Really Cool Invention Brings Teens Awards (Amazing Kids-Invented What GM Couldn't)

The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 07/06/2005 | Jessica Ravitz

[devane617]

Cool...

[TASMANIANRED]

The new Steve Jobs.

[null and void]

"By adopting their contraption - which taps into the electrical system, using fans to blow hot air through five Peltier chips and then releasing cold air - they say the country stands to save 3.9 billion gallons of fuel annually, or about $10 billion based on current gas prices."

Doesn't necessarily follow. The energy to charge the batteries has to come from somewhere.

Still, it's a 'cool' idea...

[patton]

excellent

[Phantom Lord]

The code name, Space Beast, was one they came up with in the wee hours of the night.

I would like a job coming up with code names and naming war ships.

[frgoff]

Peltier chips have been around for a long time. They aren't used because they are horribly inefficient when compared with a traditional heat pump, so I don't know where these guys are getting their saving gasoline figure from. The engine either has to crank the compressor to run the traditional air conditioner, or crank like crazy on the alternator to run the peltier chips.

I would bet that when you run the actual numbers, you'll find that using peltier chips actually reduces your gas mileage as the load on the alternator increases.

[Poser]

If they have indeed found a more efficient way to generate cool air, they will be very rich.

[Arkie2]

Of the 7.9 billion gallons they say is used to run AC they estimate they can save 3.9 billion. Guess that 4 billion would go to charge the batteries. ;^)

[Rakkasan1]

Invented What GM Couldn't...

a contract that won't bankrupt the company?

[Rad_J]

No, it just takes half the amount of power to run. It says the gas consumption annually would go from 7.9 billion gallons to 3.9 billion gallons.

[jess35]

Well, that sounds nifty, but does it dehumudify like a typical AC unit? How many Peltier chips would it take to cool down an entire house?

[Redbob]

"... the budding engineers are jetting off to Japan today for a 10-day visit on Ricoh's dime."

Second prize is 20 days in Japan...

[Tennessee_Bob]

An efficient employee??

[HamiltonJay]

AC Compressors suck down way more power than these Peltiers, you definately should cut down the power requirements by at least 50% to run A/C using these vs gas based..... Will be interesting to see where this goes.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Today...U.S. drivers use about 7.9 billion gallons of fuel each year to run their air-conditioners...

...they say the country stands to save 3.9 billion gallons of fuel annually,...

They acknowledge there will still be fuel consumption, reducing it 50%, though.

[Redbob]

"Today, the young inventors say, U.S. drivers use about 7.9 billion gallons of fuel each year to run their air-conditioners, which draw power from the engine."

And where does this nitwit think the electricity for the Peltier chips comes from?
That's right: the engine.

[tickmeister]

Yeah, I want to see the numbers run by somebody who knows what they are doing. Still ain't no free lunch, and the laws of thermodynamics have not been repealed.

What I have always wondered about would be using waste heat from the exhaust to run an absorption unit. Same as an RV refrigerator that runs on propane. Exhaust heat is truly waste and stealing some of it to run an AC unit should have no effect on fuel consumption.

[nonessential-personel]

This award is just a feel good save the earth pipe dream. Peltier devices are far less efficient than any modern automotive air conditioner. The energy consumed per BTU of heat displacement is the key. The 4 billion gallons of savings figure was pulled from thin air.
At least these kids should get an award for their insight into the judges mindset that an invention doesn't need to actually work as long as we can pretend it's saving the earth. Aaaaaargh!

[FastCoyote]

These things draw 35watts per peltier chip, * 5 gives 185 watts (at least). At 12 volts this is 15 amps, maybe doable, but a good load on the alternator.