Hey gents Its been great reading through the forum.

What we've been developing are thermoelectric generators.

They utilize waste heat from the exhaust to generate DC power. No moving parts no noise and very light weight. We've developed a model that simply clamps on to the exhaust pipe that has been doing ground testing on an 0-360. It works very well putting out @ 50 watts @ 12v and weighs under 2 lbs. We've used it to easily power a GRT basic eadi.

Best thing is that once it gets up to temp (1-2 minutes idle power) its will continue to produce power as long as the engine is running.

We'd like to get some of you guys with experimental A/C to give us some feed back and possibly look at getting some folks to do some beta testing for us.

Our ambition is to develop devices integrated into the exhaust flow that can certainly back up and possibly supplant the traditional engine drive alternator/generators. Best part about that is you get a bump in fuel economy for losing the gen.

Also looking at power supplies for Electronic ignitions systems

So please share your opinions we look forward to hear back from you.

Really cool idea but I'm not sure about sacrificing 2lbs for 4amps. I like the idea for my electrically dependent airplane but I'd want enough amps to power my EFIS and one ignition system. I'd have to look at the specs but I think that's about 5A.

whee wrote:Really cool idea but I'm not sure about sacrificing 2lbs for 4amps. I like the idea for my electrically dependent airplane but I'd want enough amps to power my EFIS and one ignition system. I'd have to look at the specs but I think that's about 5A.

Where do you get 4 amps whee? I read it as 50 amps... but I've been known to be a poor reader Haha.

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Watts = Volts x Amps

He said 50watts at 12Volts => 50W / 12Volts = 4.167Amps

whee wrote:Watts = Volts x Amps

He said 50watts at 12Volts => 50W / 12Volts = 4.167Amps

Haha! See, bad reader, told Ya!

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50 watts would be an excellent back up power source for an electronic ignition. Depending on its cost, a couple of them would provide a legitimate amount of backup power for critical systems. If enough of these things could be employed or its output developed to a point of making an alternator unnecessary, weight savings and some more reliability (no bearing, brush, or belt failure points) are good selling points.

Thermo electric generators are used on the circulating fans found on wood stoves.

Alteg: Can you post any pictures?

Thanks for the responses.

Keep in mind these are beta tests. Primarily concerned with making sure things perform like they do on the bench and on the ground.

So de-weighting things and improving the KW/KG ratio is actively taking place, but we think one of the best bennies is it doesn't cost you anymore power beyond its weight and it works day or night, rain or shine (perhaps even better in the rain).

We can configure for whatever power requirements the market demands, but this particular device is meant to simply be clamped on to an exhaust pipe and connected electrically to either charge the battery, supply sole source to particular loads, or as a backup. There are those who want to avoid having an "electrical system" but still want to power items. We're aiming to service that desire.

Aircraft engines produce a ton of heat that is completely wasted save for heating the cabin and de-icing carbs. We can use that to run the entire panel which can materially improve fuel efficiency.

So keep your thoughts and suggestions coming. We'll have links to demo video and photos posted shortly.

This sounds like a great simple way to make power. Do you have any way to regulate this power? I would love to try it but can't think of a way to tie it into my system. I am looking forward to seeing the videos, this should be a log book entry only mod.
DENNY

I know many of us that fly certified a/c would love to have electronic ignition, but the FAA won't let us.

This system sounds like it could provide a backup for an electronic ignition system that is independent of the normal electrical system and just maybe the FAA would let us use electronic ignition. It would certainly take away the main argument for why they don't let us use it now.

I like the low weight, though I would suggest rigging up some kind of hard mount to avoid stressing exhaust welds/clamps which are notorious for being weak points. Does this have to clamp on the exhaust outlet, or is it small enough to go onto the header pipes? That would give numerous points for heat scavenging, and perhaps shield nearby parts from some heat as well.

50W may not run the whole stack, but it would significantly slow the rate of loss, possibly enough to maintain electrical until landing. I am curious how much heat it generates under low engine output (like descent), but if you can augment the battery enough in cruise you mgiht

Kansas Flyer wrote:I know many of us that fly certified a/c would love to have electronic ignition, but the FAA won't let us.

This system sounds like it could provide a backup for an electronic ignition system that is independent of the normal electrical system and just maybe the FAA would let us use electronic ignition. It would certainly take away the main argument for why they don't let us use it now.

They will let you now if you buy an ElectroAir. E-Mag has been "in STC process" for years on their P-Mag so no idea if that will ever end. Surefly claims they will have STC by year's end, I emailed them last night to find out how that's going. E-Mag is likely to be the only one with the potential for dual mag replacement since theirs has an inbuilt alternator for power generation, the rest require an external power source so obviously only single mag replacement is doable (or wise) in those.

so here's a video of a test run we did of a working prototype on the Lycoming engine. More pictures to follow https://youtu.be/UHQuipd2trk

Very cool alteg. I assume you are running the MiniX directly off the thermoelectric gen?

I reviewed my electrical requirements and it looks like 4A would be enough to run a single set of plugs and my EFIS. I'll have to nerd over how to integrate a backup power source such as yours.

yes we've been able to run that with no problems at all. Once it gets up to temperature it will continually power that device even at long periods at idle power.

We're working on getting some pictures up of our latest runs with a more polished version. That one still looks very much like a prototype with sensor probes and such attached.