Solar Engine Whips Waste Heat Into Power

Jan. 25, 2008 -- A new engine with no moving parts has been shown to convert waste heat and concentrated solar energy into electricity better than conventional solar panels.

The invention could lead to electricity generators ranging in size from the very large, such as those used by utility companies, to the very small -- such as those that tap body heat to generate power for personal electronics.

Because the conversion rate is so high, the technology could make solar energy cheap enough to compete with fossil fuels.

"It's not just the dependence on oil, it's the whole challenge of providing energy that is sustainable without destroying the environment," said nuclear engineer Lonnie Johnson, founder of Johnson Research and Development and Johnson Electro-mechanical Systems, both in Atlanta.

Johnson is funding his research with money he made by inventing the super soaker squirt gun. His new, somewhat less cavalier, invention is called the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Conversion System.

The original goal, in part, was to address a common problem with energy: When it's generated -- by gas, coal, battery, or other means -- much is wasted into thin air. In fact, in the United States alone, the amount of energy lost is more than the energy consumed by the entire country of Japan.

Johnson's engine captures that heat and turns it into useful power.

It's called an engine because it's based on thermodynamic principals that exist in mechanical engines, such as those that power automobiles. In a car engine, moving pistons and rods compress gas at low temperatures and expand it at high temperatures to convert heat energy to mechanical energy to drive the vehicle.