[LINK] Co-generation Cyber-Cafe Internet coffee appliance

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

>          LinkGram - Media Release from The Link Institute
> 
>          Co-generation web coffee appliance announced
> 
> Canberra, 28 January 2009: The Link Institute today announced a 
> breakthrough in energy saving to combat global warming: the 
> "Cyber-Cafe". This unit provides web services for a home or small 
> business and uses the waste (IT) heat to keep coffee warm...
> 
> Chief Scientist Professor Klerphel reasoned that if a web search 
> generated enough heat for a cup of coffee, it might as well be used 
> to heat a cup of coffee... Google is rumored to have licensed the
> technology and is in negotiations with a major global chain of coffee 
> shops. "It makes sense: the more people who come into a cyber cafe,
> the more web searches and the more coffee they drink." Klerphell said.


Ahh, congratulations to our good professor! However, for some reason
and in the last few days, Melbourne and Adelaide folk have said 'no'
to HOT coffee and have been requesting/demanding ICED coffee and tea :(

Thus, in follow-up R&D, one might well expect our esteemed (literally) 
Chief Scientist Professor Klerphel will include a Peltier add-on unit?

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling

Thermoelectric cooling:  Thermoelectric junctions are generally around
5–10% as efficient as the ideal refrigerator (Carnot cycle), compared
with 40–60% achieved by conventional compression cycle systems (reverse
Rankine systems like a compressor). 

Due to the relatively low efficiency, thermoelectric cooling is generally
only used in environments where the solid state nature (no moving parts,
maintenance-free) outweighs pure efficiency. 

However recent developments prove that series Peltier effect modules
could soon surpass internal combustion engines both in efficiency and
power density for fuel based power generation.

Peltier devices are commonly used in camping and portable coolers and for
cooling electronic components and small instruments. Some equipment
intended for military use in the field is thermoelectrically cooled.

Photon detectors such as CCDs in astronomical telescopes or very high-end
digital cameras are often cooled down with Peltier elements. This reduces
dark counts due to thermal noise. (A dark count is the event that a pixel
gives a signal although it has not received a photon but rather mistook a
thermal fluctuation for one. On digital photos taken at low light these
occur as speckles (or "pixel noise").

Thermoelectric coolers can be used to cool computer components to keep
temperatures within design limits without the noise of a fan, or to
maintain stable functioning when overclocking. A Peltier cooler with a
heat sink or waterblock can cool a chip to well below ambient temperature.

--
Cheers,
Stephen

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