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Thermoelectric current sources
INVENTION
Patent of the Russian Federation RU2195742

THERMO ELECTRIC TRANSFORMER

THERMO ELECTRIC TRANSFORMER

The name of the inventor: DAVIS Edwin D. (US)
The name of the patentee: DAVIS Edwin D. (US)
Patent Attorney: Epstein Mikhail Yakovlevich
Address for correspondence: 105023, Moscow, ul. Electrozavodskaya 27, of.504, the company "ROUTEK", Epshteynu M.Ya.
Date of commencement of the patent: 1997.11.14

The invention relates to devices for converting thermal energy into electrical energy. The technical result is an increase in the conversion ability of the thermionic converter and a reduction in electron scattering in the thermionic electrical converter to produce a larger surface, and a cathode is used for evaporation of the electrons from the wire mesh. As an alternative or complement by using the curved surface of the electron emission, a much larger surface area of ​​the electron emission can be obtained. The laser provides quantum interference of electrons just before they reach the anode, whereby their energy levels decrease so much that they are more easily captured by the anode.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to devices for direct conversion of thermal energy to electrical energy, and more particularly, is an improved thermionic electrical converter.

Until now, thermionic converters have been disclosed in US Pat. Nos. 3,519,854, 3,322,811, 4,303,845, 4,332,808 and 5,459,367 (all of these patents have been issued to the present inventor and are used herein as references) and in which various devices and methods for direct conversion of thermal Energy into electrical energy. US Pat. No. 3,519,854 proposes a converter using output current collection means based on the Hall effect. The idea of ​​the invention presented in the patent 3519854 is to use as a source of electrons the flow of electrons evaporated by the emission surface of the cathode. Electrons are accelerated by an electric field in the direction toward the anode behind the transducer operating according to the Hall effect principle. In patent 3,519,854, the anode is a simple metal plate having an element surrounding this plate and isolated from it, on which a large electrostatic charge is generated.

US Pat. No. 3,322,611 describes a thermionic converter of a spherical configuration having a spherical emission cathode that when heated emits electrons in the direction of a concentric spherical anode under the action of a control element with respect to which the cathode has a high positive potential and from which it is isolated. In the patent 3328611 and, as in the patent 3519854, the anode is a simple metal surface.

US Pat. No. 4,303,845 describes a thermionic converter in which the electron flux from the cathode passes through an induction hollow coil located in a transverse magnetic field, thereby generating an emf in an induction coil by interacting an electron beam with a transverse magnetic field. In patent 4303845, the anode consists of a metal plate having an element surrounding this plate and insulated from it, on which a large electrostatic charge is generated.

US Pat. No. 4,323,808 discloses a thermionic converter with laser excitation very similar in design to the thermionic converter described in patent 4303845. The main difference is that patent 4323808 proposes to use a laser whose beam is directed to a grid on which electrons are collected, At a time when it is removed from the voltage. In this case, electronic clusters arise which are accelerated towards the anode and pass through a hollow inductive coil located in a transverse magnetic field. In US Pat. No. 4,323,808, and as in Patent 3,519,854, the anode is a simple metal plate having an element surrounding this plate and an element isolated therefrom on which a large electrostatic charge is generated.

In the invention described in US Pat. No. 5,459,367, as an improvement, an improved collecting member is provided in which copper plates and a copper sulfate gel are used as an anode instead of a metal plate. In addition, the anode has an element surrounding this plate and insulated from it, on which a large charge, for example, electrostatic, is created.

Another design of the prior art has a cathode and an anode located in a vacuum chamber at a relatively close (of the order of two microns) distance from each other. In this design, no other attractive forces are used to attract electrons emitted from the cathode surface to the anode, other than the attractive forces of cesium atoms introduced into the chamber surrounding the cathode and the anode. Cesium creates a positive charge on the anode, which supports the flow of electrons. Since the cathode and the anode are located so close to each other, it is difficult to maintain a significant temperature difference between them. For example, under normal conditions, the cathode temperature is 1800 K, and the anode temperature is 800 K. To maintain the required temperature difference, the cathode is provided with a heat source, and the anode has a special circulating cooling system. Although a vacuum is maintained in the chamber (with a pressure different from that of the cesium vapor source), heat is transferred from the cathode to the anode, and a significant amount of energy is required to maintain the desired temperature difference between closely located cathode and anode surfaces. This, in turn, significantly reduces the effectiveness of this system.

