From Robin van Spaandonk
rvanspaa@eisa.net.au
Your article on new refrigeration techniques set me thinking
(“Boiling fridges”, 24 January, p 30).
Where a voltage differential will produce a cooling effect, a temperature
differential should produce a voltage. If manufactured in a form analogous to
aluminium foil, perhaps these “chips” could be used as solar panels.
Sheets of differing materials could be bonded in a vacuum with insulating
mesh in between as separators. One of the sheets would be an electride or
alkalide, the other a simple conductor such as aluminium. The electride, for
example, would be exposed to sunlight; the aluminium (with a matt black surface)
would be in the shade. A clear plastic film on the outside of the electride
would protect it from the atmosphere.
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Various series-parallel combinations should provide the desired voltage and
current characteristics.
