Candle Light Powered Fan

Candle light fan use technology which converts heat directly into electricity using a effect called Seebeck. The only problem with these fans is their efficiency which is lesser than 10 %. To use this technology we need thermoelectric materials such as Bismuth Telluride(Bi₂Te₃) or Lead Telluride (PbTe).

Is their any difference ?

Yes, it is very different technology and unlike Dynamo (First Electric Generator, it is most commonly used for bicycle headlight),their is no moving part involved in electricity generation with thermoelectric materials.

What is the use of this project?

It helps you to understand basic concept of thermoelectricity which is used in spacecraft as Radioisotope to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity and in automobiles where it helps to reuse waste heat from Internal Combustion Engine.

How to Build this?

You can find complete instructions about this fan here.

Heat transfer Projects

Introduction :

Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the transfer of thermal energy from one physical system to another.
The transfer of heat is normally from a high temperature object to a lower temperature object.Many students confuse heat transfer with the temperature,professor of IIS Bangalore wrote wonderful article about basics of heat transfer. Heat transfer is a result of first law of thermodynamics which states that energy can not be created or destroyed, it transfers from one state to another.

This video will help you to understand this concept further :



Projects : 
You can find students of Virginia projects at Virginia faculty page. We have already used this concept in many projects we have discussed before in this blog ex. Sterling engine project , which use transfer heat energy to mechanical energy for pushing piston.Although,it is very wide topic but I find two very interesting projects from Carnegie Melon University ,first is about Heat Transfer for Fluid Inside Pipes and second is about The Rate of Internal Heat Transfer of a Copper Coiled Pipe at Different Laminar Flows.

If you are interested in Thermodynamics Design , then you may find these project interesting :
Automotive Air-Conditioning System
Evaluate the efficiency and practicality of a heat pump system used in warm climates.