Researchers work to turn car's exhaust into power

[AZEqualizer]

Researchers are competing to meet a challenge from the U.S. Department of Energy: Improve fuel economy 10 percent by converting wasted exhaust heat into energy that can help power the vehicle.

The DOE, which is partially funding the auto-industry research, helped develop a thermoelectric generator for a heavy-duty diesel truck and tested it for the equivalent of 550,000 miles about 12 years ago.


John Fairbanks, the department's thermoelectrics technology development manager, said the success of that generator justified the competitive search in 2004 for a device that could augment or replace a vehicle's alternator. Three teams were selected to participate in the program, with GM and thermoelectrics manufacturer BSST separately working on cars and a team from Michigan State University focusing on heavy-duty trucks.


Fairbanks said thermoelectric generators should be on the verge of production in about three years.

This according to an article by the AP...
(http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/11/20080811tailpipe0811.html)

[Mark Tomlinson]

A real interesting use for this technology (thermoelectric diodes) would be on a hybrid. When the ICE kicks in, a portion of the waste heat could also be used to charge the batteries. It would be really cool if they could replace the radiator, but that would take a huge scientific breakthrough.

Still, I'm an advocate of KISS. So I'd rather see a more efficient ICE that produces less heat and more torque.

[MVRacing]

My understanding is that F1 will be allowing/promoting this type of technology next year. It will be interesting to see what unlimited budgets can come up with.