The system relies on metal-hydride shavings inside the coils of a heat exchanger. Atop the heat exchanger is a hollow piston. When the heat exchanger is cold, the piston stays in a retracted position. When the heat exchanger is dunked in hot water, however, the heat drives hydrogen gas out of the metal shavings and up through the hollow tube of the piston. That, in turn, drives the piston upward. Dunk the heat exchanger in cold water and the hydrogen gas flows back down the tube and back into the metal hydride, causing the piston to retract. Rinse and repeat.
A generator that works on this principle could power a home, Golben says, using water heated by a rooftop solar thermal collector like the kind that power conventional solar hot-water heaters. Valves would cause alternating hot and cold water to flow over the heat exchanger to drive the piston up and down to power a generator.
The team is working on a 5-kilowatt generator as a demonstrator. If all goes well, they will scale up to a system capable of generating 20 kilowatts of power.
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