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Updated September 16th, 2019 at 22:13 IST

New device invented to produce electricity from cold, dark nights

A new device invented by Aaswath Raman, an engineer, to generate electricity from cold and dark nights. A brand new renewable technology to harness electricity

Reported by: Varsha Chavan
New Device
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Aaswath Raman an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, along with Stanford University engineers Wei Li and Shanhui Fan, have put together a new anti-solar panel, which harvests energy from the cold night sky. This technology makes it easier for cold countries to generate electricity and survive for days without sunlight. 

Aaswath Raman's findings

According to reports, Aaswath Raman said, “Remarkably, the device is able to generate electricity at night, when solar cells don’t work. Beyond lighting, we believe this could be a broadly enabling approach to power generation suitable for remote locations, and anywhere where power generation at night is needed.”

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Solar cells have proved to be an efficient source of renewable energy during the day, whereas, there is currently no similar renewable approach to generating power at night. Solar lights can be supplied with batteries from the energy produced in daylight for the night-time use. This alternative, however, is a costly affair. This new invention by Aaswath and team provide a solution. It provides a modern twist on the previous techniques called thermoelectric generators that have existed for nearly 200 years.

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How does the device work?

The device has a small prototype that allows it to produce enough electricity at night to power a small LED light. However, the actual device is bigger than the prototype in size and can produce enough energy to light rooms, charge phones or power other electronics. The temperature difference between Earth and outer space helps in harnessing the device. It also releases heat in an uneven pattern, the top side cooling more than the bottom but the same heat is then converted into electricity. This new finding can be of use to remote areas which face electricity issues during the night times.

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According to global media, Jeffrey C. Grossman, a materials scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after reviewing Aaswath's device said that his work was quite exciting and showed promise for the development of low-power applications at night. He said, “They have suggested reasonable paths for increasing the performance of their device. However, there is definitely a long way to go if they want to use it as an alternative to adding battery storage for solar cells.”

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Published September 16th, 2019 at 20:50 IST

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