Curled Ballisitic Thermionics

[Philip Hardcastle]

Hi Folks,

A proof by design that the Second Law should be scrapped.

A symmetrical system of electodes at the same temperature and same work function that create torque.

So simple and undeniable.

Will shortly post comments from professors.

The legendary Professor XY Fu says it is correct and will work.

The RTG is not dead but the CBTM does not require special ´nano tips. AG-O-Cs will do or LaB6 for higher temp operation.

Look forward to making a big splash with this.

The World is about to change its view.

Philip H

Enjoy

Curled Ballistic Thermionic Generator
Philip Julian Hardcastle
5th February 2009

Provisional Patent Application

Title of Invention: Curled Ballistic Thermionic Generator

Description: Two electrodes face each other. They may be flat or concentric to each other, as would be the case of a ring within a ring where the first electrode is the outer surface of the smaller diameter ring and the second electrode would be the inner diameter of the larger diameter ring.

The electrode surfaces are treated to provide a suitable thermionic work function for the desired operating temperature. It is envisaged that thermionic work function would be 1.5ev or less such that an operating temperature of less than 1000C would be realised for the device to be described. Whilst both plates may be heated it is envisaged that in operation only one electrode will be heated by an external source and that the other electrode will be heated by a combination of radiative transfer and of energy transfer by electron collisions.

Whilst the phenomena to be described would be applicable to parallel flat plates it is described for the concentric ring model as this configuration lends itself to drive a shaft which in turn is envisaged to provide motive power or to be coupled to a dynamo. Either the inner or outer electrode may be attached to a drive shaft, or both.

The said concentric facing ring electrodes are intersected axially by a magnetic field. When the rings are heated thermionic emission occur as a continuous exchange between the rings. As there is no electrical return path, the rings will find a steady rate of exchange of electrons wherein thermionically emitted electrons from the first ring will collide and be absorbed by the second ring, and visa versa. In the absence of a magnetic field the average collision would be perpendicular to the surface and so there would be no induced torque on the rings, either inner or outer.

As said there is magnetic field applied to the device and axially aligned to the said ring electrodes, thus the thermionic electrons crossing the magnetic field will undergo deflection, or bending, due to their velocity component at right angles to the magnetic field. Consequently their average impact to the electrode will have an angle biased away from vertical and in favour of one direction. These impacts are at subatomic levels and are elastic, thus they cause a mechanical force upon the bulk electrode and so, if there is an average bias of direction, there must be an average direction of induced torque. For a given magnetic field the inner ring would experience a clockwise torque whilst the outer ring would experience a counter clockwise torque. If the magnetic field direction were reversed then so too would the direction of the induced torque however in all cases the inner ring and outer ring electrodes would have opposite directions for induced torque.

The drawing figure 1 is a representation of the configuration and shows by dotted arrows the two way exchange of thermionic electrons between the ring electrodes. The solid arrows show the direction of the induced torque. The magnetic field is not shown but can be imagined to be perpendicular to this page.













In figure 2, a side elevation cut away view, it is shown that the inner ring has been coupled to a dynamo whilst the outer ring has been locked to prevent rotation. The supply of heat to the rings is not shown. No heat exhaust is required for the device.


















For the device to convert heat into a directly useable mechanical form it is operated in ultra high vacuum, this ensures that the thermionic electrons emitted by one electrode can cross to the other electrodes without collision with unwanted gas molecules.

[Philip Hardcastle]

An idea to put multiple sets of electrodes.

As there is not electrical circuit then as many sets of electrodes as is practicable can be built.

Here is a cross section side view of a device with 5 elecrode pairs.

I would imagine perhaps 50 might be reasonable.

So saying then if each set is a square meter of area then a multielectrode device could be 50 square meters of electrodes.

In such a case the output power would be increased 50x, perhaps as a replacement to an automobile engine.

Final torque estimates are in progress.

They may be only a few hundred Joules per layer in early prototypes but if electrode exchange currents can rise to a thousand amps then far higher values can be envisaged.

Presently an attempt is being made to locate all the necessary expertise to construct a watch sized unit operating at room temperature that can claim the energy prize.

Anyone having knowledge of coating electrodes with Ag-O-Cs should post here.

Best

Phil H

[retroworm]

Looks very nice. I haven't fully read the other thread of yours, but this one seems much much easier to pull off in practice.
But I don't think it's a direct 2nd law violation, at least in terms of entropy. It might go slightly against the theoretical efficiencies for heat-to-work, but at best I'd consider it an extremely efficient heat engine. I would expect it to cool down whenever an electron is cast and re-absorbed partly as kinetic energy of the system, needing constant heating of the electrodes.

Regardless, it's very interesting concept and I hope you succeed building a working prototype. Looking forward to it.

[retroworm]

Hmm, looks like I was wrong. It does go against entropy. Apparently Ag-O-Cs casts electrons even in room temperature, which means such a device could potentially draw power from the ambient. Of course the effect is the same in higher temperatures too; the ambient level is just higher. Somehow that didn't occur to me previously.

I did some searching and found this paper
http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0311104
It's the same core principle, but instead of motion, they use the electrons to build a charge difference.
The paper mentions that casting electrons does indeed cool the surface, which allows more heat from surroundings to be drawn in. So it is technically a heat engine, however unconventional one .

I still have bit mixed feelings about the RTG device (after skimming the thread), but this one I think will actally work. Hopefully it will produce enough power to be practical. Thanks for sharing this, it has really captured my interest.

[vince]

Hi Phil;

Please help me to understand your device?

As I see it you have two discs facing each other with (or without) interleaved electrodes which are located within an area that can be subjected to a magnetic field. The said electrodes are coated with Ag-O-C.  One of the discs is driven by a prime mover such as a motor and the opposing one is coupled to a load. The whole device is within a high vacuum.  At this point I am unclear as to it"s operation. Does one of the discs require (HEATING) from some source, and if so does this not consume energy?  Do the electrons that are cast from the primary disc to the secondary disc cause a rotation in the opposite direction and if so does this load the primary mover to draw more power or does it continue to drive at the same input power requirements? Is the final product of your device INCREASED rotation power on the output disc( in the opposite direction to the Primary).

To my understanding your device requires :   Input rotational power (motor)
                                                                 Input heat (electrical or otherwise)
                                                                 High Vacuum (preset or vacuum pump on during operation)

The result of this is increased rotational shaft power output in the  opposite direction that greatly exceeds  the sum of all the inputs.

Please excuse my ignorance if this summation is totally wrong and I would appreciate a simplified correction of my understanding of your device.

Thanks
Vince