat compound
Some heavy duty foil, about 30x30cm
A foot of thick copper or steel wire, for the handle.
2 25mm long M6 Bolts
4 40mm long M5 Bolts
1 50mm long M5 Bolt.

The bolts don't need to be any exact size, just use whatever is available, almost any will work.

Tools you'll need:

Tin snips
Soldering iron
Pliers (with cutters)
Drill bits
Sandpaper
M6 Tap for cutting the threads. The not essential as you could just use an ordinary nut, but it's neater.
Drill (Drill press makes life easier...)
Glue or Glue gun

You can see more photos of the TEG2 here

Take a look at Anthony Goh's website, who made an awesome looking version of this device :


]

The video below shows the thermoelectric generator powering some LED's off a cup of how water.

Step 1 Drill the holes in the can and fit the feet and central adjustment

You can see that I have drilled 5 holes in the bottom of the can. These are for the feet and candle height adjustment. I fitted little rubber feet to them, this is not essential.

Comments

[gingerely]

I clicked on this, hoping beyond hope...
Back in the 50's, there was a magazine my brother subscribed to that had the plans to build a power generator used by the Russian populace during WWII for their radios using a kerosene or oil lamp (think wicks and glass chimneys), certain wires combined /\/\/\/\/\/\/ end to end. To insulate the coil of wires going around the outside of the glass chimney, they used potters clay. Once dried or low-fired, the clay and wire contraption could be taken off of the lamp and hidden, so that the authorities wouldn't know you were listening to the radio (also hidden). AND you still had a pretty good light source.
Still trying to find the plans for the Russian powerplant, but I do really like the candlepowered simpleness of this.

[waynemov]

great idea. well done

[WhiteTech]

Im getting slightly mixed up. Wiki and other sources say Peltier chips are for cooling and Seebeck are for generating electricity, unless the Peltier is reversible?

[scraptopower]

The peltier is reversible. Seebeck is the correct term for it but I used a Peltier chip so I used peltier throughout out the instructable even though it's the Seebeck effect.

[dasimpson1981]

the best idea would be a copper plate on the hot side of the peltier heat this with the candle use heatsink paste also to best transfer heat on the cold side flat bottom can somthing like that filles with ice cubes and salt salt some how helps the ice be colder i dont know i feel you should see better results from this

[jrosiek]

Ever put multiple ice cubes in a glass and have them seem to freeze together? The salt lowers the freezing temperature of the water. When you put plain water in your freezer it turns to Ice at 32 F, after the water has changed states from liquid to solid, the "ice" gets colder to what the freezer is set to, like 25 F. When you add salt to the water, lowering its freezing point, it allows the water to transfer the 25-31 F ice temperature.

[karan13]

i jouel thief important if i just want to ligh 2 or 3 leds
if yes can u explane y ,

[scraptopower]

It is necessary because the peltier chip will only output around 1V but the LED's need around 2.5 - 4V. The joule thief steps up the voltage so that LED's can light.

[martzsam]

So, pretty much, this is something like this, with a heat-sink on one side and a heat source on the other, hooked up to a joule thief?

[scraptopower]

Yep, I used a 90W model though. Get them off ebay, they're waaayy cheaper!

[martzsam]

Epic! This ible is sooo freakin simple its gonna make my brain explode. Nice job!

[anestho]

is heating one side better than the other in terms of produced voltage?

[scraptopower]

No it's the same for both sides. Only the temperature difference matters.

[likewho]

I found a great source on eBay for top quality TEG modules designed specifically for power generation. I previously tried a standard peltier module with minimal success and very limited service life. The TEG module works much better and has been operating trouble free for months. Here is the link
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310173260016&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

[scraptopower]

What was the output of your module , and with what heat source ?

Thanks,

[FrankenPC]

Fascinating! Thanks for the Instructable post. Side note, this is how space craft like the Voyager power their electronics. They have a nuclear power plant which heats up a bunch of Peltier junctions.

