Thermoelectric Fan Powered by a Candle

A Thermoelectric generator powered by a tealight. More info of how to build it:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Therm...

How to build a USB-charger from fire:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Batte...

It started mostly as an experiment of how much power I could get from one candle. But I liked the idea and it worked really well so I built this electric-mechanical ornament. I did not use a high temperature TEG-module, but instead a cheap TEC-module. That can still handle 200 degrees Celsius which is good enough.

It is also called a peltier element and when you use it as a generator it's called seebeck effect. You have one hot side and one cold. The module generates power to drive a motor and the motor fan/air flow will cool the upper heat sink. Higher temperature difference, increased output power, increased motor RPM, increased air flow, increased temperature difference and so on. The airflow will spread the heat into your room, which is the purpose of this construction.

If you unmounts the basement you could also use it as a stove-fan or move air from other heat sources. The motor start to turn at about 15 degrees difference, which to my surprise worked when I just went outdoors with it and the upper heat sink got cooler than the basement. You can place it in hot water, on an ice cube, a pizza and it works just as fine.

I measured 0.4V and 0.25A with one candle and 0.67V and 0.54A with two. That results in 0.1W resp. 0.36W output power.

Edit:
It now has a new motor: Tamiya 76005 Solar Motor 02 (Mabuchi RF-500TB) from Ebay. Much better! See link at the top for more info.