Included in the report are interviews with potential adopters of thermoelectric energy harvesters and their views of the impact that the technology could have over their respective industries. Some of the application sectors include:
Waste heat recovery systems in vehicles: A large number of car companies, including Volkswagen, VOLVO, FORD and BMW in collaboration with NASA have been developing thermoelectric waste heat recovery systems in-house, each achieving different types of performance but all of them expecting to lead to improvements of 3-5% in fuel economy while the power generated out of these devices could potentially reach up to 1200W.
Wireless sensor network adoption. Wireless sensors powered by thermogenerators in environments where temperature differentials exist would lead to avoiding issues with battery lifetime and reliability. It would also lead to the ability to move away from wired sensors, which are still the solution of choice when increased reliability of measurement is necessary. Some applications have low enough power demands to operate with small temperature differentials, as small as a few degrees in some cases. These types of developments increase adoption trends.
Consumer applications: In these applications, the type of solution that thermogenerators provide varies: it could be related to saving energy when cooking by utilising thermo-powered cooking sensors, powering mobile phones, watches or other consumer electronics, even body sensing could become more widespread with sensory wristbands, clothing or athletic apparel that monitor vitals such as heart rate, body temperature, etc.
Read more at: http://www.idtechex.com/research/reports/thermoelectric-energy-harvesting-2016-2026-000473.asp
Read more at: http://www.idtechex.com/research/reports/thermoelectric-energy-harvesting-2016-2026-000473.asp