DAVIS / LONDON (IT BOLTWISE) – Engineers at the University of California, Davis, have developed an innovative method to generate mechanical energy at night. By exploiting the temperature difference between the warm surface of the Earth and the extreme cold of space, this technology could be used in the future to ventilate greenhouses or residential buildings.
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Engineers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a device capable of generating mechanical energy at night by exploiting the natural temperature difference between the warm surface of the Earth and the cold of space. This innovative technology could have practical applications, such as ventilation of greenhouses or other structures. The research results were recently published in the journal Science Advances.
The device is based on a Stirling engine, a type of machine that works with temperature differences. According to Jeremy Munday, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Davis and co-author of the study, many engines, including internal combustion engines, require a large temperature difference to produce energy. A Stirling engine, on the other hand, can operate with a small temperature difference, similar to the difference between a hot cup of coffee and the surrounding air.
Typically, a Stirling engine works by having one side in contact with a heat source while the opposite side is connected to a cooler environment. Munday and graduate student Tristan Deppe wondered if they could instead connect the cold side to something very cold but also very distant: space. It doesn’t have to come into physical contact with space, but can simply interact with it radiatively, much like standing outside on a cold, clear evening with the heat radiating rapidly from your head.
Deppe and Munday’s idea was to place a simple Stirling engine (essentially a piston driving a flywheel) on a panel that acts as a heat-radiating antenna, and place the whole thing on the ground outdoors at night. The ground acts as the warm side of the engine, and the antenna conducts the cold of space. A year of nighttime experiments shows that the small device can actually generate at least 400 milliwatts of mechanical energy per square meter. The researchers experimentally used the device to directly power a fan and also coupled it with a small electric motor to generate electricity.
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