藤兒點評：「eDrink」應該歸類到熱電（thermoelectricity/pyroelectricity）現象。即各種晶體由於溫度變化產生的帶電現象。

「eDrink」的製造關鍵，應該在熱電材料（Thermoelectric materials）。即一種能將熱能和電能相互轉換的功能材料。

「eDrink」的應用理論依據，應該來源於1823年發現的塞貝克效應和1834年發現的帕爾帖效應。它們為熱電能量轉換器和熱電製冷的應用提供了理論依據。

「eDrink」的誕生，也是隨着iPhone/iPad的迅猛發展，繼人類空間探索興趣的增加、醫用物理學的進展以及在地球日益增加的資源考察與探索活動，需要開發一類能夠自身供能且無需照看的電源系統，應運而生。當然，熱電發電對這些應用尤其合適。

熱電材料以其獨特的性能成為一種很有發展前途的功能材料, 它的應用包括溫差發電和溫差製冷。

1823年，德國人塞貝克（Seebeck）發現了材料兩端的溫差可以產生電壓，也就是通常所說的溫差電現象。1834年，法國鐘錶匠珀耳帖（Peltier）在法國《物理學和化學年鑑》上發表了他在兩種不同導體的邊界附近（當有電流流過時）所觀察到的溫差反常的論文。這兩個現象表明了熱可以致電，而同時電反過來也能轉變成熱或者用來製冷，這兩個現象分別被命名為塞貝克效應和珀耳帖效應。

什麼是熱電材料呢？

熱電材料是一種利用固體內部載流子運動實現熱能和電能直接相互轉換的功能材料。

類似「eDrink」這樣的產品，其廣泛應用必然依賴新型熱電材料的研究成果。

估計，「eDrink」目前要讓一個iPhone/iPad完全充滿電，可能要耗時一個月！

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來源：Treehugger 2015-04-14

Teen inventor creates a coffee mug to power your gadgets

Video screen capture Global News

Sometimes we learn about teens who are already changing the world and giving us great hope for the future. Teens starting e-waste recycling businesses, creating devices to reduce human-wildlife conflict in Africa, and inventing ways to clean up plastic in the ocean.

One of the best-known teen clean technology inventors is 17-year-old Ann Makosinski. At 15 she won the largest prize for her age group in the worldwide Google Science Fair for inventing a hollow flashlight that is powered by the heat of your hand. The flashlight is covered in Peltier tiles which generate electricity from the temperature difference that occurs between the two sides of the tiles when your hand touches the outside.

Queenie Andini/Screen capture

Makosinski has invented a new technology using the same tiles that she will present at a science fair in Pittsburgh soon. The "E-Drink," a coffee cup covered in the Peltier tiles, uses the heat of a hot beverage to charge your gadgets via a USB port on the bottom of the mug. As Makosinski explains, your morning ritual could turn into a way to top off your phone's battery with clean energy.

“I saw how you get a hot drink…and you’d just be waiting and waiting for it to cool down so you can start drinking,” she said.

“Why not harvest some of that lost heat, which is energy, and convert it to electricity?”

She's not giving too many details yet, but her body heat-powered flashlight is already going into production and will have mass distribution, so we feel certain that we'll be reading more about the E-Drink soon enough.