[amsat-bb] Re: Thermocouple power

[kc6uqh]

There was a company in San Diego,Ca.USA called Hi Z Technoloiges that made 
direct conversion power devices using propane for a heat source and also 
exhaust engine heat to replace the alternator on trucks.  They were located 
on Nancy Ridge Drive in the Mira Mesa aera. In 1995 they were getting 10's 
of amps at 1.5 volts on a single unit.

Art ,
KC6UQH
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tony Langdon" <vk3jed at gmail.com>
To: <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 5:48 PM
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Thermocouple power


> Oops, forgot to post to the list...
>
> At 10:46 AM 2/27/2007, you wrote:
>>Last week there was an interesting debate about raising the altitude of a
>>satellite by using magnertic fields.
>>
>>Carrying on the wacky ideas theme, I've been looking at producing power by
>>using thermocouples and not solar cells.
>
> This certainly does work, because the principle is used in the RTGs
> that power the Pioneer 11/10 probes, Voyagers, Galileo, New Horizons
> and Cassini.  In this case, the heat is provided by radioactive decay
> of plutonium rather than solar energy.  In the case of these probes,
> RTGs are used because solar power is not a practical alternative
> beyond Jupiter, and no other power source is capable of lasting
> decades while generating several hundred Watts in deep space.
>
>>But.........how much power can you draw from it ??
>
> Depends how much heat energy you can put into it from the Sun.  That
> I don't know.
>
> 73 de VK3JED
> http://vkradio.com
>
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