Sterling heat Engine and The Peltier Device

Stirling Engine:

There are two types of engines. There are external combustion engines, which burn the fuel in one place and produce the power in another part of the same machine. And then there are the internal combustion engines, which burn the fuel and make the power in exactly the same place, like a car for example. Both types of engines rely on the heat energy from making gas expand and then cool down. The stirling engine does not use any steam. Instead, it heats, cools, and recycles the same air or gas to produce power that can drive a machine. It reuses air sealed into a closed system, using heat from fire to power the cylinder. In modern days, stirling engines are attached to solar panels in the desert and the heat of the sun is used to generate electricity without fuel.

The Peltier Device:

The Peltier device is a device that uses two dissimilar pieces of bismuth-telluride and runs a direct current though them. This causes either a cooling or heating a effect. It was discovered that running a direct current through two dissimilar metals will cause a heating or cooling effect at the junction point of the two metals. This is caused because the electrons in one metal are forced to change their energy levels when transferring to the other metal, which either causes the emission or absorption of thermal energy. This is what allows the device to be used for either heating or cooling.

The Peltier device is used to generate small amounts of electricity as well as used as a small scale cooling device for things such as drinks and food or electronic devices.

Peltier Device