Energy
Engineering
& Science
Understanding,
developing, and
applying the basic
principles of science
and engineering to
develop technolo-
gies for the efficient
and sustainable use
and conversion of
energy, is the mis-
sion of EES.
Faculty include:
Jiangtao Cheng
Clint Dancey
Tom Diller
Michael Ellis
Scott Huxtable
Al Kornhauser
Zheng Li
Doug Nelson
Wing Ng
Walter O’Brien
Mark Paul
Ranga Pitchumani
Shashank Priya
Rui Qiao
Danesh Tafti
Zhiting Tian
Brian Vick
Michael von
Spakovsky
Waste heat
to electricity
A system using magnets and a piezoelectric lever to convert waste heat
to electricity is the first working, bulk-scale example of a thermo-magne-
to-electric generator, a new type of thermal energy harvester designed to
operate without the large temperature gradients of most systems.
Thermal energy harvesters recover waste heat that seeps out of mechan-
ical systems from hot surfaces and exhaust gases and dissipates into the
environment.
“You can take any mechanical process, like running your car, and 40 to
60 percent of the energy you put in is wasted as heat. It’s a huge loss,”
said Shashank Priya, the Robert E. Hord Jr. Professor of Mechanical
Engineering and associate director for research and scholarship at the
Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, who led the study.
The harvester, described in Scientific Reports, brokers the conversion of
heat to electricity through materials called soft magnets, which are easily
magnetized and demagnetized.