Conventional electric power generators

However, a growing number of companies are confident that they are now on the verge of bringing prices for fuel cells down to levels where they can compete with conventional electric-power generating equipment. 

Dust formation during conventional electric power generation is a source of occupational diseases. The method offered is free of this drawback since dust is not formed during the production process. 

Vast quantities of waste heat are discharged into the earth s environment much of it at temperatures which are too low to recover using conventional electrical power generators. Waste heat powered... 

A few selected examples of smaller scale conventional electrical power generators based upon internal combustion engine technology will be discussed below. 

The DMFC, based on a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), uses methanol directly for electric power generation and promises technical advantages for power trains. The fuel can be delivered to the fuel cell in a gaseous or liquid form. The actual power densities of a DMFC are clearly lower than those of a conventional hydrogen-fed polymer electrolyte fuel cell. In addition, methanol permeates through the electrolyte and oxidizes at the cathode. This results in a mixed potential at the cathode (Hohlein et al., 2000). 

Utilization of geothermal energy is of two types, electric power generation and direct use of the heat. In geothermal electric power plants, steam is used to drive turbines in much the same way as in conventional fossil fuel plants. The main difference is that in fossil fuel plants the steam is generated by boiling water by... 

The thermoelectric semiconductor converts directly thermal energy into electric one. It can generate electric power even when the temperature difference between the heat source and atmosphere is much smaller compared with the one needed in conventional thermal power generation. 

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