TravisDeyle.com

I got distracted today watching some of the videos from TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design: Ideas Worth Spreading). So far, my favorite talk was by Saul Griffith (entitled "Hardware solutions to everyday problems"). I'm including the inline video below, though you can also find it on the TED website here.

Lucky for me, I have at my disposal several 3D printing machines at Georgia Tech. There is a Dimension fusion deposition molding (FDM) machine as well as several stereolithography (SLA) machines. They are very handy, particularly for rapid prototyping.  However, there is a cadre of hardware hackers seeking to build an open-source FDM machine, dubbed the RepRap project.

For a class of mine (specifically, a class on Micro-ElectroMechanical Systems, or MEMS), I'm doing a semester project on a "Thermo-Electric Generator (TEG) for Energy Scavenging." I'm most interested in Ubiquitous Computing applications for such a device, but I'm certain that there are many other possible application spaces. Anyway, this first article will address how they work and a sample application (expect a second follow-up to discuss some technical specifics such as manufacturing and capabilities).