From:  Cronin B. Vining, ITS Webmaster

Effective December 31, 2009 I will be stepping down as Webmaster for the International Thermoelectric Society.  The Society is currently looking at options to replace me.

If you are interested, please contact the President of the International Thermoelectric Society, Dr. Thierry Caillat using this online link:  http://www.its.org/user/1535/contact [1].  Of course, I will also be happy to answer any questions I can and I intend to be available for support during a reasonable transition period.

As ITS Webmaster I currently provides various services to the ITS and in exchange the ITS is a Sponsor of my website, Thermoelectric News website, http://www.zts.com [2], as well as my a-periodic email newsletter ZTnews, archived both on the ITS website [3] and on zts.com [4]. 

Services provided by the Webmaster to the ITS include:

• Internet hosting of the website http://www.its.org [5]
• Maintaining content of the website http://www.its.org [5]
• Maintaining registration of the domain name "its.org"
• Maintaining a small, private discussion mailing list for the ITS Board
• Maintaining a database of ITS members
• Distribution of ITS announcements via ZTnews

Since 1996 Dr. Vining has provided these services to the ITS. 

Some Technical Details:

The ITS website is powered entirely by open source software.  The Content Managment Software behind its.org, Drupal [6], combined with a "Customer Relationship Management" module, CiviCRM [7], has proven powerful and flexible platform to run the website.  Mailman is used to power the mailing lists.  A website hosting company specializing in Drupal, Hotdrupal.com [8], has provided reliable linux-based hosting services for some time.  While Drupal does have a certain learning curve, someone comfortable with internet hosting should have no trouble and there is extensive help available through the Drupal community.  Most of the time, the website just runs.

I have used this same Drupal-based platform to power a number of thermoelectric-related websites including:

• ECT2007, http://ect2007.its.org [9]
• ICT2009, http://ict2009.its.org [10]

I expect the new Webmaster will do things differently than I did, but I expect to transfer the entire website and hosting account to the new Webmaster and to be available for questions well past the transfer.

The future of my own thermoelectric website, http://www.zts.com [2], and my mailing list, ZTnews, are yet to be determined.  But I'm open to suggestions.

Cronin B. Viining,
Contact me using this online form: http://www.its.org/user/1/contact [11]

From Nature Materials, February 2009, Volume 8 No 2 

Commentary: An inconvenient truth about thermoelectrics - pp83 - 85

by Cronin B. Vining

doi:10.1038/nmat2361

Despite recent advances, thermoelectric energy conversion will never be as efficient as steam engines. That means thermoelectrics will remain limited to applications served poorly or not at all by existing technology. Bad news for thermoelectricians, but the climate crisis requires that we face bad news head on.

Full Text from Nature - An inconvenient truth about thermoelectrics   |   PDF (345 KB)

 
Source URL (retrieved on 2009-02-04 12:32): http://www.zts.com/node/5600

Summary: The Sr. Mechanical Engineer, Heating and Cooling, will lead the design of thermoelectric (TE) HVAC products suited for high volume production.

Essential duties and Responsibilities:

1. Lead the development of zonal thermoelectric HVAC devices for the automotive industry:
   
   
   1. Design and characterize interfaces between TE materials, substrates and heat exchangers. Design fractional and full scale TE heating and cooling devices.
   2. Validate computer performance models by test and analysis of fractional and full scale devices and subassemblies.
   3. Lead the transition of prototypes from the laboratory to the manufacturing shop floor ensuring product performance and environmental withstanding requirements, manufacturing process robustness and economics goals are met.
2. Direct CAD designers, technicians and other support personnel to develop and build prototype designs and support product validation activities. Will achieve cost effective designs through close coordination with the supply base and BSST technical staff.
3. Develop and use analytic models to evaluate design trade-offs. Conceptualize and mature concepts from an early stage through product validation.
4. Plan product development stages and activities including cost, schedule and technical performance milestones. Manage the plan to achieve on-time delivery performance.
5. Lead internal and customer design reviews.

Supervisory Responsibilities: This position may have supervisory responsibility for one or more CAD operators or lab technicians.

Qualifications: Must have designed prototype and production small electromechanical products for high volume markets. The candidate must have knowledge of heat transfer and/or thermoelectric materials. It is highly desirable for the candidate to have knowledge in brazing and soldering processes and materials.

Education and/or Experience: 5-7 years minimum experience designing electromechanical components for high volume consumer, semiconductor or automotive markets. An advanced degree (MS or PhD) in relevant engineering or science area is desired.

Communication Skills:   Effective in a team environment. Able to read, write and communicate verbal instructions, correspondence and memos in the English language. Familiarity with Microsoft Office desired.

Please email a Word doc of your resume to carol [at] connections-search [dot] com or call 800.336.0481 for additional info.

GMZ Energy Inc located in Newton, Massachusetts, a dynamic company focusing on thermoelectric energy conversion has a position open for a Thermal Engineer.

Key functions include heat transfer modeling and design, particularly involving in heatconduction, solar and thermal radiation, fabrication of heat transfer devices and systems,and thermal characterization is required. Other desirable experiences include solar thermal, metallization of electrical contacts, thermoelectric device fabrication, and thermal stress analysis.

A Ph.D. in relevant fields with years of extensive industrial experience on thermal management is required.

Competitive compensation packages are offered. Qualified applicants are encouraged to send their CVs for immediate consideration to jlee [at] gmzenergy [dot] com.

Source URL (retrieved on 2009-02-04 11:43): http://www.its.org/node/5676