Michael,
I've actually been doing this off and on for about
three years, but said nothing on vortex because I
thought there would be little interest. And yes,
Jones, it does work. There are a few counter-intuitive
effects I've observed in playing around with it.
By "work" are you saying the efficiency is equal or better than
that of a seebeck TE device?
Here is the story of the Hagelstein-Kucherov device presented in
2001. The research was funded by Eneco and the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2001/121901/Chips_turn_more_heat_to_power_121901.html
There guys would already be richer than Gates if they could have
lived up to the promise of a production unit at 20-25% - as this
would effectively eliminate the ICE.
There will be *tremendous interest* not just here but everywhere
for anyone who can get the efficiency of direct conversion of
low-to-medium grade heat significantly higher than the currently
available seebeck diodes.
Jones