[yatsuha]

hello everyone I have decided to build this project for my physics class and i have most of the supplies but i have a few questions that I would like to ask as for the rock wool insulation does it have to be that or can it be some other type of insulation. I ask because im going to garden shops and hardware stores big and small and they all know what it is but the either want to sell a lot or they don't have any. As for the thermoelectric peltier chip you said that “bigger the better” then I read on and you also said “it didn't have enough power to charge my phone.” I was thinking about it and if 100 watt pelter chip didn’t charge yr cell then maybe I should get something bigger. I got a 400 watt chip but now im worried because is that to much power for my cell if so would it work if I split the power in to different electrical devices all at the same time to lower the wattage that goes to each one or can a candle even generate that much power. The aluminum patch is that just from a pop can or did u use something else. Is the joule thief necessary or could u hook up the chip to an outlet. By the way if you could reply the sooner the better because I do have a dead line im working with. Thank u

[scraptopower]

I wouldn't worry about the insulation, it's not important and doesn't make a lot of difference. You can use an old sock or something like I did in my first TEG. The 400W isn't likely to generate enough power to burn anything out because the input heat is quite low (1 candle!) so I wouldn't worry about that. I don't know how much power you'll get out of a 400W version, let us know when your project is done. The joule thief is necessary to raise the voltage, especially if you want to try and charge a cell phone. The peltiers tend to put out low voltage of say 0.8 - 2V depending on type. The aluminium plate is just a piece of coke can, sorry I should have mentioned that in the instructable.

[yatsuha]

Thank you for responding as quickly as you did and for the information you have given me. I have a few more questions for you as for the joule thief could I just make one off an instructable such as http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Joule-Thief/step5/Try-it-Out/ instead of buying a emergency phone charger and taking it out. All I would have to do is just switch the battery out along with the led and replace it with the peltier chip and a output port. My heat sink is designed in a way that it would be a little hard to drill hole in it and I was thinking of replacing the aluminum foil for a foam material that is sticky on both sides so it can stick to the heat sink and the lid of the can do you think that would be effective.

[scraptopower]

You certainly can make your own joule thief, I didn't as I can never get them to work (I've made about 10 of them and none of them work... argghh!) No reason you can't use the sticky foam so long as it doesn't burn at too low a temperature.

[Proteus]

nice project , congrats =)

Could you measure the power output for us? You said you could charge a small Mp3 player, would you say it's around a 1W?

Thanks

[scraptopower]

It starts off around 1.2W and tapers off to around 0.8W as the heatsink heats up.. You can get much more power out of these but you have to beware of degrading the peltier junctions with too much heat. Finding better cooling is better than adding more heat.

[kill-a-watt]

Maybe add a funnel on top and a pipe as a chimney?  The heat would rise off the heat sink and create a draft in the pipe. You could also insulate the pipe to keep the heat in longer for more air velocity. That would move more air through the heat sink, increasing the cooling capacity.

I thnk Dell has a patent for this.

[knektek]

i used a hot air concept instead of direct heat. Red is warm and blue is cold air. The black thing is the peltier unit. The blue thing above the peltier unit is a water container (made from metal). the circles are air holes.

[scraptopower]

Looks good, I had water cooling on my first version worked well, but i opted for a heat sink here because of the smaller size and weight.

[knektek]

The heatsink for this one is a bit large, i plan to use a smaller water container. since electricity is produced because of the temperature differences, could'nt you use liquid nitrogen for fun? Or dry ice and liquid co2?

[--= Excogitate =--]

 Dry ice would work great, but I would go so far as to make a stand alone dry ice powered version.

[static]

An instructable that should allow anyone who chooses to do so duplicate your project.  While audio from the radio and light from the LED are tangible evidence power is produced, it would be nice to see measurements that indicate how much power this can produce.

[GerardTV]

Guys please understand. Most peltier modules are rated for cooling not power Generation. You can use them for SEEBECK EFFECT but they will probably burn out as the solder will melt if temperature gets to high. Seebeck modules are designed or should be depending on who you buy them from for power genertion. Lots of features TEg modules have that allow them to withstand
 large TEMperature Differences. DT is critical Hot side less cold side. The more DT you have the more power is produced. Thermoelectric-generator.com
 has allot of info for this technology. If you have specific questions you can ask me . email at [e-mail] we have been in the Thermoelectric field for 20 years.  