In accordance with the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved thermionic electric converter.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermionic electrical converter with improved conversion capability. It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved cathode for a thermionic electrical converter.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a thermionic electrical converter having a cathode and an anode that are separated in space so substantially that they are thermally isolated from each other.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a thermionic electric converter in which energy could be taken away from electrons just before they collide with the anode.

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention, which will be more fully understood from the detailed description given below, can be realized with a thermionic electrical converter having a housing element, a cathode located within the housing member and acting while heated, so that it serves as an electron source, And an anode inside the body element and acting so that it receives electrons emitted by the cathode. The cathode is a wire mesh having wires extending in at least two transverse directions. The first charged focusing ring is located in the housing element between the cathode and the anode and acts so that it directs the electrons emitted by the cathode through the first focusing ring on their way to the anode.

The second charged focusing ring is located in the housing element between the first focusing ring and the anode and acts so that it directs the electrons emitted by the cathode on their way to the anode through the second focusing ring. In addition, additional focusing rings may be required. Preferably, the cathode is separated from the anode by a gap of from four microns to five centimeters. More preferably, the cathode is separated from the anode by a gap of one to three centimeters. The laser is designed to excite electrons (i.e., action on them by a laser beam) in the space between the cathode and the anode. The laser excites electrons just before they reach the anode. The laser serves to provide quantum interference with electrons, so that electrons are more easily captured by the anode.

Preferably, the cathode wire mesh contains at least four wire layers. Moreover, each of the wire layers has wires extending in the other direction from (wires) each other of the wire layers, thus the wire mesh of the cathode contains wires extending in at least four different directions. This is done in order to greatly increase the emission surface of the cathode.

Alternatively, the present invention can be represented as a thermionic electrical converter having a housing element, a cathode located within the housing element and acting to be heated, so that it serves as an electron source, the anode within the housing element and acting so as to receive electrons , Emitted by the cathode, and a laser designed to excite electrons between the cathode and the anode. Thus, the laser provides quantum interference with electrons so that they are more easily captured by the anode. The laser acts in such a way that it excites electrons just before they reach the anode. The laser acts so that it excites electrons when they are at a distance of two microns from the anode. The cathode is a wire mesh whose wires pass in at least two transverse directions. The cathode is separated from the anode by a gap ranging from four microns to five centimeters.

Alternatively, the present invention can be represented as a thermionic electrical converter having a housing element, a cathode located within the housing element and acting to be heated, so that it serves as an electron source, and the anode within the housing element and acting in such a manner that it receives Electrons emitted by the cathode and passing mainly along the direction of motion, determining the direction from the cathode to the anode. The cathode has a flat cross-sectional area perpendicular to the direction of motion of the electrons, the cathode has an electron emission surface area for electron emission to the anode, and the electron emission surface area is at least 30% larger than the plane cross-sectional area. The cathode is a wire mesh whose wires pass in at least two transverse directions. Alternatively, or additionally, the cathode is bent in a direction perpendicular to the direction of travel. There is also a laser that acts in such a way that it excites electrons just before they reach the anode. Preferably, the electron emission surface area is at least twice the area of ​​the planar cross section. And it is even more preferable that the electron emission surface area is twice the area of ​​the flat cross-section. The smaller the diameter of the wires, the larger the surface area of ​​the electron emission. This dependence has an exponential character.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following is a detailed description of the invention with reference to the attached figures, in which like elements are denoted by like numerals.

THERMO ELECTRIC TRANSFORMER

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a thermionic electrical converter of the prior art.

