Gentherm, a developer of thermal management technologies best known for its Climate Control Seat System, announced on 28 September that it had received a US$1.55m contract modification from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to apply the technology in its thermoelectric generator (TEG) for passenger cars to a similar programme for heavy vehicles. The TEG technology, which converts waste heat from exhaust gas into electric energy, has the potential to improve passenger car fuel efficiency by as much as 5%.
The grant is an add-on to the US $8m award from the DOE in August 2011 for converting thermoelectric heat to power for passenger cars, and extends the technology to heavy military vehicles. With the addition of this project, Gentherm adds the US Army Tank Automotive, Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) to its passenger car key partners, Ford and BMW.
The project, to be completed by early 2015, will scale up the passenger car TEG and integrate it with a 15-litre diesel engine to provide fuel economy improvement and auxiliary power for combat vehicles.
Gentherm President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel R Coker said, “We believe we can build on our recent technical achievement of delivering to BMW and Ford working prototypes of the generator that are currently producing a significant amount of electricity.”
