An experimental device working according to thermogravitational cycle principle was developed in a laboratory of the University of Bordeaux and patented in France. Such thermogravitational electric generator is based on inflation and deflation cycles of an elastic bag made of nitrile elastomer cut from a glove finger. The bag is filled with a volatile working fluid that has low chemical affinity for the elastomer such as perfluorohexane (CF). It is attached to a strong NdFeB spherical magnet that acts both as a weight and for transducing the mechanical energy into voltage. The glass cylinder is filled with water acting as transporting fluid. It is heated at the bottom by a hot circulating water-jacket, and cooled down at the top by a cold water bath. Due to its low boiling point temperature (56 °C), the perfluorohexane drop contained in the bag vaporizes and inflates the balloon. Once its density is lower than the water density, the balloon raises according to Archimedes’ principle. Cooled down at the column top, the balloon deflates partially until its gets effectively denser than water and starts to fall down. As seen from the videos, the cyclic motion has a period of several seconds. These oscillations can last for several hours and their duration is limited only by leaks of the working fluid through the rubbery membrane. Each time the magnet goes through the coil produces a variation in the magnetic flux. An electromotive force is created and detected through an oscilloscope. It has been estimated that the average power of this machine is 7 μW and its efficiency is 4.8 x 10. Although these values are very small, this experiment brings a proof of principle of renewable energy device for harvesting electricity from a weak waste heat source without need of other external energy supply, e.g. for a compressor in a regular heat engine. The experiment was successfully reproduced by undergraduate students in preparatory classes of the Lycée Hoche in Versailles.
Several other applications based on the thermogravitational cycles could be found in the literature. For example:
* In solar balloons, heat from the sun is absorbed which causes a balloon filled with air to rise and convert its movement in an electric signal.
* In a gravity driven organic Rankine cycle, gravity is used instead of a pump to pressurize a working fluid. In literature, different authors have studied the working fluid characteristics best suited to optimize their efficiency for gravity-driven ORC devices.
* In a version of a magnetic fluid generator, a refrigerant fluid is vaporized at the bottom of a column by an external heat source, and its bubbles move across a magnetized ferrofluid, thereby producing electric voltage via a linear generator.
* In a conceptual hybrid of several patents, solar or geothermal energy is harnessed by means of a modified organic Rankine cycle with high columns of water below ground