Title
A disruptive technology for thermal to electrical energy conversion.
Abstract
A disruptive approach to thermal energy harvesting is presented. The new technique can be used for powering ultra-low power electronics. We propose a two-step conversion of heat into electricity: thermal to mechanical accomplished with thermal bimetals and mechanical to electrical accomplished with piezoelectrics. Devices can work in a wide range of temperatures: from −40°C to 300°C and the available mechanical power density is in the order of 1mW/cm2. The first electrical results and the first prototype built on a flexible substrate are presented in this work. We evidenced that one of the keys to improve the generated power density is downscaling of individual devices. To demonstrate this point, laws modeling downscaling have been established and show that the miniaturization of the devices by a factor k increases the generated power density by the same factor, due to the higher heat transfer rate. The path followed in order to establish the laws is given in this paper.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1016/j.mejo.2013.12.003
Microelectronics Journal
Keywords
Field
DocType
Bimetal,Piezoelectric,Thermal to electrical conversion,Scaling laws,Power gain
Power gain,Thermal energy,Electricity,Heat transfer,Power density,Electronic engineering,Power electronics,Miniaturization,Engineering,Mechanical energy
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
45
5
0026-2692
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
12
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
O. Puscasu100.34
S. Monfray221.73
C. Maître300.34
P. J. Cottinet400.68
D. Rapisarda500.34
Guillaume Savelli600.34
F. Gaillard700.68
G. Ricotti8163.85
P. Ancey922.07
Frédéric Boeuf1062.49
D. Guyomar1100.34
Thomas Skotnicki1222.27