Imagine your factory's ovens and furnaces leaking heat like a giant open window; that's energy literally vanishing into thin air. This technology acts like a high-tech sponge that catches that invisible heat and turns it back into electricity. It combines three different energy-catching methods into one modular plug-in system to make the process much more efficient.
Energy-intensive industries lose over 50% of their energy as waste heat. Current recovery technologies are too expensive, inefficient, or too difficult to integrate into existing production lines.
A modular hybrid energy harvesting platform combining TPV cells, metasurface collectors, and TEG devices. The design and process flow for the TPV cells are complete, with fabrication underway.
If you are a plant manager dealing with massive heat loss from furnaces—this project developed a hybrid TPV and TEG system that converts waste heat into electricity with a target efficiency of 25%. This allows you to recover a portion of the 200 TWh of power lost annually in Europe.
If you are a facility operator dealing with high-temperature production lines—this project developed a modular energy harvesting platform that can be retrofitted into existing lines. It uses earth-abundant materials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while generating power.
If you are a sustainability officer dealing with high energy costs and carbon taxes—this project developed a hybrid system integrating metasurface collectors and thermoelectric generators. It aims for a 10% efficiency in TEG devices to turn waste heat into usable electricity.
Based on available project data, specific pricing is not provided, but the project focuses on using earth-abundant materials to address the cost barriers that have limited previous industrial adoption.
Yes, the project specifically aims to overcome barriers to industrial-scale adoption by creating a modular system that can be retrofitted into existing production lines.
Based on available project data, there is no specific information regarding licensing terms or patent filings, though the project involves a consortium of universities and industry partners.
The system is designed as a modular hybrid platform specifically to allow for easy retrofitting into existing industrial production lines.
The first version of the TPV cells is expected by the end of February 2026.
The consortium consists of 6 partners from 3 countries (Germany, France, Ireland). It is heavily research-driven with 3 universities and 2 research institutes, but includes 1 SME, giving it an industry ratio of 17%. This structure suggests a strong focus on fundamental materials science and cell fabrication, with a small but critical bridge to commercial application via the SME partner.
Contact University College Cork (National University of Ireland, Cork)
Contact us to explore licensing opportunities for high-efficiency TPV and TEG hybrid systems.
