Transducers And Energy Conversions

If you are a science enthusiast, and if you want to know about devices and it's energy conversion, then this post can be useful to you. 

Energy is most essential source in our daily life, it powers our homes, fuels our transportation, technology and various other activities. In all the cases the same energy may not be suitable to achieve the required task, hence it is required to convert the energy to other form. So, any nature of the energy can be converted into one form to another form by means of suitable device called transducer. A Transducer is a device which converts one form of energy to other form of energy. 

4 years ago, I was once thinking about some energy conversions, then suddenly a few devices came to my mind like motor, generator, engines ..and then a transducers. By then I already recalled 6-7 devices and it's energy conversion and I found all these topics were seemed quite interesting, so I decided to create a post on this topic.

One interesting fact about energy conversion is that, for most of the conversion process, there exist a reverse process, but some are reversible and some are irreversible.

There are various types of transducers that we use in our daily life, industries and in technological process to convert energies to one form to another form. So, in this article let us discuss some of the list of transducers and their energy conversions.

Heat Energy to Mechanical Energy

• Heat Engines
  A mechanical device which converts heat energy to mechanical energy, here the primary fuel is necessary for heat engines to work.
  Ex. Vehicles, Aircrafts, Trains, Rocket and Ships.

Heat Energy to Electrical Energy

• Thermocouple 
  A thermoelectric device that directly converts heat energy to electrical energy, which are mostly used in industrial process.
  
  
• Powerplant
  A thermal power plant converts heat energy to high pressure steam and further this high pressure steam is fed to the turbine/blades of generator to produce electrical energy.

Heat Energy to Light Energy

• Thermocouple 
  The heat energy can be indirectly converted to light energy by using thermocouple. Here first the heat is converted to voltage and this voltage can be converted to light by using bulb or LED.

• Matchstick
  Matchsticks are usually a chemical substance which converts heat energy to light energy by using heat energy as primary source.
  
  

Electrical Energy to Heat Energy

• Heating Element
  A simple device that directly converts electrical energy to heat energy by offering high resistance to the electric current, which are usually made in the shape of coil, ribbon, or thin wire (filament).
  Ex. Water heaters, dryers, toaster, electric stoves and iron box.

Electrical Energy to Mechanical Energy

• Electric Motor
  Electric motor is a device or a transducer, which converts electrical energy to mechanical energy and it is the most widely used device in different types of machines, automobiles and in various appliances etc.
  

• Vibrator
  Vibrator is a electromechanical device that produces some mechanical vibrations by using electrical energy which are used in smartphones, smartwatches & joysticks etc.

Mechanical Energy to Electrical Energy

• Generators
  A generator is the most commonly used device to convert  mechanical energy to electrical energy. The generator performs the reverse operation of motor.
  
  
• Piezoelectric Transducer
  A device which convert mechanical stress to electrical energy by using some crystal and the effect is called piezoelectric effect.
  

Electrical Energy to Sound Energy

• Speaker
  A device which converts electrical energy to sound energy.  In speakers, the magnet is placed inside the moving coil and connect to the diaphragm to produce the sound. Generally speaker can produce any type of sounds.
  Ex. Loudspeakers, Audio systems, TV, Headphones & Smartphones etc.   
  
  
• Buzzer
  Buzzer is also a device that converts electrical energy to sound energy which are used to produce certain alert signals. Buzzers can produce only single type of sound.
  Ex. Refrigerator, Ovens, Washing machines, Door bells & device meters etc.

Sound Energy to Electrical Energy

• Microphone
  A device which converts sound energy to electrical energy and which usually performs reverse operation of the speaker.
  Ex. Mic, Headphones, Smartphones, Radio, Smart devices etc.

Electrical Energy to Light Energy

• Bulb
  A bulb is a device or a transducer, which converts electrical energy to light energy.
  
  
• LEDs
  LEDs is an optoelectronic device, which converts electrical energy to light energy.
  
  
• LASER
  LASER is also an optoelectronic device, that convert  electrical energy to light energy.

Light Energy to Electrical Energy

• Photodiode
  Photodiode is an optoelectronic device, which converts  light energy to electrical energy.
  
  
• Phototransistor
  Phototransistor is also an optoelectronic device, which converts light energy to electrical energy.
  
  
• Solar Cell (Photovoltaic Cell)
  Solar cell is one of the commonly used device to convert light energy (sunlight) to electrical energy and this effect is called photovoltaic effect. However the collection of solar cell is called solar panel.

Light Energy to Heat Energy
light energy can be indirectly converted to heat energy by using solar cells and heating elements. Here first the light is converted to electricity and further electricity can be converted to heat by using heating element.

Light Energy to Chemical Energy

• Photosynthesis
  It is a process in which plants convert sunlight to chemical energy to prepare their food. 
  
  

Chemical Energy to Heat / Light Energy

• Matchstick, Candle, Fuels, Natural gas and Coal
  Chemical energy usually converts both heat and light energy at the same time by using heat energy as primary source.

Chemical Energy to Electrical Energy

• Battery
  The electrochemical device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy.
  
  
• Electrolyte
  A chemical substance which converts chemical reaction to electrical energy in liquid state using suitable electrodes.
  Ex. Sodium chloride, Potassium chloride, Calcium chloride and Zinc chloride and Citric acid etc.

Electrical Energy to Chemical Energy

• Electrolytic cell
  It is process in which electricity is applied to produce some chemical reaction in the liquid state (Electrolysis). It is also the reverse process of an electrolyte.
  Ex. Electroplating of silver, copper, chromium and nickel.

So, by applying the voltage to any solution, can we create any chemicals by using electrolysis? comment below.

That's it! Thanks for reading. Share if this post was helpful.