Power generation is an essential requirement for the sustainment of all remote military operations and is typically provided by diesel-fueled generator sets. By investing in methods to enhance the efficiency of electrical power generation, future systems can reduce costs and improve the safety of military assets and personnel. Current diesel generator sets only utilize a fraction of the energy released by fuel, a large portion of which is exhausted as heat in combusted gases. This heat, normally wasted, can be harvested and converted to additional electrical power for improvements to fuel efficiency. Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) has developed a thermoelectric generator with highly-effective heat pipe heat exchangers for diesel generator set waste heat recovery. By utilizing heat pipe technology, enhancements to the thermoelectric generator can be made such that increased fuel savings are realized. To demonstrate this concept, ACT has built a prototype full-scale 1kW_e thermoelectric generator for 60kW_e diesel generator sets, capable of achieving significant fuel savings.
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