Industrial Solid-State Energy Harvesting: Mechanisms and Examples

This paper explores the potential for solid-state energy harvesting in industrial applications. In contrast to traditional heat recovery, the output of solid-state devices is electricity, which can be readily used in virtually any plant. The progress in harvesting waste heat via thermoelectric and thermionic generators is described. With second law efficiencies now approaching 50% and 80% respectively, we show that these technologies are on the cusp of practical use. Finally, we present an example of energy harvesting using thermionic devices in an industrial application. The example considers energy harvesting from a furnace at a glass manufacturing facility where exhaust gases are discharged at about 2,400oF and where there are no viable uses for recoverable heat. An optimal configuration of thermionic devices is shown to be capable of recovering nearly 1/3 of the available exergy in the exhaust gases as electrical energy

Industrial Solid-State Energy Harvesting: Mechanisms and Examples

ABSTRACT This paper explores the potential for solid-state energy harvesting in industrial applications. In contrast to traditional heat recovery, the output of solid-state devices is electricity, which can be readily used in virtually any plant. The progress in harvesting waste heat via thermoelectric and thermionic generators is described. With second law efficiencies now approaching 50% and 80% respectively, we show that these technologies are on the cusp of practical use. Finally, we present an example of energy harvesting using thermionic devices in an industrial application. The example considers energy harvesting from a furnace at a glass manufacturing facility where exhaust gases are discharged at about 2,400 o F and where there are no viable uses for recoverable heat. An optimal configuration of thermionic devices is shown to be capable of recovering nearly 1/3 of the available exergy in the exhaust gases as electrical energy

Higher Moments of Net Proton Multiplicity Distributions at RHIC

We report the first measurements of the kurtosis (κ [kappa]), skewness (S), and variance (σ [sigma] [superscript 2]) of net-proton multiplicity (N [subscript p]-N [subscript p̅] ) distributions at midrapidity for Au+Au collisions at √sNN=19.6, 62.4, and 200 GeV corresponding to baryon chemical potentials (μ [mu] B) between 200 and 20 MeV. Our measurements of the products κ [kappa]σ [sigma][superscript 2] and Sσ [sigma], which can be related to theoretical calculations sensitive to baryon number susceptibilities and long-range correlations, are constant as functions of collision centrality. We compare these products with results from lattice QCD and various models without a critical point and study the √sNN dependence of κ [kappa] σ [sigma] [superscript 2]. From the measurements at the three beam energies, we find no evidence for a critical point in the QCD phase diagram for μ [mu] [subscript B] below 200 MeV.United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of High Energy Physics.United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Nuclear PhysicsNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan FoundationDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particulesRA of FranceRPL of FranceEMN of FranceScience and Technology Facilities Council (Great Britain)Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São PauloRussian Ministry of Science and TechnologyChina. Ministry of EnergyChina. Ministry of Science and Technology.Chinese Academy of SciencesNational Natural Science Foundation (China)GA of the Czech RepublicIRP of the Czech RepublicFOM of the NetherlandsIndia. Dept. of Atomic EnergyIndia. Dept. of Science and TechnologyCouncil of Scientific & Industrial Research (India)Polish State Committee for Scientific ResearchKorean Science and Engineering Foundatio