[static]

Understood. While I someday purchase some of the smaller less expensive module for experimenting with cooling and flea power, electrical power production, but I'm not going to invest much into it at all. I'm convinced my money best spent for photovoltaic and wind for electrical power production at the dwelling scale. Not to mention the TE modules generally require the consumption of a fuel to produce electrical power.

[netgrazer]

Restaurants often have those candles with a spring-powered push-up mechanism under them, you'd never have to readjust the height with those, just change them when they run out.

Also, wouldn't aerogel be the ideal material for pretty much everything on the hot side? Unfortunately, it's still a bit tricky to make, I believe (especially the supercritical drying part sounds complicated). Maybe some ready-made aerogel could be shaped to the right dimensions, but it is awfully brittle.

[cdousley]

isnt that like 1000 dolars a square inch

[netgrazer]

That is a bit steep, I admit. I you know someone with a setup to make it, it might be feasable. It's not like it's a space-age technology, right? Oh, wait...

Aerogel granulate is quite affordable, but I wouldn't know how to harnass its isolatory properties. United Nuclear sells it.

The spring-loaded push-up candle holder still seems like a really good solution to the distance regulating problem, if I may say so myself.

[cdousley]

Wow ive been misinformed that would work good along with a seebeck genarator instead of a peltier an a spring candle

[cdousley]

im ordering mine off ebay do u think this will work?
cgi.ebay.com/1x-TEC1-12706-91-2W-TEC-Thermoelectric-Cooler-Peltier_W0QQitemZ150401778203QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0

[GerardTV]

Hi cdousley,
 I've viewed these modules off of ebay. If you ARE just playing and don't care
about reliability then these are cheap peltier modules. They are rated as TEC1-12706 cooling modules . If you expose them to anything higher than 250 to 300F they will probably fry. The solder will melt. these are low amp modules rated 6 amp, 15 2 V , and Qmax of between 68 and 91.2 watts which is confusing as they are stated as the same module part number but different 
Qmax which is cooling ability. What this all means is that these are input values not output. A 6 amp at 15.2 Volts is typically run at 12 V and consumes about 4.8 amps of energy to cool. You always run peltier modules at 80% of their Vmax value as not to 
turn them into heaters. Most people do not understand that these are very inefficient coolers. About 15% efficiency. So, if you run then at the Max rating they heat not cool. As well a TEC1-127606 should be rated at  51.4 watts Qmax which is the true value of this size of module. I think the seller has no idea what he is selling !!!!!
Now since you want to run these as power generator they will produce power but very little. When you are looking at power generation you want a high amp
module around 12 amps for a 127 couple module or 20 to 25 amp for a 70 or 71 couple. That is what the 127 Designation is in the Model number. It signifies
 the number of couples or P and N junctions. Relate it to a Photo Voltaic cell
PV they are made up of wafers that create a panel so that panels voltage
 can be used to charge batteries typically 12Volts . The panel is rated at 13 to 14 volts the extra 1 to 2 Volts over 12 Volts is called the nominal voltage and allow  forward flow of electricity to charge batteries. Peltier modules are similiar. The have junctions made up of Pand N elements Positive and Negative elements
 which creates a electron flow.
 Sorry I ramble allot. anyway because a module produces so little energy you want its ratings to be as high as possible for power generation that way you get as much energy as possible out of a 40 x 40 mm size module. The thinner the module id the higher the amperage. Heat flows faster thru thinner semi-conductor material.  I could go on and on but if you have any specific questions I would be happy to explain them. You can reach me at
[e-mail] OR [e-mail]

[uniqueutopia]

Fun! Thanks for this. Nice Job.

[raymccullie]

I wonder if you could use something like this on a computer? Offset the energy cost of running the PC with power from it's own heat?

[Per_automatik]

i was thinking something similar due heat being restproduct and obsuleet.
though i think it's very important that the other side is much cooler and the cpu for the sake of causing a temperature difference enough, though.. sure it wouldn't be that nice putting the power back in the computer... it would probably be not that constant.

[cdousley]

do you think i could get six volts off this