Gas specie electron-jump chemical energy converter

• US 6,649,823 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2002
• Issued: 11/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NeoKismet, LLC
• Original Assignee: NeoKismet, LLC
• Inventors: Gidwani, Jawahar M., Zuppero, Anthony C.
• Primary Examiner(s): DIAMOND, ALAN D
• Application Number:
  US10/142,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20020121088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• Field of Search: 136/253, 136/248, 136/291, 136/254, 136/252, 136/205, 136/201, 310/300, 310/314, 310/322, 607/21, 605/32
• US Class Current: 136/252
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 27/00 Apparatus for treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture, by catalysts, electric means, magnetism, rays, sound waves, or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66 Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H02N 11/002 Generators
• CPC Class Codes: H02N 2/18 producing electrical output from mechanical input, e.g. generators for measurement devices G01
• CPC Class Codes: H02S 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/50 Photovoltaic [PV] energy
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 136/291 Applications

Abstract

An apparatus and method for extracting energy is provided. In one aspect the method includes using chemical reactions to generate vibrationally excited molecules, 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. A geometry is provided so that the excited molecules may travel, diffuse or wander into a conductor 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.

Claims

1. A method for extracting energy, comprising:

initiating one or more chemical reactions in a gas volume;

producing one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products in a gas phase;

allowing the one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products to collide on a surface of a substrate and to transfer vibrational energy associated with the one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products to the surface in a form of hot carriers; and

converting kinetic energy of the hot carriers into useful work.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more reaction products include one or more intermediate reaction products.

3. The method of claim 1, further including:

collecting the kinetic energy of the hot carriers from the surface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating one or more chemical reactions include

stimulating one or more reactions in the volume by injecting one or more stimulants.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more stimulants include any one or more of catalyst, autocatalyst, hot carriers, electrical stimulant, optical stimulant, and additive.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the collecting the kinetic energy of the hot carriers from the surface includes allowing the kinetic energy of the hot carriers to be transferred from the surface to a converter that converts the kinetic energy of the hot carriers into one or more forms of useful energy.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the converter includes a diode.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the useful energy includes any one or more of electricity, radiation, and mechanical energy.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the producing one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products includes allowing reactants in the gas phase to migrate by diffusion to react with stimulants in the gas volume near the surface of the substrate.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the producing one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products includes allowing reactants in the gas phase to migrate by diffusion to react with stimulants in the gas volume on the surface of the substrate.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the useful work comprises electrical potential.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the hot carriers include one or both of hot electrons and hot holes.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least part of the vibrational energy is transferred directly to the surface in a form of hot carriers.

14. An energy extracting apparatus comprising:

a reaction stimulator for initiating a chemical reaction;

a substrate forming a collection surface;

a reaction volume formed between the reaction stimulator and the collection surface; and

an energy converter in contact with the substrate,

wherein chemicals in a gas phase react in the reaction volume and collide with the substrate, transferring reaction energy in a form of hot carriers from the products of the reaction occurring in the reaction volume into the substrate and the transferred energy is converted into a useful form of energy by the energy converter.

15. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the energy converter includes a diode.

16. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the energy converter includes a p-n junction diode.

17. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the energy converter includes a Schottky diode.

18. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the distance from the most distant part of the reaction volume normal to the collection surface is a multiple of the vibration energy diffusion length of the reactants.

19. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, further including a second reaction stimulator near the reaction volume.

20. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 19, wherein the second reaction stimulator includes any one or more of electrical stimulator, optical stimulator, catalysts, hot wire, and chemical stimulator.

21. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 20, wherein the chemical stimulator includes any one or more of autocatalyst and free radical generator.

22. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein

a region between the reaction volume and the energy converter is less than three times the mean free path associated with energy decay of the hot carriers.

23. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the substrate includes one or more atomic metal monolayers of one or more selected material.

24. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 23, wherein the one or selected material includes any one or more of metals and semiconductors.

25. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the collection surface has a geometry favoring excitation of molecules during a reaction.

26. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 25, wherein the geometry favoring excitation of molecules includes atomic surface steps.

27. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 25, wherein the geometry favoring excitation of molecules includes atomic edges.

28. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the substrate includes one or more metals that tend not to acquire adsorbates.

29. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 28, wherein the one or more metals that tend not to acquire adsorbates include any one or more of platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, gold, and silver.

30. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the substrate includes a conducting surface whose highest phonon frequency is less than a dominant vibrational transition energy of a vibrationally excited reactant.

31. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 30, wherein the conducting surface includes crystalline material.

32. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 30, wherein the conducting surface includes any one or more of palladium and platinum.

33. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 14, further including a channel formed from under and through the energy converter and the substrate to the reaction region, wherein any one or more of reactants and stimulants may be added using the channel into the reaction region.

34. The energy extracting apparatus of claim 33, wherein the any one or more of reactants and stimulants in the channel cool the energy converter.

35. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the useful form of energy comprise electrical potential.

36. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the distance from the most distant part of the reaction volume normal to the collection surface is less than three times the vibration energy diffusion length of the reactants.

37. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the hot carriers include one or both of hot electrons and hot holes.