Josh Starnes
The inner workings of the Lily Power Module
This is a solar concentrated thermal collector. The light hits the petals which reflects towards the center of the flower frame. The center is a flat black solar collector that can reach a couple hundred degrees in a few minutes. In between the collector and PLA frame there is fiberglass cloth layers that protect the plastic frame from heating up and melting. In the center stacked 1/4" plates with thermal adhesive in between transfer the collected heat to the bottom. On the bottom of the frame is where any TEG modules are adhered. Around the edges they are sealed off from outside water or air with silicon adhesive. Finally there is the last plate on the bottom of the TEG modules that a heat sink may mount to. In my case I am using a 125 watt rated copper pipe heat sink that transfers the heat into the water below the Lily power generator. in total the heat is collected, passes through the thermal transfer tower, through TEG generating electricity and dissipated through the aluminum to water heat sink.
Non functional pieces - there is a 1 inch thick disk of foam acting as a lily pad to float the flower frame just above the water surface. The heat sink below the water acts as a weight that keeps the pad constantly upright. From the TEG the red and black DC wires leave to a outside location to a dc to dc power inverter to power a phone by 5 v usb.
Tomasz
Kedric
Chris Jones