THERMO ELECTRIC TRANSFORMER

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a thermionic electric converter of the known
State of the art with laser excitation.

FIG. 3 shows a side view with a cross-section of the parts and a thermionic electric circuit
Converter according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of a wire mesh structure used to make a cathode. FIG. 5 is a side view of a portion of a wire mesh structure. FIG. FIG. 6 is a side view of a portion of an alternative wire mesh structure. FIG. 7 is a side diagram of a plurality of layers of a wire mesh structure. FIG. 8 is a side view of an alternative simplified wire mesh structure. FIG.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 show thermionic electrical converters of the prior art disclosed in US Patents 4,303,845 and 4,332,808, respectively, issued to the inventor of the present invention by Edwin D. Davis; Their description is given here with appropriate references. Since the operation of both of these thermionic electrical converters is described in detail in the corresponding patents, in this specification, an overview of the principle of operation is given with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. This is a prerequisite useful in understanding the essence of the present invention.

1 shows a basic thermionic electrical converter, and FIG. 2 - thermionic electric converter with laser excitation. Principles of operation of both converters are very similar to each other.

The attached figures show a basic thermionic electrical converter 10. The converter 10 has an elongated cylindrical outer shell 12 provided with a pair of end walls 14 and 16 forming a closed chamber 18. The body 12 is made of one of a variety of known strong, non-conductive materials such as, for example, High-temperature plastic or ceramic, and the end walls 14, 16 are metal plates to which electrical connections can be connected. The elements are mechanically connected to each other and sealed so that a vacuum can be created in the chamber 18, and a moderately high electrical potential can be created and maintained on the end walls 14 and 16.

The first end wall 14 has a formed cathode region 20 with an electron-emitting coating (not shown) disposed on its inner surface, and the second end wall 116 is formed as a circular, slightly convex surface that is first mounted on the insulating ring 21 to produce an assembly , All of which are then placed in the housing 12. During operation, the end walls 14 and 16 act respectively as a cathode terminal and a collecting plate of the converter 10. Between these two walls, the electron flow 22 will flow substantially along the axis of symmetry of the cylindrical chamber 18, starting from the cathode Area 20 and ending on the collecting plate 16.

The annular focusing element 24 is concentrically disposed in the chamber 18 at a location near the cathode 20. The reflective element 26 is concentrically disposed in the chamber 18 at a location adjacent to the collecting plate 16.

Between these two elements is an induction assembly 28 consisting of a helical induction coil 30 and an elongated annular magnet 32. The coil 30 and the magnet 32 ​​are concentrically disposed in the chamber 18, occupying its central portion. Let us briefly consider the schematic end view of FIG. 2, in which it is possible to see the relative radial arrangement of various elements and assemblies. For the sake of simplicity, the mechanical means for securing these in-house elements is not shown in any of the figures. The focusing element 24 is electrically connected by a wire 34 and a hermetically closed through hole 36 to an external static potential source (not shown). The induction coil 30 is similarly connected by a pair of wires 38 and 40 and a pair of through-holes 42 and 44 with an external load member shown simply as a resistor 46.

