Hi Tony, There are no physical laws being broken in your case because you still cannot cool the cool side to a temperature less than the ambient air. The fan is just basically making a better heatsink. Sean On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 3:20 PM, Tony Vandiver wrote: > This didn't make sense to me at first, but in using a thermocouple > generator with a heat source on one side, the energy output increased by > blowing air over the heat sink on the cooling side. That part made > sense, but I didn't believe that it could be self-sustaining, in other > words, I didn't think you could get more power out of the system if you > used the generated power to cool the heat sink on the cooling side, but > I was proven wrong. It not only produced enough to sustain the fan > power, but provided more power than the system without the fan. Cool, > huh? Ever tried just a high efficiency fan even though it might not > seem to make sense? > > Thanks, > > Tony > > > Jonathan Hallameyer wrote: >> I know front side would be better since thats where the junction is, >> but perhaps if the cooling water were on the back there could be a >> hybrid photovoltaic/solar thermal hot water system for a house? >> >> Or even use the hot water to power a small sterling engine to power a >> fan blowing over a radiator in a cooling loop, and make the cooling of >> the solar cells self sustaining. >> >> On 1/22/09, apptech wrote: >> >>>> This might not be tech but OT, anyhow, i was mulling over my >>>> brilliant idea for an electronic gel controlled butter dish >>>> (seriously), when i thought about solar panels. >>>> >>>> As their efficiency drops as they get hot - a bit of a paradox really >>>> seeing as what cause them to get hot. Anyhoooo it got me wondering if >>>> anyone had tried commercially cooling solar panels to maintain output. >>>> Perhaps by pumping evaporative coolant, or have a waterfall run over >>>> them - hmm that probably wouldn't do much for solaristion uptake. >>>> >>> I have found that running enough water over the front surface to keep the >>> surface always covered by a very thin film produced a significant increase >>> in power output due to cooling. >>> In situations where you had a moderate amount of water available this may be >>> viable. >>> It does show that cooling by some means really works. >>> (Tried on 50 Watt Glass/EVA/Silicon standard pane;.) >>> >>> It's EE actually, but TECH is fine. >>> >>> >>> >>> Russell >>> >>> -- >>> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive >>> View/change your membership options at >>> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist >>> >>> >> >> >> > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist