Thermoelectric Power Modules (TPMs) as an Innovative and Improved Alternative to PV Solutions
Thermoelectric Power Modules (TPMs) like Photovoltaic (PV) cells rely on solar power. While both are panels that use advanced semiconductor materials to capture solar power, that is about all that the two technologies have in common. The primary difference is that TPMs rely on heat from the sun to generate power, while PV technology relies on light. While infrared light is a form of heat, converting light into heat for TPM use is fairly easy. The challenge is creating TPMs that are efficient at converting that heat into useful power. That is where Dynamo Renewable has developed patent pending technology that we expect will allow TPM power conversion from solar light to exceed traditional PV approaches. That is where TPM technology is critical to our future power generation needs.
What is a TPM?
TPMs are based on Thermoelectric Device (TED) technology. While this is not a new technology, Dynamo Renewable is exploring ways to leverage new designs that appear promising in our pursuit to exceed PV efficiency. Essentially, it is already known that TEDs can reach efficiencies comparable to PV technology. Since TEDs rely on temperature gradients (i.e. a “hot side” and a “cold side”) to produce power, traditional TED technology relies on very high temperature differentials to achieve these efficiencies. We are developing TED technology that is dramatically different from existing technology that we expect can reach, or exceed, these efficiencies at lower temperature differentials. Of course, such modifications in design always come with trade-offs. Fortunately, the trade-offs that we are encountering are not significant inhibitors to our goals or else they are not material to the result we are seeking. For example, we expect that to achieve this low temperature differential goal, our designs will have lower voltage than traditional designs. Since we are developing these TEDs to be arranged in large arrays for solar heat collection, this trade-off is immaterial to our goals. This is in contrast to many TED applications where such a trade-off makes the design ineffective or impractical.
Beyond TED design, we are incorporating TEDs in the design of our TPM technology with new and innovative results. This new approach has several unique and superior design elements compared to traditional PV technology. For example, TPMs are not as sensitive to impact damage, have snow removal capabilities, are less sensitive to installation position and angles, are more durable, and have several other advantages. TPMs are constructed with a hard top surface that can be constructed from a variety of materials that can withstand impact, are cheap and do not require as much maintenance as the clear coverings of PV panels.