Thermal devices based on thermal rectification

Abstract

The invention patent discloses a thermal device based on thermal rectification, which relates to the field of heat conduction and thermal rectification signal processing, including a thermal diode, a thermal transistor, and a thermal resonator. The thermal diode is composed of vanadium dioxide and polyethylene, and the thermal transistor is composed of vanadium dioxide, polyethylene and a gold substrate. A high-temperature heat source and a low-temperature heat source are placed at both ends of the vanadium dioxide and the polyethylene, respectively, and a variable heat source is placed in the middle of the gold substrate. The thermal conductivity of the two materials changes with temperature so that phonons can move in a directional manner to produce a thermal rectification effect to construct a thermal transistor. The thermal resonator is composed of two thermal diodes and two linear thermal masses, an oscillating temperature source and a thermal machine. The thermal diode composed of the characteristics of the present invention that changes the thermal conductivity through the phase change of vanadium dioxide and the thermal conductivity of polyethylene is always stable at a very low level has a good thermal rectification effect, and the thermal transistor constructed thereby has a good ability to regulate thermal signals.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the fields of thermal devices and thermal rectification, in particular to a thermal device based on thermal rectification. Background Art

[0002] Thanks to the rapid development of computer technology, people have made great progress in the computational simulation research of heat conduction. In recent years, some nanoscale thermal device models have been designed, such as thermal diodes, thermal transistors, thermal logic gate devices, thermal memory, etc. They have potential application value in heat transport, thermal control and information processing. In the study of the properties of these thermal devices, the study of the thermal rectification properties of thermal devices and the regulation of phonon transmission are one of the most basic research contents. Thermal diode is a device that can control the direction of heat flow. Its working principle is based on the difference in thermal conductivity of materials at different temperatures. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) has metal-insulator transition characteristics within a certain temperature range, while polyethylene (PE) as an organic material has a relatively stable change in thermal conductivity with temperature. As the main carrier of thermal energy, phonons have a decisive influence on the performance of thermal diodes in the interface transmission characteristics of the two materials. Therefore, how to effectively change the transmission direction of phonons and realize the control of heat flow, as well as optimize the transmission of phonons at the heterojunction interface is the key to improving the performance of thermal diodes, and is also an inevitable requirement for the design and preparation of higher-demand thermal devices. The present invention focuses on the problem of how to improve and control the thermal rectification of the system, and uses the difference in thermal conductivity of materials to establish thermal diodes, thermal transistors and models that can control the size and direction of thermal rectification. In addition, thermal logic gates and thermal resonators are constructed based on thermal diodes and thermal transistors. Logic gates are the basic elements of computers. Once thermal logic gates are established, operations similar to those of electronic devices can be performed; thermal resonators can collect heat from the environment and use it to improve the performance of thermal devices. Thermal logic gates and thermal resonators are based on nonlinear lattices. Due to their temperature-dependent power spectrum, it is proved that phonons, i.e., heat carriers, can also be used to carry information and corresponding processing. Therefore, it is very meaningful to explore direct thermal rectification as an alternative to ordinary electrical methods. In theory, it can replace electronic computers as thermal computers in a magnetic field environment. Therefore, it is necessary to design a series of thermal logic gates as the basic elements of thermal computers.

[0003] The defects of existing thermal logic gate related devices are:

[0004] 1. Patent document CN116718053A discloses a graded start thermal diode and a processing method thereof, "including an outer tube, wherein the outer tube is provided with a first cavity, a second cavity and a third cavity which are sealed and independent of each other in the axial direction, each of the corresponding cavities is connected to a liquid-filled tube which communicates with the inside thereof, each of the cavities is filled with different heat transfer mediums, and each of the cavities is equipped with a liquid wick for transferring the mediums. The heat pipe can only transfer heat in a specific heat transfer direction, and cannot transfer heat in the opposite direction. Moreover, unlike the traditional thermal diode, the present invention controls the different properties of the working heat transfer medium inside the heat pipe, so that it has the characteristics of low-temperature heat work, and has the effect of graded start unidirectional heat transfer, which can not only achieve the effect of unidirectional heat transfer under the condition of zero gravity, but also have the effect of graded start unidirectional heat transfer in long-distance heat transport. The present invention also provides a processing method for graded start thermal diodes", however, a graded start thermal diode and a processing method thereof in the above-mentioned public document can only achieve the situation of unidirectional heat transfer conduction, and cannot change the direction of heat flow by changing the thermal conductivity to self-regulate the transmission of phonons.

