hello good people...i am working on a project and i would like some help and/or suggestions on how to do it. simply described, i have an assembled thermo electric device that harnesses heat from the exhaust pipe of a car and converts it to electricity. Now i need to design a circuit that steps-up and stores this energy so that i can use it to play the radio when the car is offline. the point is to have a sort of "power bank" to use to work other accessories in the car when it is not on...for instance have an off line cut-off, power the windows, maybe even charge devices.
i am still developing the circuitry but any suggestions are welcome.

 

Well the first thing to be aware of is that you can't step-up energy and secondly; how much power does this thermo-electric device produce?

Most cars already contain a device that stores energy to power devices when the engine is not running so why do it the hard way?

 

You can boost the output voltage of a TEG up to something useful, but the current will be reduced by the same amount, minus the conversion efficiency. Than you need something that will store enough energy to be useful. then (this is a biggie) you have to wire this into the vehicle wiring so your stored energy can be used on devices already in place, without upsetting any of the dozen or so computers that actually run the car and the devices. For example, operating the power windows after the car has been off for over a minute or so might not be possible (mine has a 30-second limit). All of this can be done, but it is a long list of difficult tasks.

AND - there is nothing you can do that will come anywhere near the power density and efficiency of the power bank already in the car - the battery - even at 10 times the cost.

ak

 

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