Yes I know what you mean - I thought that as well. But they say you can get a full charge in 20 mins and I suppose when I think about the cooking I do of an evening it's not far off that - plus a top up in the morning when I'm making tea - so perhaps it'll work. More importantly it can be used to charge a battery that will then in turn charge / top up your mobile. It's a fantastic idea.

On the exhaust front - great idea! But watching the video they say it works on heat differential - not just heat - so it will charge on a geothermal spring if it has water in it but won't charge on the spring if it doesn't have water in it to heat up.

Reading into it the Army are researching the same tech to wire into combat gear so that the temp differential between the soldiers body and the outside air can charge the gear they are carrying with them - the only down side is that it doesn't work well in deserts!

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If your phone battery is designed for a 4hour charge, no matter how high a current the thing can deliver, the phone willl either not charge enough or you'll cook its battery.

As I said, if you have an exhaust, you're in a car or on a bike and both have a built in powersource.

Happy soldier with a piece of metal against his body all day.

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Poul
May you enjoy peace and good health !

Hi Poul,

Most modern phone batteries have what's called a fast charge circuit. This mean that it will take the battery to 80% full capacity within 10-20 mins depending on the model - at which point it drops to normal charge for the last 20% - which for some phones means 4 hours, but for the newer devices it means 2 hours for a 98% charge.

I don't think I'm explaining the point about the heat transfer well enough. The tech works because there is a temperature differential between the heat source and the contents of the pan - if you were to simply put the thermal patch on an exhaust it wouldnt generate any current.

On the soldiers uniform - must find the article for you - but as I understand it the material is woven into the fabric and I indistinguishable from the cloth.

Your point on us having power on our bikes is well made though. The limitation of that of course is that is only a viable option whilst running. I suppose what I'm getting at is that this is a great idea as a supplementary charging solution rather than an all in one solution. If I'm carrying a cook pot anyway - why not carry one that will give my camera or phone a fast charge at the same time?

When I'm out and about I use the power traveller gear day to day - it's terrific stuff. I wrote about it here

Powering on | The London Biker

The other thing that excites me about this tech is the potential for the developing world. The big pot puts out enough power to run a small house for lights, laptop, speakers and so forth.

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That would be fantastic in places where they have open fires and no power

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Poul
May you enjoy peace and good health !

I sort of like the idea, but I can't help but think for the biker, it's a bit redundant AND it's not really free energy, to get a charge you'll have to burn more fuel than you would otherwise use.

For bike use I can't help but think that the best is to keep it simple. Your bike generates electricity whenever you run the engine. Why not just use that? Worried about flattening the battery down at night? Then why not ditch the cooking pots but keep the power-pack. Charge that from an auxiliary socket on your bike as you ride and voila you have power to charge all your tech when you stop.

So I reckon for back-packers it's not a bad idea, and potentially for use in developing nations too especially amongst nomadic peoples who couldn't really benefit from difficult to transport solar arrays, but if you already have the ability to generate more power than you need through your bike's charging circuit, why not harness that?

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Yes Alex - I see your point and you're right. I think this is going to be helpful from the standpoint of people who cook a lot on the road - like me - just think how long I had a pot on the go up in the Chilterns in the evening and then the following morning for breakfast. During that time I could quite easily have filled up a battery pack or topped off my e-reader or my phone and then not had to worry during the day... more importantly I could have charged the GoPro which has no way to charge it on the bike whilst running.

I don't think this is a solution that will solve all our charging needs, I don't think it will work for a lot of travellers who only heat up a bit of water for tea or hydrated food packs - but for people like me who cook a lot on the road, and want to run a lot of electronic gear... it could be very useful.

And as I say, if through this project they build and distribute a system for the developing world.... then that's a massive bonus. If you back them and order a pot up front then you can add a little more to your pledge and buy a system to be sent out for full trials in the developing world.

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I do carry a charger for my phone, but for short trips of a month or less don't need it.