The potentials applied to various elements are not shown in full and are not considered in detail, since they represent a well-known means of implementing the corresponding devices for creating an electron beam. In short, if we accept (traditionally) the cathode region 20 as the voltage reference level, it turns out that a large static charge is applied to the collecting plate 16, and the external circuit containing this voltage source terminates by connecting its negative side to the cathode 20. This applied large A positive static charge causes an electron beam 22 starting from the cathode region 20 and accelerating along the collecting plate 16 so that its magnitude directly depends on the magnitude of the applied large static charge. The collision of electrons with the collecting plate 16 occurs at a rate sufficient to create a certain degree of rebound. The reflecting element 26 is designed and arranged so as not to give the rebounding rebound electrons to the electrons in the main part of the converter, in addition, the necessary electrical connections (not shown) are brought to it. To focus the electron beam 22 into the narrow beam, a negative voltage of a low or medium level is applied to the focusing element 24. During operation, a heat source 48 is used to heat the electron-emitting coating of the cathode 20 and evaporation due to this electron portion 48 (which can be obtained from various sources such as sources generating heat from the combustion of fossil fuels, the use of nuclear devices, nuclear products Decay or heat exchangers from existing nuclear reactors). The emitted electrons are focused by the focusing element 24 into a narrow beam and accelerated toward the collecting plate 16. When the induction assembly 28 passes, the electrons are influenced by the magnetic field produced by the magnet 32 ​​and perform a mutual motion causing an induced electromotive force (EMF) in the turns of the induction coil 30, . In fact, this induced EMF is the sum of a large number of individual electrons that form small circular contours of current flow, due to which a corresponding large number of instantaneous emf is created in each coil winding 30. In general, the output voltage of the converter is proportional to the speed of the moving electrons, and the output current depends on the size and temperature of the electron source. The mechanism for creating induced EMF can be explained in terms of the Lorentz force, which acts on an electron having an initial linear velocity when it enters a substantially uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the velocity of the electron. In a correctly designed device, this causes a spiral trajectory of the motion of an electron (not shown), which provides the required resulting rate of flow variation necessary to create an induced EMF in accordance with Faraday's law.

This spiral trajectory of the electron movement is obtained as a result of the combination of the linear translational trajectory (longitudinal) caused by the accelerating action of the collecting plate 16 and the circular trajectory (transverse) caused by the interaction of the initial electron velocity with the transverse magnetic field of the magnet 32. Depending on the relative magnitude of the high voltage, Applied to the collecting plate 16 and the intensity and orientation of the magnetic field produced by the magnet 32, other mechanisms for creating a voltage directly in the induction winding 30 are possible. The mechanism discussed above is purely illustrative and can not be considered the only possible operating mode. Nevertheless, all other mechanisms must follow from various combinations of the corresponding laws of Lorentz and Faraday.

The main difference between the base transducer described in US Pat. No. 4,303,845 and the laser excitation transducer described in US Pat. No. 4,323,808 is that in a laser excitation transducer, electrons evaporating from the surface of the cathode collect on a grid 176 having a small negative potential Fed to it from a negative potential source 178 via a wire 180 that captures an electron beam generated by a plurality of electrons. The electric potential applied to the grid is removed when the grid is simultaneously subjected to a laser pulse discharge of the laser assembly 170, 173, 174, 20 causing the release of the electron clot 22. Then the electron bunch 22 is electrically focused and directed through the inner part of the turns of the hollow induction coil located in the transverse magnetic Field, thereby producing an emf in the induction coil applied to perform the operation on the external circuit, as described above for the basic thermionic converter.

As described in the US Pat. No. 5,459,367, the basic structure has many serious drawbacks associated generally with the fact that the collecting member is made simply of a conductive metal plate. Therefore, the collecting element of this design includes a conductive layer of copper sulfate gel, which is impregnated with copper fibers. Such an anode can be used in the present invention. However, in the present invention, an anode of a conductive metal plate can also be used, since other of its features make it possible to minimize, or even eliminate, some of the disadvantages that otherwise could be caused by such a plate anode. In this case, the characteristics of the anode are not so significant for the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 3, a thermionic transducer 200 according to the present invention is shown herein including a body member 202 in which a reduced pressure is maintained in a known manner by vacuum equipment. The body member 202 is preferably cylindrical with respect to the central axis 202A serving as the axis of symmetry of the member 202 and, unless otherwise specified, separately, its components.

The collector 204 may include a planar anode circular plate 206 (made, for example, of copper) surrounded by a statically charged ring 208 (with a charge of, for example, up to 1,000 coulombs) having concentric insulating rings 210. The ring 208 and rings 210 may have Structure and operating principle described in the patent 5459367. The cooling element 212 has a thermal connection with the plate 206 such that the refrigerant from the refrigerant source 214 is recirculated therein along the refrigerant circuit 216. The cooling element 212 maintains the anode plate at the desired temperature. Alternatively, the cooling element 212 can be the same as the anode plate 206 (in other words, the coolant can circulate through the plate 206). To stabilize the temperature of the anode 206, a feedback device (not shown) with one or more sensors (not shown) may be used.

