Electricity From Fire

Watch the Video or follow the instructions

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Step 1: What You Will Need

Two heatsinks, one bigger than the other.

One Peltier cell

One Voltage regulator with USB outputs (not really, it won't work with it)

Thermal grease

Step 2: Thermal Grease

Take the bigger heatsink and spread evenly the Thermal grease using something flat.

Step 3:

Attach the COLD SIDE of the Peltier Cell to it, the side with the writes on).

Step 4: Spread More

Spread more Thermal paste on the HOT SIDE of the cell.

Step 5: Small Heatsink

Attach the small heatsink to it.

Step 6: WIRES AND BOLTS

I used some Heat resistant Tubes to protect the wires from the heat and a couple of M3 40mm bolts to fix everything in place.

Step 7: TEST

I made a quick test with a propane torch to see if The Prototype is working.

Step 8: Brazier

With a cylindrical Steel can I made the brazier.

Measure the top heatsink (in my case is 40mm) and cut the shape on the bottom of it using an electrical tool.

Step 9: FIT IT

If everything fit right move on.

Step 10: Water Container

Use a water container to allow the cooling to be more effective than air.

Find one with the right sizes to fit the heatsink.

Step 11: WATER

Pour enough water to cover the sink, but beware of touching the Peltier Cell.

Step 12: START THE FIRE

START THE FIRE.

I used Paper, cardboard and Wood.

Unluckily I didn't reach my target Voltage of beyond 5V.

Step 13: Vent Holes

I drilled some Ventilation holes to let the air come from the bottom but I Barely reached 4 Volts.

Step 14: Conclusions.

In conclusion, I succesfully got Eletricity from fire, but I failed the target to make an emergency phone charger.

SO, if you have suggestions to improve my prototype let me know here or on my youtube channel.

(I'd like to make something different from the usual candle-powered peltier generator, i want to make something more useful for camping or apocalyptic's fan that can run wood or other type of fuel.)

Comments

[monocogger]

The heat from the fire will naturally want to rise. if you inverted the TEG module and built the fire underneath it and put the cooling portion above the TEG I think you'd get a bit more power. My son and I built something similar. We used a single tealight candle underneath the TEG with a 40mm x 40mm heatsink and another heatsink above the TEG with an ice cube sitting on it. We were able to produce 3.9V at 300 mA. Good work!

[PMMPINDY]

I had the same problem when i made mine, it's similar, but had also a small output, i solved the problem with 2 peltiers in parallel instead of one, and with a voltage regulator i was able to charge the phone, by burning a small fire.

[Jimmeh30]

This can work, but as ballardbk suggests, you need a boost converter. I built one of these using a single peltier TEG (SP1848 - 27145) with small boost converters that ran on as little as 2 volts and converted to 12v. The specs on the TEG's (10 for under 30$ AUD) were something like 4.69 volts @ 600mA with 100 deg C delta. That equals 2.814 Watts. They outperformed their specifications running a computer cooling fan on the cold side heatsink (185mA) and 4 1watt 12v led's. When I connected another LED (totaling 5) the system broke down (the fan slowed, not enough current available for the three boost converters). Also note that the price point equates to around about 13 cents per watt, which is about half of the price of solar panels atm at their cheapest.

[rafununu]

Volts are of no use without a load, do you know the intensity produced ?

[kpqowieuryt]

I don't know what regulator you are using but it looks like a step down or buck regulator. That's why you need a voltage above 5v for it to regulate. Look for a step up or boost regulator. Those bring a low voltage up by reducing the amp output. I don't know what kind of power your product can produce burr I'm sure it can work

[russ_hensel]

Measuring voltage but not current ( at the same time ) tells just about zip about power. These cells can sometimes deliver a lot of current. How about a bunch more measurements including voltage and current with the cell under load?

[tercero]

What were the amps? Volts are fine, but it would have to produce enough amps to make it useful

[focamonca]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, i will note these for the next video