I had a brain fart...in a goodway...maybe.

[YeroJero]

So you know that thing from a while back where "15-YEAR-OLD INVENTS FLASHLIGHT POWERED BY BODY HEAT". It got me thinking, if the heat from your body can power a couple of LEDs in a torch, how much heat can the combination of a GPU, CPU etc produce to power maybe a PSU.

 

Of course the CPU and GPU would burn out from having no cooling but what if they could sustain themselves without cooling of any kind. Imagine what we could do. Recycled heat from CPU and GPU powering PSU in a continuous loop; therefore no need to plug into the wall; therefore less energy used; therefore less on the electricity bill; therefore more environmentally friendly?

 

I know there are probably a million things that are wrong with this but in the future, who knows? I just had to get it out there...

[Bluejay0]

This would sound so freaking awesome. Intel would have a reason for Haswell being so hot!

[Volbet]

The problem would be that power degrades when it is converted, therefor rendering this to be a very short run. Heat energy is very difficult to convert to other form of energy.

[legopc]

i think its a cool idea but i dont think it will work but i also had a similer idea with an electric car if you have 2 motors hoked up to 2 wheels and 2 generators hooked up to the other 2 wheels and stuff 

[iAsuno]

well, one of those flashlights that are powered by a valve or something that you spin. what if we can use that power to turn the its own valve and generate more electricity? just a thought though. 

[FabulousOtter]

The problem would be that power degrades when it is converted, therefor rendering this a very short run. Heat energi is very difficult to convert to other form of energi.

 

True but if you're recycling energy and putting it back into the 'loop' you still end up using less electricity than you would have otherwise.

 

I'm sure there's a whole manner of technical hurdles but the idea is fantastic

[Volbet]

True but if you're recycling energy and putting it back into the 'loop' you still end up using less electricity than you would have otherwise.

 

I'm sure there's a whole manner of technical hurdles but the idea is fantastic

For the most convinient way we would have to use thermocouples, but that would mean thath the system would have to run extremely hot and the output would not even be enought ot power a light bulb. The alternative would be to convert from heat, to kinetic to electricity. That would mean a hugh installation and probably very little power gain. 

I think when you calculate the cost of those things you would be better off just paying the electricty bill.

[YeroJero]

For the most convinient way we would have to usee thermocouples, but that would mean thath the system would have to run extremely hot and the output would not even be enought ot power a light bulb. The alternative would be to convert from heat, to kinetic to electricity. That would mean a hugh installation and probably very little power gain. 

I think when you calculate the cost of those things you would be better off just paying the electricty bill.

 

Yeah makes sense. Ah well it was worth a shot. Hopefully it sparks an idea for someone in the future.

[Jebonia]

Converting heat energy is really bad at efficiency 

[Volbet]

Yeah makes sense. Ah well it was worth a shot. Hopefully it sparks an idea for someone in the future.

Don't ever stop thinking about these things. It is people with the imagination like your that fuels the future. We might be limited by todays technology, but nobody knows what tomorrow will bring

[bradscoolio]

[Nertballs]

it's a great idea! i had thought of this before, but then i found this.. http://www.tgdaily.com/trendwatch-features/32323-scientists-convert-processor-heat-back-to-electricity but that's not to say you could work on some sort of personal system?

[Puppet]

Yeah I believe that it breaks the laws of thermodynamics, heat isn't the only form of energy the PC would produce, so I don't think that you could convert that heat energy back into electricity at over 100% efficiency.

 

I suppose it could be used as a supplement like KERS, but doubt it would be worthwhile as it probably wouldn't be able to produce the energy required simultaneously.

 

It could actually be a great idea for a UPS.

[Levis95l]

An awsome idea. Of course the PC couldn't power itself entirely (that is impossible), but dropping the power consumption to half for example would be worth it.

[nicholaswillems]

That wouldn't be beneficial at all, judging from the small amount of physics I know :p

[Blade of Grass]

The problem would be that power degrades when it is converted, therefor rendering this to be a very short run. Heat energy is very difficult to convert to other form of energy.

That's how we create the majority of our electricity...

Also, it would be quite expensive up front, and you'd need a second day source of electricity (since nothing is 100% efficient).

[Volbet]

That's how we create the majority of our electricity...

Also, it would be quite expensive up front, and you'd need a second day source of electricity (since nothing is 100% efficient).

I know that is how electricty is made, but it is still a highly inefficient way of creating electric energy. We just don't know of any better way of doing it. Atleast not a convenient way.

[Canoas]

For this to work you'd need to create energy out of nothing, which would mean this would be irrelevant as energy would be free since energy would have been already created out of nothing.

 

No 100% efficient machine exists. What you're asking is akin to turning on a lightbulb with the energy from it's own heat. Only a fraction of the electricity is turned into heat, the rest is actually used, so even if you managed to figure out a way to turn 100% of the heat back into energy, which would award you a nobel prize and solve the energy crysis, and a way to transfer 100% of the heat, while we're still struggling to dissipate enough heat on a pc let alone actually transfer it to something else, you'd only get a fraction of the energy used by the computer back as electricity.

 

110% efficient machines, creating more energy that you'd have put there in the first place, is impossible. It is possible to get some of the energy back, like how cars now manage to get some of the energy back through the breaks, transforming the kinetic energy into electricity, but heat transfer is much much much much much harder to do.

[_wky]

It would have to be a way of using less energy rather than not having to plug into the wall but you just made me think of something else. Why hasn't there been any solar panels integrated into the lids of notebooks etc. Especially these ones that are meant to be used outdoors. You wouldn't leave it out but it could be an idea.

[Levis95l]

It would have to be a way of using less energy rather than not having to plug into the wall but you just made me think of something else. Why hasn't there been any solar panels integrated into the lids of notebooks etc. Especially these ones that are meant to be used outdoors. You wouldn't leave it out but it could be an idea.

 

I guess the problem is the price and size of solar panels. But that kind of things are being developed, I'm pretty sure I have seen a picture of a phone with solar panel back somewhere...

[Godlygamer23]

Suppose that this actually worked...How would you get the power supply power until the components heated up to produce enough energy to convert into electricity? Would it still plug into a wall for supplemental power, perhaps?

[Godlygamer23]

It would have to be a way of using less energy rather than not having to plug into the wall but you just made me think of something else. Why hasn't there been any solar panels integrated into the lids of notebooks etc. Especially these ones that are meant to be used outdoors. You wouldn't leave it out but it could be an idea.

Cost may be a factor for not having solar panels on notebooks.

[Levis95l]

The reason this idea has potential, I think, is that computers don't really do physichal work right? The electricity is used to control 1/0 values but in the end every watt is being translated in to heat. So even with a decent efficiency you would get quite a lot of the energy that is being consumed back. Please correct me, I'm probably wrong.

[Godlygamer23]

Only a bit of the energy is being converted into heat. Like having an energy efficient PSU(say Platinum) would cause it to kick out less heat because less energy is being wasted.

[Canoas]

It would have to be a way of using less energy rather than not having to plug into the wall but you just made me think of something else. Why hasn't there been any solar panels integrated into the lids of notebooks etc. Especially these ones that are meant to be used outdoors. You wouldn't leave it out but it could be an idea.

Because you'd need to spend quite some time in the sun for it to be worth it.