[0005] 2. Patent document CN203719485U discloses a thermal diode, "including a tube shell and a working fluid enclosed in the tube shell, the tube shell is composed of two vertical tube shells, a bottom evaporation section and a top condensation section to form a closed structure, and the vertical tube shell is provided with an insulating section. The technical effect is: the gravity-type thermal diode has the advantages of simple structure, controllable heat flow, large heat transfer capacity, etc., and the heat transfer efficiency is improved by 60% compared with the prior art." However, a thermal diode in the above-mentioned public document only uses the gravity effect to construct the thermal diode, which can only realize one-way transfer of heat flow, and cannot regulate phonons to produce a thermal rectification effect to change the direction of heat flow.

[0006] 3. Patent document CN114646232A discloses a passive thermal diode with a stable thermal rectification effect. "The present invention relates to the field of passive thermal diode technology. The current thermal diodes are divided into passive thermal diodes and active thermal diodes. When the two types of thermal diodes obtain the highest thermal rectification effect, they usually require the input heat flux to be fixed. Once the input heat flux changes, the thermal rectification ratio will be significantly reduced, and the stable thermal rectification effect that is independent of the input heat flux cannot be achieved. The present invention discloses a passive thermal diode with a stable thermal rectification effect. A guide block that can achieve directional guidance of the heat flux is formed by staggered arrangement of high and low thermal conductivity materials, and then the guide block is Asymmetrically arranged on the background thermal conductive material, when no power is supplied or no light is provided, a passive thermal rectification effect is achieved in which different heat flows are output when heat flows are input into the thermal diode from different directions. The thermal rectification ratio of the passive thermal diode of the present invention does not change with the input heat flow, and a stable thermal rectification effect can be achieved. However, a passive thermal diode with a stable thermal rectification effect in the above-mentioned public document uses a method of staggered arrangement of materials with high and low thermal conductivity to achieve a stable thermal rectification effect, but it cannot actively regulate the heat flow guidance, and can only use a regular arrangement to allow phonons to be transmitted along a directional channel to generate heat flow. Summary of the invention

[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a thermal device based on thermal rectification to solve the problems raised in the above background art as a basic component of a thermal computer.

[0008] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solution: A thermal device based on thermal rectification, comprising:

[0009] A thermal resonator, wherein the thermal resonator is composed of an oscillating heat source outputting a temperature through two thermal diodes, two linear thermal masses and a thermal machine, wherein the two thermal diodes wrap the two thermal masses and the thermal machine, and the thermal machine is placed between the two thermal masses;

[0010] A thermal repeater, the thermal repeater is composed of six thermal transistors, the six transistors are connected in series, and the two ends serve as input and output ends to input and output a fixed temperature signal;

[0011] A thermal NOT gate, wherein the thermal NOT gate is composed of a thermal transistor, a temperature divider and a thermal repeater, and the components are connected in series;

[0012] A thermal AND gate / OR gate, wherein the thermal AND gate / OR gate is composed of two thermal transistors and a thermal repeater, wherein the two thermal transistors are first connected in parallel and then connected in series with the thermal repeater, and two temperature signals are inputted from both ends of the thermal transistors respectively;

[0013] Preferably, the interior of the thermal transistor is composed of vanadium dioxide and polyethylene, a high-temperature heat source and a low-temperature heat source are respectively provided at two ends of the thermal transistor, and a variable heat source is provided in the middle of the gold substrate.

[0014] The structure of the temperature divider is similar to that of a dual-resistance voltage divider, which is composed of two resistors in series and outputs a temperature signal on one of the resistors;

[0015] The thermal components are connected in series using diamond.