The cathode assembly 218 of the present invention includes a cathode 220 heated by a heat source so that it emits electrons that normally travel along the direction of travel 202A to the anode 206. As in patent 5459367, a charged ring 208 helps to attract electrons to the anode. Although the heat source is shown as a source 222 of the heating medium (liquid or gas) flowing to the heating element 224 (which has a thermal connection with the cathode 220) through the heating circuit 226, alternative energy sources such as a laser attached to the Cathode 224. Sources of solar, laser, microwave and radioactive energy can be used to inject energy into source 222. Moreover, spent nuclear fuel can be used to generate heat at source 222, which otherwise is simply subject to disposal, which is costly and does not do any good.

The electrons excited in the cathode 220 to the Fermi level disappear from the surface of the cathode, attracted by the static charge ring 208, pass along the direction of motion 202A through the first and second focusing rings or cylinders 228 and 230 that can be made and act similarly to the focusing element 24 described above Known device. To help the electrons move in the desired direction, the cathode 224 can surround the shield 232. The shield 232 can be cylindrical or conical or, as shown, include a cylindrical portion closer to the cathode 224 and a conical portion farther from the cathode 224. In In any case, the screen tends to support the movement of electrons in the direction 202A. The electrons will tend to repel the shield 232, since it must have a relatively high temperature (due to proximity to the relatively high temperature cathode 220). As an alternative or complement to the repulsion of electrons due to their high temperature, the screen 232 can have a negative charge applied thereto. In the latter case, there should be insulation between shield 232 and cathode 220 (not shown).

The electrical energy produced by the flow of electrons from the cathode 220 to the anode 206 is fed through the cathode wire 234 and the anode wire 236 to the external circuit 238.

Turning from the general operating principle of converter 200 to its specific advantages, it should be noted that electrons, such as electron 240, tend to have a higher energy state as they approach anode 206. Therefore, a normal phenomenon for some of them will be evaporation from the surface without capture back. This usually leads to electronic scattering and reduces the conversion efficiency of the converter. In order to exclude or significantly reduce this tendency, the present invention uses a laser 242 which excites electrons (i.e., beats them with a laser beam 244) just before they reach the anode 206. Quantum interference between photons of the laser beam 224 and electrons 240 reduces the energy state of the electrons, so that they are more easily captured by the surface of the anode 206.

It should be understood that due to the dual nature of the wave corpuscular nature of light, electrons excited by a laser beam can have both wave and corpuscular properties. Of course, the scope of the formula of the present invention is not limited to any particular theory of the operation of a device, unless the exact point of the formula itself contains an exact reference to a particular theory, such as the theory of quantum interference. The used phrase that the laser 242 excites the electrons with the beam 244 "just before", as the electrons reach the anode 206, means that the electrons that were excited do not pass through any other components (such as a focusing element), but continue Move to the anode 206. More precisely, it is preferable that the electrons are excited not more than two microns from the point of incidence onto the anode 206, and even more preferably the electrons are excited not more than one micron from the point of incidence to the anode 206. In fact, the distance from the second focusing Of the element 230 to the anode 206 can be one micron, and the laser can excite electrons even closer to the anode 206. Thus (ie, when the electrons are excited just before they reach the anode), the energy of the electrons decreases precisely at the point where it is most Necessary and useful.

Although the body member 202 may be opaque, for example metallic, the laser window 246 is made of a transparent material, so that the laser beam 244 can extend from the laser 242 to the chamber in the element 202. Alternatively, the laser 242 may be located in the chamber itself .

In addition to improving the conversion efficiency by using a laser 242 to reduce the energy level of the electrons just before they reach the anode 206, the cathode 220 according to the present invention is specially designed to increase the conversion efficiency by increasing the cathode emission area 220.

