[Paleopsych] More on Nano-Diode Arrays for electricity

[shovland at mindspring.com]

Charles M. Brown has invented, patented, and demonstrated at low power a chip which absorbs ambient heat and produces electrical power. There is plenty of ambient heat everywhere on Earth. He expects mature versions of the chip to yield thousands of watts per sq. inch inside a heat transfer system using circulating liquid. 

The device consists of billions of nanometer scale diodes connected in uniform alignment parallel small arrays which are, because the operating voltage is low, connected in series.

Heat induces a small random movement of mobile electrical charges inside materials. This effect is known as Johnson noise after a telephone company engineer who studied the sources of static in radio telescopes. 

Diodes are two terminal devices which conduct electricity well in one direction and block it from flowing the other way. Random electrical movements emerge from a diode as a fluctuating forward current half the time. Once the current emerges from its diode of origin it is blocked from retreat through its diode of origin and all parallel adjacent diodes and continues to the electrical load of the circuit. It does impose a counter voltage which is the array operating voltage as it does this. 

This counter voltage deenergizes the random electrical movements which still flow in this direction which is easier than the blocked direction. This deenergization is simultaneously strictly equal local refrigeration and electric circuit power. The fluctuating outputs of all diodes are aggregated without network loss to become useful amounts of coequal electrical power and refrigeration.

Each diode is expected to yield a nanowatt @ 65 degrees F / 17 degrees C,

Full thermal bandwidth of ~ 1Thz, a rectification factor of 1/2, and a device efficiency of 50%. The yield is derived by multiplying the above factors by Boltzman's constant ~1.38 x 10 ^-23. 

Uniformly spaced carbon nanotube anodes define each diode. The rest of the diode is a shared cathode layer of N conductive Si doped InSb abutting the anodes on one end and a shared ohmic contact metal layer on the other side.

The ability to fabricate this device is emerging gradually. Most Engineers and Physicist are not yet aware that this type of device can exist. 

In 1993, a feasibility investigation prototype yielded ~50 nanowatts which is above the scientific criteria of ~2 nanowatts. Unfortunately, Mr. Brown has lost contact with that test lab. One protocol is for other researchers to independently investigate Diode Arrays and report their results. Another possibility is for a development team to fabricate prototypes that will lead to commercial products.

The promise is that the Diode Array will produce abundant, autonomous, cheap, clean, compact, reliable, safe, and quiet energy. Furthermore, refrigeration will become an electrical power asset instead of expense.