Nextreme Thermal Solutions (Durham, NC), provider of microscale thermal and power management products, was awarded a grant from the North Carolina Green Business Fund to enhance the efficiency of its thin-film thermoelectrics that convert waste heat into electricity. Nextreme's technology can be incorporated into tiny laser diode and optoelectronic components, unlike standard and bulkier thermoelectric cooler technologies.
Nextreme's thin-film embedded thermoelectric generator (eTEG) generates electricity via the Seebeck effect, where electricity is produced from a temperature differential applied across the device. The Nextreme advantage is a very thin, nano-engineered material that delivers a Seebeck coefficient 150% greater than conventional thermoelectric material. The grant from the North Carolina Green Business Fund will be used to optimize the Nextreme thin-film growth process with the goal of doubling the power output of a single device from 250 mW to 500 mW.
"We are already demonstrating our devices in a number of specialty applications where heat is available and power is required," said Nextreme CEO Jesko von Windheim. "Increasing Nextreme's power conversion efficiency will open up a whole new scale of market opportunities." Nextreme announced back in June that it was jointly developing a short-wave infrared (SWIR) focal plane sensor using extremely efficient thermoelectric cooling with Princeton Lightwave (Cranbury, NJ).
The North Carolina Green Business Fund, directed by the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology, awards grants to North Carolina organizations in support of competitively assessed projects focused on attracting and leveraging private sector investments, and on entrepreneurial growth in environmentally conscious clean technology, renewable energy products and businesses.
For more information, visit Nextreme at www.nextreme.com.