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Author: Lauren Talley, University Relations student writer, lauren.talley@ur.msu.edu, Office: (517) 353-4355
Published: April 22, 2010 E-mail Editor
Donald Morelli, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science. Photo by Kurt Stepnitz
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For every gallon of gas burned, about two-thirds of it is wasted in the process.
As a professor in the Department of Engineering, Don Morelli is working to change that with thermoelectrics – the process of capturing waste heat and converting it into electricity to make a car run more efficiently.
“I like to consider it really as our best new energy source,” Morelli said. “It’s available to us right now. We don’t have to develop it. All we have to do is figure out how to use it.
“So what we’re interested in is trying to make use of that waste heat energy and turn it into useful energy, and one way of doing that is using thermoelectricity.”
Morelli said one way to do that is to add a thermoelectric generator to a car’s radiator or exhaust. He said when heat flows through the material, the generator will convert it into an electrical current. The converted energy can be used for air conditioning and ultimately increase the fuel economy.
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(file size: 26.64 MB, file length: 00:03:27)
Engineering professor Don Morelli discusses how he's working on converting waste energy to make cars more efficient.
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