About BSST
BSST was founded by Dr. Lon Bell in 2000, as a subsidiary of Amerigon Incorporated, to develop advanced thermoelectric systems. BSST has developed and demonstrated the highest efficiency achieved with thermoelectric technology to date.
BSST's mission is to provide highly efficient, effective, and practical solid-state temperature control and power generation solutions to industry, while continuing to advance the leading edge performance of its technology through sustained research and development. Joint development efforts with leaders in major application markets throughout the world aid in this process.
Currently the advancements are being applied to electronic device cooling, home and automotive air conditioning and heating, and military and communications systems. BSST is also engaged in a variety of power generation and waste heat recovery projects with military and commercial entities.
BSST is working with academic and industrial researchers to facilitate their work toward material improvements that could double the efficiency again. This material gain, when coupled with BSST's thermal isolation would improve the efficiency of the thermoelectric by a factor of four. With that degree of improvement, a number of practical commercial applications such as space heating and cooling can out-perform conventional vapor phase transition methods.
In addition to these achievements, BSST is advancing the use of thermoelectrics in the area of power generation. Used in reverse, thermoelectrics can generate power by converting thermal energy, such as the waste heat from an automobile exhaust, into an electrical current. Just as in heating and cooling applications, traditionally designed TE devices lack the efficiency for practical applications of power generation. BSST’s research and development efforts promise improvements through innovative structures and arrangements of the TE materials.
BSST’s research and development over the past five years has resulted in 9 allowed patents and multiple patent applications.