Evident Thermoelectrics looks to turn heat into powerApr 11 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Larry Rulison Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
A Troy technology company best known for its innovative lighting technology is now looking to harness the power of the Voyager and Mars Curiosity Rover missions. Evident Thermoelectrics, which changed its name from Evident Technologies, says it is just a few months away from having its first commercial products that convert heat to electricity. Evident CEO Clint Ballinger said earlier this week that the company had licensed technology from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., to make the so-called thermoelectric materials, which could be used in devices in cars and homes to convert unused heat to electricity. Ballinger said the NASA thermoelectric technology was the only way to provide power to the Voyager and Mars Curiosity reliably over a long period of time. They use heat from radioactive material -- plutonium -- that a thermoelectric generator converts into electricity. "We are excited to capitalize on these NASA advances and plan to launch commercial products very soon," Ballinger said, Although the name change and the change in focus seem a wide departure for Ballinger and his team of scientists, it really is not. The company has always focused on semiconductor materials such as light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, and the thermoelectric material it is working on now is also solid-state semiconductor material. "We're using the same nanomaterials," Ballinger said. "It's a great market area. There is a lot of wasted heat." Perhaps the most interesting device would replace an alternator in a car, a critical piece of equipment that replenishes electricity in the its battery. A thermoelectric device under the hood of a car could replace the alternator and take excess heat from the engine and turn it into electric power. "There's a lot of wasted heat," Ballinger said. Evident has been relatively quiet in recent years while its business model evolved. The company has its lab and offices at Russell Sage College in what's known as the Incubator for New Ventures in Emerging Sciences and Technologies. Evident filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2009, but it has rebounded, having raised millions of dollars from outside investors. It has also been hiring scientists. It has a staff of about 15 and is poised to expand. Ballinger wouldn't reveal financial expectations or potential customers. The company is focusing on high-temperature thermoelectric technologies. Another area thermoelectric company, ThermoAura, is also working on thermoelectric materials, although that company is focusing on getting heat from low-temperature devices such as refrigerators. lrulison@timesunion.com, 518-454-5504, @larryrulison http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=35799251 |