[0016] Preferably, the polyethylene contains a porous structure with a diameter of about 3 nanometers, and the pores of the porous structure are regularly distributed on the surface of the polyethylene.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0018] 1. The thermal rectification effect of the present invention is achieved by heat conduction, which is simpler and clearer than thermal radiation and heat convection. The thermal rectification effect of the thermal transistor model can be regulated by changing the temperature of the variable heat source of the gate, and the corresponding effect of the thermal transistor can be well achieved;

[0019] 2. The thermal rectifying material used in the present invention is graphene-copper, which is a common and cheap material and can be used in batches for experiments and preparation of thermal transistors. The thermal logic gate designed based on the thermal transistor has a similar working principle to the electronic logic gate, and can be well used as the basic element of the thermal computer, which provides a good idea for replacing electronic computers as thermal computers in a magnetic field environment in the future. At the same time, the thermal resonator can be used to collect energy from ambient temperature fluctuations, and it has been proven to be a durable and stable energy collection device, especially in remote areas. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the thermal diode in the present invention;

[0021] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the components of the thermal crystal device in the present invention;

[0022] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the components of the thermal resonator in the present invention;

[0023] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the components of the thermal repeater of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the components of the thermal NOT gate in the present invention;

[0025] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the components of the thermal AND gate / OR gate in the present invention.

[0026] In the figure: 1. thermal diode; 2. thermal transistor; 3. high temperature heat source; 4. low temperature heat source; 5. variable heat source; 6. gold substrate; 7. vanadium dioxide layer; 8. polyethylene; 9. diamond; 10. thermal repeater;

[0027] 11. Thermal NOT gate; 12. Temperature divider; 13. Thermal AND / OR gate; 14. Thermal resonator; 15. Oscillating heat source; 16. Linear thermal mass; 17. Heat engine. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0029] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "front end", "rear end", "two ends", "one end", "the other end" and the like indicate positions or positional relationships based on the positions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present invention. In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0030] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "provided with", "connected", etc. should be understood in a broad sense. For example, "connected" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0031] See also Figure 4 , an embodiment 1 provided by the present invention: a thermal device based on thermal rectification, including a thermal logic gate and a thermal repeater 10: , the designed thermal repeater 10 is composed of six thermal transistors 2, the six transistors 2 are connected in series, and the two ends are used as input and output ends to input and output fixed temperature signals; the thermal repeater 10, as a basic component in the thermal logic gate, is mainly used to standardize the thermal signal, prevent the thermal signal from being lost due to the transfer of heat, and prevent the phonon from being transferred too much during the heat flow transfer process.

[0032] See also Figure 3, the present invention provides an embodiment 2: a thermal device based on thermal rectification, including a thermal logic gate and a thermal resonator 14, the designed thermal resonator 14 is composed of two thermal diodes 1, an oscillating heat source 15 and two linear thermal masses 16 and a heat engine 17; this thermal resonator system can generate a unipolar electrical output from environmental thermal fluctuations, converting the temperature difference in the ambient space into electricity, which can be widely used in various scenarios.

[0033] See also Figure 5 , an embodiment 3 provided by the present invention: a thermal device based on thermal rectification, including a thermal logic gate and a thermal NOT gate 11, the designed thermal NOT gate 11 is composed of a thermal transistor 2, a temperature divider 12 and a thermal repeater 10, and the components are connected in series; the thermal NOT gate is similar to a negative feedback circuit, which will flip its input response, and its basic logic rule is:

[0034] if Tinput =Ton / Toff, then Toutput =Toff / Ton;

[0035] By transforming the initial state and the end state of phonon scattering, the thermostat will always keep the temperature response of the thermal transistor output within a suitable temperature range to ensure the normal operation of the logic gate.

[0036] See also Figure 6 , an embodiment 4 provided by the present invention: a logic gate design based on thermal rectifying materials, the designed thermal AND gate / OR gate 13 is composed of two thermal transistors 2 and a thermal repeater 10, the two thermal transistors 2 are first connected in parallel and then connected in series with the thermal repeater 10, and two temperature signals are input from both ends of the thermal transistor 2 respectively; the thermal AND gate / NOT gate is a dual-input logic gate, and its logic rule is,

[0037] AND gate: The output is on only when both input1 and input2 are on, otherwise it is off;

[0038] OR gate: The output is off only when both input1 and input2 are off, otherwise it is on;

[0039] The different states of phonon scattering at the two input ports are logically defined. By simply adjusting the parameters of the thermal repeaters at the two input ports, we can achieve the corresponding outputs generated by different inputs to realize the functions of AND gates and OR gates.

