PV: EV&RE(Western Washington University thermo-photovoltaic HEV)

[Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter <BruceDP@iname.com>]

EV&RE(Western Washington University thermo-photovoltaic HEV)
[POSTed on the Internet Electric Vehicle List and Renewable Energy News
 distribution. For Public Renewable Energy & EV informational purposes.
 Contact publication for reprint rights.]
 --- {EVangel}
[ref  http://www.crest.org/ev-list-archive/msg02086.html ]

--
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/tw/stories/technology/0001tpvcar.html
Thermo Photo Voltaic Car:

A novel car that uses solar power style technology - but runs whatever
the weather!

Researchers at Western Washington University in the United States have
created a hybrid electric car with a new on-board battery charging
system that uses the same basic principle as solar power. The power
that charges the on-board batteries is generated in eight
thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) cylinders. At the centre of each cylinder is
a ceramic tube, inside which methane is burnt which causes the tube to
glow red hot like an artificial sun. The difference is that this one
is at about a third the temperature of the Sun. Light sensitive cells
are arranged closely round the glowing tube and convert the heat
energy to electricity.

The system is about 200 times as efficient as solar panels strapped to
the outside of a car because of the difference in distances. Here, the
distance between the light cells and the artificial sun is only four
centimetres, compared to 130 million kilometres between the Sun and a
solar car. According to Prof.  Michael Seal, who heads the project,
their car is 50 times as clean as the cleanest petrol driven or hybrid
car ever manufactured.

But at the moment the technology is too expensive to put into
production, and still a lot less efficient than a petrol engine.
However the team say that eventually they will be able to refine the
technology to make it affordable and twice as efficient as any other
petrol or hybrid vehicle.

Links:
 http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/viking_29.htm
[  Vehicle Research Institute, Western Washington University
  Bellingham, WA 98225-9086 seal@cc.wwu.edu (360) 650-3045 ]
 http://www.jxcrystals.com/
 http://www.tpv.org/tpvinfo.html

Tanya Kerstiens Rowe
  News Bureau/Media Coordinator
  Western Washington University
  00-1-360 650-6196
  Tanya.Kerstiens@wwu.edu
--



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