Science Fair Project : Thermoelectric Smartphone Charger

Heat: The amount of energy associated with the movement of atoms and molecules in matter.

This problem that i have decided to solve is very significant to me and many other people although most don’t know that in about four states in the U.S an estimated amount 700 people in the U.S without homes die each year. The Science that I used is the science of solar power. I know that the sun is attracted to the color black so I painted the inside of my project black. Also that Insulation covered in a very thin metal sheet makes heat right away when the sun touches it. I got the idea to build my prototype from a website named build it solar here is the link,

Solar energy can be turned into electricity through solar cells 15%=cheap, 40% efficiency=expensive. Caloric theory of heat=caloric fluid flows from hot object to cold. Heat engine=

The possibilities offered by this new type of battery would indeed be considerable. From the smartphone to the tablet, via laptop, GPS or car, all energy consuming mobile power products and requiring regular refills could benefit from the advantages of this new combination. Moreover, these batteries could also be used at much larger scale than the charging alone phones or computers and storing electricity produced by renewable sources such as wind turbines or solar and tidal power.

There are four basic components for thermal energy (heat): 1. All matter is made up of tiny particles called atoms. These can only be seen with special microscopes. 2. The atoms are always moving – they all have kinetic energy. 3. The particles have space between them. Different states of matter have different amounts of space. 4. Adding heat (energy) to matter makes the particles move more quickly. Since faster moving things have more kinetic energy, adding heat increases the energy of the particle. 5. Cooling it down decreases the amount of kinetic energy and slows the movement down.

Think about how many chargers you have in your home, including phone, laptop, and tablets chargers. Any chargers you have laying around. Include that they are most likely always plugged in. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over a whole year! According to howtogeek.com, "there are 8760 hours in a year. That equates to 2.628 kilowatt hours (kWh)." That is a lot of time that it is plugged in and it's not always being used.

Using diesel or gasoline, these generators can power refrigerators, air conditioners and fans. This method is already in use in many domestic and industrial settings in Africa. The major drawback to using generating sets is the cost of acquiring them, and running cost since diesel and gasoline are relatively expensive. Air conditioners are famous power guzzlers, therefore, to reduce the acquisition cost, especially for cooling of buildings, fans can replace air conditioners. The fans can provide a relatively sufficient cooling effect for a fraction of the energy consumption of air conditioners. For the cooling of foods, drinks and other consumables, generators can be used intermittently to power refrigerators. With proper insulation, a good refrigerator can keep its contents cool for several hours, with some remaining cold for up to two days, thereby reducing the need to keep the generators

All these stories talk about electrixty but yet they are all different in their own ways. we’re going to need something like this in the future if our atmosphere gets worse. These stories all have a natural way to create energy without fossil fuels, if somehow we could mass produce all these we wouldn’t even need light bulbs and this would save a lot of carbon from going into the atmosphere. Once the atmosphere problem worsens all these could easily come in to play people would start believing things like the light bulb is destroying the planet.

One resource that is essential to produce electricity is renewable energy. Providing one’s own energy consists of utilizing solar panels, wind turbines and micro hydroelectricity. Solar panels absorb energy from the Sun to produce solar energy. A great number of people who live off the grid use solar power. Wind turbines generate electrical power from the wind and functions in the reverse manner as a fan does. Micro hydroelectricity is another source of energy, which fascinatingly “uses a source of running water, like a stream, to generate electricity” (Dunn 3). Between all three sources of renewable energy, micro hydroelectricity is the most efficient, reliable and commonly used form.

Thermal energy is the energy a substance or system has related to its temperature. This means the energy of moving or vibrating molecules. Atoms and molecules are always in motion. Generally the motion of thermal energy cannot be seen, but instead the effects it has on the substance can be seen or felt. Thermal energy can have several different uses. It can be used to heat homes, cook food, and generate electricity.

The product that we have created is known as Cosmic, a high-end phone case that is an extension of the Otterbox Company. Our business objective is to have a phone case that meets the needs of millennials.  Otterbox phone cases offer maximum protection for phones and they also have a reasonably sized solar panel on the back that serves as an external battery for when a phone starts to run low on battery life. This idea came to be due to natural disasters and we saw the need for longer battery life on cell phones. Our phone case is both practical for everyday use and also lifesaving in times of an emergency. Currently, there is little to no competition because our phone cases do not require the use of a power outlet at all. Instead, phones are

One of the most important aspects of the development of engineering is the harnessing of different energy sources and the world, today, is highly reliant upon this (Narendra Singh Rathore, 2007). This report will endeavour to

Heat is a form of energy that is transferred between two substances at different temperatures. The flow of the energy is from the object of higher temperature to the object of lower temperature. The heat is measured in units of energy, usually calories or joules. Temperature on the other hand, is how cold or hot an object is. The temperature is the average kinetic energy per molecule of a substance. This is measured in degrees on the Celsius or Fahrenheit or in Kelvins.

Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junctions of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other, with consumption of electrical energy, depending on the direction of the current. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC). It can be used either for heating or for cooling, although in practice the main application is cooling. It can also be used as a temperature controller that either heats or cools.

Attached is the report for the study “Kinetic Energy Harvesting in the Jackson Blue Line – Red Line Subway Transfer Tunnel”. I have completed the tasks outlined in my January 22, 2015 proposal: finding the amount of electricity it takes to power the tunnel, finding the cost of the required amount of energy produced through other sustainable means, and traditional unsustainable means, and how many people would it take to generate the needed power through the kinetic energy harvesting.