[0040] Methods of using thermal devices based on thermal rectification include:

[0041] Reference Figure 1The interior of the thermal diode 1 is composed of vanadium dioxide 7 and polyethylene 8. The heterojunction formed between the two materials reduces the backscattering of phonons in a special way and enhances the forward transmission of phonons, thereby achieving a good thermal rectification effect. The internal heterojunction structure has a similar effect to the PN junction of an electrical diode, with the effect of forward conduction and reverse cutoff, which can well improve the thermal rectification effect of the thermal diode.

[0042] Reference Figure 2 The interior of the thermal transistor 2 is composed of vanadium dioxide 7 and polyethylene 8. A high-temperature heat source 3 and a low-temperature heat source 4 are placed at the two ends of the thermal transistor 2, respectively, and a variable heat source 5 is placed in the middle of the gold substrate 6. When the thermal transistor is working, the thermal conductivity of vanadium dioxide can change with the temperature of the contacted heat source, so the heat flow conduction of the thermal transistor can be regulated by controlling the variable heat source of the thermal transistor gate, so as to achieve the utility of the thermal transistor in the thermal logic gate; in the design of the thermal logic gate, the thermal components are connected by diamond 9 pipelines. The extremely high thermal conductivity of diamond 9 can well transmit the output and input thermal signals of each thermal component. The use of diamond 9 pipelines for connection can avoid the heat loss of the thermal signal during the transmission process to the greatest extent; the structure of the temperature divider 12 is similar to a dual-resistance voltage divider, which is composed of two resistors connected in series, and outputs the temperature signal on one of the resistors. Its main function is to correct the offset of the temperature signal so that the temperature signal is always at a fixed value to avoid a small error in the final result.

[0043] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above and that the invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential features of the invention. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered exemplary and non-limiting in all respects, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description, and it is intended that all variations falling within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims be included in the invention. Any reference numeral in a claim should not be considered as limiting the claim to which it relates.

Claims

1. A thermal device based on thermal rectification, characterized in that include: A thermal NOT gate (11), the thermal NOT gate (11) being composed of a thermal transistor (2), a temperature divider (12) and a thermal relay (10), the thermal transistor (2) and the temperature divider (12) being connected in series via a diamond (9), and the temperature divider (12) and the thermal relay (10) being connected in series via a diamond (9); The thermal relay (10) is triggered based on temperature and is composed of six thermal transistors (2). The six thermal transistors (2) are connected in series in sequence through diamonds (9). The two ends of the thermal relay (10) serve as an input end and an output end to input and output a fixed temperature signal respectively. The interior of the thermal transistor (2) is composed of vanadium dioxide (7) and polyethylene (8), a high-temperature heat source (3) and a low-temperature heat source (4) are respectively arranged at two ends of the thermal transistor (2), two gold substrates (6) are arranged between the vanadium dioxide (7) and the polyethylene (8), and a variable heat source (5) is arranged between the two gold substrates (6); The temperature divider (12) is a dual-resistance voltage divider structure; the temperature divider (12) is composed of two resistors connected in series, and outputs a temperature signal on one of the resistors.

2. A thermal device based on thermal rectification, characterized in that include: A thermal AND / OR gate (13), wherein the thermal AND / OR gate (13) is composed of two thermal transistors (2) and a thermal relay (10), wherein the two thermal transistors (2) are first connected in parallel and then connected in series with the thermal relay (10) via a diamond (9), and two temperature signals are inputted from both ends of the thermal transistors (2); The thermal relay (10) is triggered based on temperature and is composed of six thermal transistors (2). The six thermal transistors (2) are connected in series in sequence through diamonds (9). The two ends of the thermal relay (10) serve as an input end and an output end to input and output a fixed temperature signal respectively. The interior of the thermal transistor (2) is composed of vanadium dioxide (7) and polyethylene (8), a high-temperature heat source (3) and a low-temperature heat source (4) are respectively arranged at two ends of the thermal transistor (2), two gold substrates (6) are arranged between the vanadium dioxide (7) and the polyethylene (8), and a variable heat source (5) is arranged between the two gold substrates (6).

3. The thermal device based on thermal rectification according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that: The polyethylene (8) contains a porous structure with a diameter of 3 nanometers, and the pores of the porous structure are regularly distributed on the surface of the polyethylene.

Images