Diode Array, many small parallel diodes to aggregate rectified Johnson Noise

[Charlie Brown ARN]

The diode array and photocells that yield electricity from ambient heat by absorbing 10 micron infrared will probably ultimately become the best energy sources in the world. They may be thousands of times cheaper than present forms of energy and have fewer direct side effects. Ihis would have enormous social impact.

The diode array consists of billions of C60 buckyball anodes on a N type InSb substrate which becomes very many uniform very small diodes in consistant alignment parallel. Each diode contributes 1/2 kTB watts times the device efficiency to the array. k = Boltsmann's constant, ~ 1.38 !0^-23; T = absolute temperature, degrees Kelvn; B = the natural thermal bandwidth, ~10^12 Hz. I have a rough expectation of 50% efficiency so each diode should yield ~1 nanowatt. The aggregated power may be hundreds of watts per sq cm or sq inch which is a unit ~6.5cm? times larger @ 20C / 68F.

I hold U.S. patent 3,890,161, DIODE ARRAY filed 1973, granted 1975, Reverted to the public 1992.
On the web at? www,diodearray.com and http://peswiki.com/index.php/OS:CBC:Main_Page

College nanofab lab people with a supportave academic atmosphere can check out the diode array concept and, if encouraging results emerge, build start up practical chips. These people can start with a brief discription of the concept then progress, reinforced by each other in the global research network.

Frequently Raised Objections:
1) The load will nullify the effects of the source. Diode arrays may run at 1/20 volts matched load. This voltage would be produced by a 10 meg ohm resistor. The load resistance is typically much lower.
2)There is a minimum foward voltage reqirement:
No, the current tunnels through the depletion region circumventing this abstract voltage. The depletion region changes width dynamically; it is narrow and highly permiable in the foward direction and wide and obstructive in the reverse direction. Any shift perferring one polarity over the other will be aggregated. The diode array prototype succeded in being an over kTB machine.
3)Maxwell's demon needs more energy to work than is gained by his work:
The demon can be entirely passive. It does not have to illuminate the moving charges to work with them. Diodes will slowly deteriorate to non rectifying blobs in a very long time but they will handle much more energy than is needed in their manufacture in that time.
4)It works for full wave rectification but not half wave:
It is easier to see that it works with full wave rectification but the key to its operation, asymetrical conductivity, is present in the half wave variation. The full wave version uses 4 diodes per element and a source energy resistor while producing 2 times the power. furthermore, the 4 diodes and the resistor have to be carefully arranged. Its harder to make and is half as good.


Aloha, Charlie

Edit concens inserting my picture which I haven't suceeded in doing yet.

[andreas_varesi]

Hi Charlie,

your Diode Array sounds very convincing, much more than all of those magnetic overunity toys. Do you have any prototypes running or is there anyone who made use of your patent?

Thanks for the information

Andreas

[Kysmett]

If I remember correctly, you were looking for manufacturers for a prototype.  Am I correct?
If so, I may be in a position to help.  Please send me (or post)the specs and the processes that you think are needed and I will talk to a small lab that I have connections with and see if I can get it done. 

There is one question that I have been meaning to ask.  If these diodes extract power from the ambient, then at what point in the manufacturing process is a potential voltage created (an of course how much)and how does one deal with that.

[Charlie Brown ARN]

Kysmett,

Nano Lab went next door to a neighbor among the hi tech companies near MIT for a spin casting machine to stretch a film of C60 buckyballs in plastic monomer evenly on the surface of the 2" InSb wafer  I sent them from www.universitywafer.com . Carbon is so light that it is hard to see with x rays. A scanning electron microscope can probably show where the C60s are. I decided to relax the spacing spec from 9nm to 30 nm, There are now expected to be 10^11 C60s / cm2.

The diode array will produce its open circiut voltage of ~1/10 volts as soon as its made. This voltage may serve to repel the C60s into an even dispertion. An insulative cover slip may be needed.
Applying the metal top conductive layer is one of the last steps in manufacture; the diodes will be separated before the metal is applied.
The wafer may be cut into dies before he top metal layer is applied and the dies coated seperately. It is important not to short out the output with bridges from the top metal to ground on the bottom of the substrate. This won't harm the chip but it will hide the output. Electricity will be produced and cooling will occour as soon as an electrical load in value between a short and an open is attached between the metal layers.

Aloha, Charlie

[Charlie Brown ARN]

andreas varesi, 

The prototype was made from a diode patch which is almost a diode array. As diodes became smaller to handle higher frequencies They became smaller and harder to find so a leading innovator came up with the idea of making the diodes in an easy to find patch where one diode would be selected at random. Dr. Thomas W Crowe of the University of Virginia, Charlottsville went to the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornel U for masks to make evenly spaced Au anodes embedded in glass on N type GaAs to form these chips which were used in satellite transponders untill fabrication techniques became good enough to use one diode. Dr. Crowe and others from the solid state device lab U of V, C spun away to form Virginia Diodes Inc where draw down stocks of diode patches as dies on wafers are availiable. Dr. Crowe does not support the diode array but VDI will sell diode patches to experimenters. Sole inventors get a 50% discount.
I invite people to conduct experiments on these diode patches which are converted to diode arrays by applying a conductive layer to bring all the diodes into consistent alignment parallel. The diodes are too large to be practical but the lab I commissioned  got somewhat more than 1/2 kTB watts from a chip immersed in pure inert vegetable oil for temprature uniformaty in a well shielded box. They applied ferromagnetic conductive paste to the face of the chip. The ferromagnetic quality makes the paste easy to handle.

It is bolder to go for the C60 version of the diode array which should lead to excellent practical use. I think that many developers should work together on the web to realize this wonderful energy prospect.

Aloha, Charlie