Heat Harvesting by Artificial Muscles, Phase I

The expected results of the Phase I project will provide a strong technical base for Phase II follow-on research and development work, so as to apply this technology to NASA's roadmap in the discipline area of Space Power and Energy Storage (SPES) for Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD). In addition, the National Research Council has identified "Increase Available Power" as a NASA Top Technical Challenge. Also, a NASA Grand Challenge is "Affordable and Abundant Power" for NASA mission activities. As such, novel energy harvesting technologies are critical toward supporting future power generation systems to begin to meet these challenges. NASA has many unique needs for space power that require special technology solutions due to extreme environmental conditions. These missions would benefit from the advanced thermal energy harvesting technology proposed here. It will provide a valuable supply of electricity obtained from harvesting waste heat from diverse sources such as engines, solar cells, microchips, warm soils, as well as heat sources in extra-terrestrial locations. The proposed technology will provide a valuable supply of electricity obtained from harvesting waste heat from diverse sources such as jet engines, vehicle engines and exhaust pipes, microchips, solar cells, warm soils, power stations, boilers, oil refineries, steel manufacturing, glass manufacturing, gas pipelines, compressors, furnaces, ovens, incinerators, etc. This in turn will reduce the net power consumption. Market sectors with attractiveness for waste heat recovery include oil and gas extraction, petroleum and coal products manufacturing, chemical plants, pulp and paper mills, steel, metal, glass, and brick manufacturing, etc. Of special interest is heat waste harvested in remote locations, helping to provide independence from the electric grid. More »