Gas specie electron-jump chemical energy converter

Abstract

An apparatus and method for extracting energy is provided. In one aspect the method includes using chemical reactions to generate vibrationally excited molecules (101), such as high-quantum-number-vibrationally-excited gas molecules in a region. The vibration energy in the vibrationally excited molecules is converted into hot electrons when the excited molecules contact a conductor (103). A geometry is provided so that the excited molecules may travel, diffuse or wander into a conductor (103) before loosing a useful fraction of the vibrational energy. Optionally, the generating and the converting process may be thermally separated, at least in part. The short lived hot electrons are converted into longer lived entities such as carriers and potentials in a semiconductor, where the energy is converted into a useful form.

Description

field of invention

[0001] The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the direct conversion of chemical reaction energy into electrical energy, and more particularly, the present invention relates to the generation of vibrationally highly excited reaction products and the direct conversion of the energy of this product into its useful form, such as electricity, on metal surfaces Methods and apparatus for thermal electrons, long-lived carriers in semiconductors, radiation or coherent radiation. technical background

[0002] A fuel cell is a clean and efficient method of electrochemical energy conversion, usually by directly and efficiently converting the chemical reaction energy of reactant gases into electricity. However, the energy per mass or volume exhibited by a fuel cell system is generally at least lower than the mechanical energy. Furthermore, the volume required for a fuel cell employing liquid storable fuel to generate a given amount of battery power...

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