Over the generations, the invention of electricity was the major breakthrough by the human race. In today’s era almost every machine and devices are electrically actuated. In every field and every application the need of electricity is increasing day by day. The major sources to produce electricity are limited, and thus one day, this may lead to energy crisis.
At present, we use different sources for energy production as follows:
1. Thermocouple: In this process we use a combination of metallic wires. One of the two wires is kept at hot junction and the other in cool junction, called as seed back effect. Electrons are emitted from the hot wire and this way electricity is generated at the hot and cold junctions.
The electricity generated in this way is very less to operate a tube light. It produces electricity almost 1mV/°C.
2. Solar cells: In this process we use photoelectric diodes to generate electricity. Photoelectric diodes are made up of semiconductor materials. Solar panels are expensive. So it’s not worth use for a common society.
3. Hydraulic Power Plants: In this process we vaporize the water to rotate turbine which produces electricity.
In recent experiments we used different combinations of wires in the thermocouple, but this time we keep one wire at hot junction leaving the second wire in the normal temperature. The combination of both the wires is kept in cold water where electricity is generated. In this way the hot burner can also be used to heat a wire. It produces electricity up to 0.6Volt. Alternatively we can use convex lenses to focus solar light for heating the wire. Using different set of wires and conditions, we observed different results, as described below:
1. We used a combination of wires made up of Iron and Aluminum and we obtain the energy level up to 0.1Volt.
2. A combination of wires made up of Copper and Iron, but still the energy generation was not sufficient.
3. When we used a combination of wires made up of Copper and Aluminum. Both the junctions are heated but no any electricity generation is observed.
4. We used a combination of Aluminum and Copper wires. The ends of both the wires are heated and cooled simultaneously. The combination of wires is kept in the mixture of water and salt. This time the electricity produced is 0.72Volt. This voltage level is enough for LED’s.
Some other metals can also be used for the combinations like, TIN, Brass, Steel, etc. This process of generating electricity is cheap, and easy. Many combinations at a time can be used for the bulk production of electricity.
Advantages over current Technologies:
Ø Cheap
Ø Easy set up
Ø No additional source is required for actuation(to heat up wires)
Ø Solar heat, burner heat can be used for generation.