Direct energy conversion and storage using nano-particle enhanced transport media

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The rapidly declining power usage of modern sensors, actuators, wearable electronics, communications and biomedical devices is opening new possibilities for portable autonomous systems that are powered by available ambient energy, such as the motion or heat from a person, motion of air or water, or sound and vibrations. The need for inexpensive, reliable systems that can convert available ambient energy into useful forms for these technologies is one of the biggest limitations in their development. This research program seeks to help fill this need by furthering the development of two novel branches of direct energy conversion (DEC) systems. The focus will be placed on developing, characterizing, and further advancing novel thermoelectric (TE) and thermoacoustic (TAC) DEC systems incorporating nano-particle enhanced transport media (NTM) (e.g., nano-composites, nanofluids). The proposed research will look specifically at DEC from ambient energy sources (also known as low potential sources or LPSs). However, LPSs are usually intermittent in nature. Therefore, practical DEC systems require integrated energy storage systems to ensure continuously delivering power. Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTS) can be integrated into DEC systems to provide continuous energy supply and is also included in this research program. Currently, energy conversion and storage efficiencies of conventional TE, TAC, and LHTS systems are low. However, recent advancements in nanotechnology open the possibility of improving these systems' efficiencies by incorporating NTM. The proposed research program includes developing mathematical models that describe mass, momentum, energy, and electrical charge transfer processes in DEC and LHTS systems incorporating emerging NTM. These models will be applied to characterize and optimize new DEC systems that integrate NTM and LHTS. Model development will require new analytical and numerical solution techniques. Model predictions will be validated by prototyping DEC systems and experimentally characterizing performance. This research program will significantly improve our understanding of the complex transport processes inside DEC and LHTS systems incorporating NTM. This understanding will lead to more practical and efficient TE and TAC systems integrating LHTS. These novel systems will be commercializable in a range of applications including cooling (e.g., electronics cooling, remote air-conditioning, battery thermal management in electric/hybrid vehicles), as components of green buildings (e.g., thermally active walls), medical imaging, and power generation for wearable/mobile electronics. This research program will also train HQP who will become engineers/researchers with deep knowledge of DEC, LHTS, and NTM, expertise which will be essential to the commercialization and further development of new DEC systems incorporating NTM.