NB: Adapted from a publicly accessible report prepared by management that this Profile Developer found difficult to understand. Please bear that in mind when reviewing this effort at Profile. ThermaWatts is organized around development of Ambient Thermal Electric Converter (ATEC) devices designed to generate electric power directly from heat, without a cold side, as predicted from models. The firms principals describe themselves as using well-known characteristics of semiconductors in a patented layered structure. Providing an overview of the conceptual design, models used prior to prototype development, results found during prototype testing, and detailed descriptions of the various test rigs that were used to get those results, principals of the firm presented evidence that the ATEC structure converts heat directly to electricity with data analysis showing a good correspondence between modeled current and measured current. It was further explained that analysis showed an exponential increase in output current with increasing temperature. The report also indicated EMI and Seebeck effect were aggressively mitigated and addresses the limitations of the prototype ATECs for testing. Methods of analysis were indicated as having included include IV (current under applied voltage) sweeps, noise injection and test equipment verification. A series of known voltages was applied across the prototype and a precision load across a range of temperatures. An amplifier was used at the load to minimize Seebeck and EMI effects. The resulting IV sweeps were collected and analyzed. Test equipment performance was further analyzed with noise injection for both a prototype and a blank, and IV sweeps with known resistors. Prototype devices were built and tested to establish the principle of direct conversion. Material set for these prototype devices was chosen for its familiarity in making semiconductor structures. The same kind of modeling that predicted that the device would generate power further predicts that other material sets should produce practical amounts of power
