GM, Research Partners Win Grant to Develop Prototype Exhaust-Heat Generator

Batteries, solar roofs and engine-driven generators aren't the only places tomorrow's cars and tucks may be getting some of the electrical energy they need to keep running. GM, which has been working on energy recovery from exhaust heat for decades, has just received a small federal grant to develop a prototype exhaust-hear generator using a class of material called Shape Memory Alloy. SMA, as it is called, is a metal that shrinks when heated and returns to its original shape when cooled. That activity is motion and motion is energy. ———- GM illustration of an SMA generator. Click on picture to enlarge. ———- A loop of wire made from SMA could use its shrink-and-stretch cycles to drive a generator, said Jan Aase, director of GM's Vehicle Development Research Laboratory. The idea of an SMA “heat engine” has been around for 30 years, said

Tagged as: ARPA-E Grants, Exhaust Heat Energy, Exhaust Heat Generator, General Motors, SMA