Like the title said I'm making a heatsink fan combo that's powered by heat. Look up seebeck and peltier plates if you have never heard of the concept, It's basically the second law of theormodynamics put to a good use/proved. These are just two pieces of dissimilar metals that create a current when one side is cooler or hotter ----whatever than the other. Peltier plates create a freezing cold temp on one side and a super hot heat sink on the other when you run current threw it. A TEG or thermoelectric generator works in the opposite, it uses heat to create Electricty, it's more or less a peltier plate only designed for converting a heat source into dc. Any peltier plate can do the same but not as well. All you need is a fan and a TEG. No fancy wiring or adding resistors to get the correct voltage. Just a 5 volt or 9volt fan. You will have a hard time finding a fan that won't work. So just pick a TEG that fits in the area you have.
Most brushless sytems run around ,,,,regardless what your friend says 140 to 150 or even hotter in 1/8 scale sytems so I'll use that as the standard for the design. A good 40mm x40 mm plate with a heat sink will make up to (less in the real world) 16 volts at 150 to 180 degrees. Most fans run from 5volts to 9 volts for cooling fans. Thus 9v volts will be had easily on most stock set up or faster after market systems. The problem is the unit will eventually heat up all to one temp thus reducing the power. That said it might not be one in this application at all , since most people have run times well under a hour
So using the heat from your esc or motor will give you a free source of power for fans/ and lights. Remember as the system runs its helping itself work by cooling Its own heatsink. If your going to try this your self stick with a American made TEG as people say the cheap ones last a few times and the good ones have 300,000 hour ratings! Watch some videos of them on you tube. Brushless motors are a perfect application to power fans and lights.
Some one on rc tech wanted to try the opposite with a peltier plate and running power into it to cool a motor.he got flamed and told its not going to work. It could work but you would need a 12volt battey with a high amp hour and you would have a super hot heat sink to cool more weight than its worth and you actually create more heat on the hot side heat sink.yet it would work.
I don't think a thermoelectric generator hooked up to a peltier plate would provide enough amps for it to work, but people are experimenting with it. A TEG connected to a engine exhaust pipe would give you enough power combined with voltage builder to recharge your rx battery or a extra on board receiver pack hooked up to nothing, not very usefull but hey its free energy. I know most people are still trying to a working motor esc combo going but for those of you who have. Lets move on to the next level. Feel free to give me ideas on ways to mount/ make the whole thing look nice. Maybe adapt the large castle cc blower with TEGs for a simple good looking set up. I'll have a working prototype and pics to show in a few weeks.
Selling these on a large scale depending on your luck could or would land you in court as people have pantents claiming rights to just about any idea one could think of. Basically every company selling one attached to a fan might take a look at you. That said they cost 20 to 40 bucks for ones that could be used in rc cars. Don't buy the cheaper ones as they work only a few times then by a Mystery just suck. Buy a American made one, some will last 300,000 hours under normal conditions! Go for ones with a lower max temp so they will give you a workable voltage at a lower temp. Also this is one of the areas America is kicking ass in manufacturing and quality. Why not support a emerging (although old) tech field in the US when they are making such nice product with so many possible applications in our hobby.
Hey don't go giving this idea on the other forums just yet. One guy a rc tech wanted to use a peltier plate and a second battery to cool his motor and everyone ripped on him hard.no imagination... His idea would work to cool down the motor only when needed with a temp sensor, and a big battery.
This set up is far more realistic and easier, but it won't give you ability to create frost like a peltier. Let's be the first to test and run thermoelectric heat sink fans on our cars. Then after some one has something that looks nice and tested then let the none redcat owners in. My projects allways look like they were assembled by a brain damaged blind monkey. So maybe some else can cobble one up that looks nice. The idea is not to fix a bad system running super hot, rather help a system already within temps to run cooler with some other wise wasted energy.
Most brushless sytems run around ,,,,regardless what your friend says 140 to 150 or even hotter in 1/8 scale sytems so I'll use that as the standard for the design. A good 40mm x40 mm plate with a heat sink will make up to (less in the real world) 16 volts at 150 to 180 degrees. Most fans run from 5volts to 9 volts for cooling fans. Thus 9v volts will be had easily on most stock set up or faster after market systems. The problem is the unit will eventually heat up all to one temp thus reducing the power. That said it might not be one in this application at all , since most people have run times well under a hour
So using the heat from your esc or motor will give you a free source of power for fans/ and lights. Remember as the system runs its helping itself work by cooling Its own heatsink. If your going to try this your self stick with a American made TEG as people say the cheap ones last a few times and the good ones have 300,000 hour ratings! Watch some videos of them on you tube. Brushless motors are a perfect application to power fans and lights.Some one on rc tech wanted to try the opposite with a peltier plate and running power into it to cool a motor.he got flamed and told its not going to work. It could work but you would need a 12volt battey with a high amp hour and you would have a super hot heat sink to cool more weight than its worth and you actually create more heat on the hot side heat sink.yet it would work.
I don't think a thermoelectric generator hooked up to a peltier plate would provide enough amps for it to work, but people are experimenting with it. A TEG connected to a engine exhaust pipe would give you enough power combined with voltage builder to recharge your rx battery or a extra on board receiver pack hooked up to nothing, not very usefull but hey its free energy. I know most people are still trying to a working motor esc combo going but for those of you who have. Lets move on to the next level. Feel free to give me ideas on ways to mount/ make the whole thing look nice. Maybe adapt the large castle cc blower with TEGs for a simple good looking set up. I'll have a working prototype and pics to show in a few weeks.
Selling these on a large scale depending on your luck could or would land you in court as people have pantents claiming rights to just about any idea one could think of. Basically every company selling one attached to a fan might take a look at you. That said they cost 20 to 40 bucks for ones that could be used in rc cars. Don't buy the cheaper ones as they work only a few times then by a Mystery just suck. Buy a American made one, some will last 300,000 hours under normal conditions! Go for ones with a lower max temp so they will give you a workable voltage at a lower temp. Also this is one of the areas America is kicking ass in manufacturing and quality. Why not support a emerging (although old) tech field in the US when they are making such nice product with so many possible applications in our hobby.
Hey don't go giving this idea on the other forums just yet. One guy a rc tech wanted to use a peltier plate and a second battery to cool his motor and everyone ripped on him hard.no imagination... His idea would work to cool down the motor only when needed with a temp sensor, and a big battery.
This set up is far more realistic and easier, but it won't give you ability to create frost like a peltier. Let's be the first to test and run thermoelectric heat sink fans on our cars. Then after some one has something that looks nice and tested then let the none redcat owners in. My projects allways look like they were assembled by a brain damaged blind monkey. So maybe some else can cobble one up that looks nice. The idea is not to fix a bad system running super hot, rather help a system already within temps to run cooler with some other wise wasted energy.
