Reactive Heat Source for Standalone Thermoelectric Power Generator: Thermal Analysis of Pyrophoric Iron Mixture

Abstract

The idea of a small size, light weight, robust, scalable and standalone power generators has always been of great interest in personal and commercial transportation systems as well as military weapon systems. One potential source of portable power is electricity produced from heat sources through the use of thermoelectric materials. The heat can come from the combustion of fossil fuels, from sunlight, or as a byproduct of various processes (e.g. combustion, chemical reactions and nuclear decay) and in our case, a pyrophoric iron mixture that spontaneously generates heat as soon as it reacts with air. In this study, to apply the pyrophoric powder as a portable heat source for the thermoelectric power generators (TPGs), the final mixture composition is determined to be iron powder, activated carbon, and salt. With the characterization of thermal analysis techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), this exothermic reaction generates 9000+ J/g of heat with peak temperature ranges from 400 to 500 degrees Celsius.