Device and method for thermoelectronic energy conversion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9865789-B2
Application number	US-201214418917-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2012
Priority date	Jul 30, 2012
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

A thermoelectronic energy converter device ( 100 ) comprises an electron emitter ( 11 ) being adapted for a temperature-dependent release of electrons ( 1 ), an electron collector ( 21 ) being adapted for collecting the electrons ( 1 ), wherein the electron collector ( 21 ) is spaced from the electron emitter ( 11 ) by an evacuated gap ( 2 ), a gate electrode ( 31 ) being arranged between the electron emitter ( 11 ) and the electron collector ( 21 ) for subjecting the electrons ( 1 ) in the gap ( 2 ) to an accelerating electric potential, wherein the gate electrode ( 31 ) has a plurality of electrode openings ( 34 ) being arranged for transmitting electrons ( 1 ) miming from the electron emitter ( 11 ) to the electron collector ( 21 ), and a magnetic field device ( 50 ) being arranged for creating a magnetic field with magnetic field lines extending between the electron emitter and the electron collector ( 11, 21 ), wherein the magnetic field device ( 50 ) is arranged such that at least a portion of the magnetic field lines pass through the electrode openings ( 34 ). Furthermore, a method of converting energy using the thermoelectronic energy converter device ( 100 ) is described.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A thermoelectronic energy converter device, comprising:
an electron emitter being adapted for a temperature-dependent release of electrons,
an electron collector being adapted for collecting the electrons, wherein the electron collector is spaced from the electron emitter by an evacuated gap,
a gate electrode being arranged between the electron emitter and the electron collector for subjecting the electrons in the gap to an accelerating electric potential, and
a magnetic field device being arranged for creating a magnetic field with magnetic field lines extending between the electron emitter and the electron collector, wherein
the gate electrode has a plurality of electrode openings being arranged for transmitting electrons running from the electron emitter to the electron collector, and
the magnetic field device is arranged such that at least a portion of the magnetic field lines pass through the electrode openings,

wherein the thermoelectronic energy converter device comprises at least one of the features:
a distance between the electron emitter and the electron collector is at least one of above 1μm and below 0.3 mm,
a thickness of the gate electrode is below 300 μm,
at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector is made of at least one of a metal, a conducting oxide, a semiconductor, a diamondoid, LaB6, and an electride,
at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector is doped with a work function lowering dopand, and
at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector is coated with a work function lowering coating.

2. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
the gate electrode is a single sheet of an electrically conducting material.

3. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
the gate electrode has a regular lattice structure including the plurality of electrode openings.

4. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
the electrode openings have a cross-sectional dimension being equal to or smaller than five times a width of a spacing between the electron emitter and the electron collector.

5. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , comprising at least one of the features
the distance between the electron emitter and the electron collector is at least one of above 10 μm and below 200 μm, and
the thickness of the gate electrode is below 250 μm.

6. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , further comprising
a cooling device being arranged for cooling the electron collector.

7. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector has a plane surface facing the gap.

8. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector has a curved surface facing the gap.

9. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
a tip structure distribution is formed on at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector, wherein the tip structure distribution comprises at least one of micro-structures and nano-structures.

10. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 9 , wherein
the tip structure distribution is formed on surface sections of at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector aligned with the electrode openings of the gate electrode.

11. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
the gate electrode is electrically connected with a dc voltage source.

12. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 11 , wherein
the dc voltage source is adapted for superimposing the dc voltage with an ac voltage modulation.

13. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
a work function of a material of the gate electrode is lower than a work function of a material of the electron emitter, and
the gate electrode is electrically connected with the electron emitter.

14. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , wherein
a load circuit is connected between the electron emitter and the electron collector,
the electron emitter is arranged for an application of at least one applied energy selected from the group consisting of thermal energy and radiation energy, and
the thermoelectronic energy converter device is configured for converting the applied energy to electric energy.

15. The thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 14 , wherein
a thermal engine is connected with the electron collector.

16. A method of converting energy using the thermoelectronic energy converter device according to claim 1 , comprising the steps of:
releasing electrons from the electron emitter,
accelerating the electrons released from the electron emitter by the accelerating electric potential in the gap through the electrode openings toward the electron collector,
subjecting the electrons released from the electron emitter to the magnetic field, wherein the magnetic field lines of the magnetic field pass through the electrode openings, and
collecting the electrons with the electron collector.

17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising
cooling the electron collector with a cooling device.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein
the magnetic field is created with at least one of at least one permanent magnet and at least one electromagnet being arranged adjacent to or in a neighborhood of at least one of the electron emitter and the electron collector, respectively.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein
the at least one electromagnet comprises at least one superconducting coil.

20. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising at least one of
accelerating the electrons toward the electron collector with an auxiliary gate electrode, and
shielding a surface of the gate electrode facing at least one of to and from the electron emitter with a shielding electrode.

21. The method according to claim 16 , wherein
the step of releasing the electrons from the electron emitter includes emitting electrons from at least one of micro- and nano-structures arranged on the electron emitter.

22. The method according to claim 16 , wherein
the step of collecting the electrons at the electron collector includes collecting the electrons with at least one of micro- and nano-structures arranged on the electron collector.

23. The method according to claim 16 , wherein
a dc voltage is applied to the gate electrode.

24. The method according to claim 23 , wherein
the dc voltage is superimposed with an ac voltage modulation.

25. The method according to claim 16 , wherein
a work function of a material of the gate electrode is lower than a work function of a material of the electron emitter,
the gate electrode is electrically connected with the electron emitter, and
the accelerating electric potential in the gap is created by a difference of the work functions of the materials of the gate electrode and the electron emitter.

26. The method according to claim 16 , wherein
a load circuit is connected between the electron emitter and the electron

Assignees

• Geballe Theodore
• Meir Stefan
• Stephanos Cyril
• Schmehl Andreas
• Mannhart Jochen
• Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Wss E V
• Univ Augsburg
• Univ Leland Stanford Junior

Inventors

• Geballe Theodore
• Meir Stefan
• Stephanos Cyril
• Schmehl Andreas
• Mannhart Jochen

Classifications

• H01L35/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01J45/00 Primary

  Discharge tubes functioning as thermionic generators {(structural combination of fuel element with thermoelectric element G21C3/40; nuclear power plants using thermionic converters G21D7/04; structural combination of a radioactive source with a thermionic converter, e.g. radioisotope batteries G21H1/10; generators in which thermal or kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy by ionisation of a fluid and removal of the charge therefrom H02N3/00)} · CPC title

• H01L35/04 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10N10/81 Primary

  Structural details of the junction · CPC title

• H10N10/17

  characterised by the structure or configuration of the cell or thermocouple forming the device · CPC title