There has been a few threads relating to thermocouple lanterns, here is my LUFO thermocouple lantern. Akin to the 50's Russian lanterns but a much later modern design. The LUFO comes with a small transistor radio attached and to be truethful this radio is a very poor offering. Insensitive and cheaply made. However the thermocouple itself appears to be well made and will generate approx 3 to 4 volts at 50 to 70mA. Have put a bypass connector so can use the thermocouple power to run external devices, in this case an old school analog Sony ICF SW11 AM/FM/SW radio. The thermocouple powers this low current drain radio perfectly and often finds itself at my campsites. Illumination assisted by a Coleman 249 lantern. Radio New Zealand coming in loud and clear.
I recently bought one of those Lufo kerosene lamps with thermocouple-powered radio. They are still available from petromax.de in Germany. Delivery was quick - only a few days from Germany to UK, however excitement turned to disappointment when I opened the parcel and found the lantern's glass was broken. I sent an email to Petromax with photos of the damage. They very quickly sent me a replacement glass globe which fortunately arrived in one piece. Great customer service from Petromax! I do have to say the lamp feels cheaply-made. The first time I turned the wick down, it chewed up. I had to replace it with a wick from another lamp. The thermocouple generator can be removed from the lamp - it has a plug and socket connection for the electricity output. It's easy to tap into this if you want to power other devices. However it only generates about 3 volts DC at I guess <100mA so there isn't much else you can run from it. It's not enough to charge a mobile phone, for example. The plug and socket connection was another weak point on my lamp. I lit the lamp and waited 10 minutes for it to warm up, but the radio remained silent. When I wiggled the plug and socket, the radio worked intermittently. There's a bad connection somewhere. I temporarily fixed it by using a cable tie to hold the plug and socket together. I would say the radio performs adequately. I was able to receive Radio Caroline on AM which is a relatively difficult station to receive at my location. Sadly AM radio is gradually shutting down in the UK. Absolute, Smooth and Gold have all gone in the past couple of years, and I believe the BBC will shut down Five Live AM next year, along with Radio 4 Long Wave (which this radio can't receive anyway). OFCOM are no longer issuing any new AM broadcast licences, so once the existing stations go, that's the end. FM on the other hand is expected to continue until at least 2030, so there is some life in the radio yet. And you can always use a low-power FM transmitter to send your favourite music to the Lufo. FM performance is again adequate. It picks up the strong local stations and some more distant ones, but a strong local station swamps a distant one if the frequencies are close together. Not unexpected of course. The instructions suggest there was another model with short-wave reception instead of AM/FM. That would be interesting to try out. Conclusion: it just about works. Don't expect hi-fi quality sound or amazing performance. I didn't buy it for that; I bought it because I was interested in the technology of generating electricity directly from heat with no moving parts. The idea is very old. As well as the 1950s Russian thermocouple lamp, I believe there was a radio powered by mains gas in the 1930s using the same principle - gas flames heat a thermocouple array which powers the radio. Since these old devices are almost impossible to find, the Lufo lamp is a practical substitute.
I recently pulled apart a patio gas heater that wouldn't stay working. Discovered that the electrics are powered by a thermocouple or thermopile gizmo that keeps the gas valve open once heated and runs the current through a 'dump' that picks up if the heater has fallen over. Works now too! So interesting to read about the lantern similar gadget and thought I'd mention the above as it is a more modern use of this technology. I'm sure it's used elsewhere too but this is all I know.
Have read that thermocouples are used in various flame heating devices. There is heat so a thermocouple is quite useful. Thanks for your interest.