4, here the cathode 220 is shown as a circular grid consisting of wires 248. The wires 250 of the upper or first layer of parallel wires extend in the direction 252 while the wires 254 of the second layer of parallel wires pass in a direction 256 transverse to the direction 252 And preferably perpendicular to the direction 252. The third layer of parallel wires (for simplicity, only one wire 258 is shown) extends in the direction 260 (making an angle of 45 ° with directions 252 and 256). A fourth layer of parallel wires (for simplicity, only one wire 262 is shown) extends in the direction 264 (making an angle with the direction 260 equal to 90 ° ).

It should also be noted that in FIG. 4, wires with relatively large separation distances between them are shown, which is done for the sake of simplicity of illustration. Preferably, the wires are thinly drawn, and the separation distances between the parallel wires in one layer are close to their diameter. Preferably, the diameter of the wires is two millimeters or less, up to the size of the finest filament. The wires can be made of tungsten or another metal used to make cathodes.

5, the wires 250 and 254 can be offset relative to each other such that all of the wires 250 (only one shown in FIG. 5) lie in a common plane offset relative to another common plane in which the wires 254 lie. The alternative construction shown In FIG. 6, has wires 250 '(only one is visible), which are interwoven both in the fabric.

7, alternative cathode 220 'may have three portions 266, 268 and 270. Each of the portions 266, 268 and 270 may have two perpendicular wire layers (not shown in FIG. 7), such as 250 and 254 (or 250' And 254 '). The portion 266 must have wires extending in the plane of FIG. 7, and wires parallel to the plane of FIG. 7. Part 268 has two wire layers each having wires extending in an angle of 30 ° with one of the directions of the wires for part 266. Part 270 has two wire layers each having wires extending in Direction making an angle of 60 ° with one of the directions of the wires for part 266.

It should be understood that FIG. 7 is purely illustrative in view of the fact that a plurality of layers of wires extending in different directions can be used.

Various designs of wire mesh for the cathode allow to increase the effective surface area of ​​electron emission by changing the shape of the wires and using multiple layers. An alternative way to increase the surface area is shown in FIG. 8, which shows a lateral cross section of a parabolic cathode 280 used to emit electrons moving mainly along the direction of travel 220A '. The cathode 280 has a flat cross-sectional area A perpendicular to the direction of motion 202A. It is important that the cathode 280 has a surface area of ​​the electron emission EA (due to the curvature of the cathode) to emit electrons in the direction of the anode, which is at least 30% greater than the area of ​​the planar cross section A. Thus, for a given cathode size, . Although the cathode 280 is shown as a parabola, other curved surfaces can be used. The cathode 280 may be made of a solid element or may consist of a plurality of wire mesh structures as described in FIGS. 4 to 7, except that each layer must be not flat but curved.

Although the cathode design curve shown in FIG. 8 provides an electron emission area EA that is at least 30% larger than the cross-sectional area A, various wire mesh structures such as those shown in FIG. 4 provide an area An electron emission surface that is at least twice the area of ​​the lateral cross section (i.e., determined as shown in FIG. 8). In fact, the surface area of ​​the electron emission in the mesh structures should be at least ten times larger than the area of ​​the lateral cross section.

The advantage is that the present invention allows the cathode 220 and the anode 206 to be offset from each other over a distance of four microns to five centimeters. More specifically, this displacement or separation distance should be from one to three centimeters. Thus, the cathode and the anode are sufficiently separated from one another so that the heat from the cathode is transferred to the anode much less than in such structures where the cathode and the anode must be in close proximity to each other. Therefore, the refrigerant source 214 can have a design requiring a much smaller amount of refrigerant than is necessary in most known designs.

While the description of the present invention is given with specific examples of its implementation, it is obvious that any one of ordinary skill in the art will understand any of its alternatives, modifications and variations. Therefore, preferred embodiments of the invention presented herein are not limiting, but purely illustrative. Within the scope and spirit of the present invention, various changes are possible, as defined herein and in the appended claims.

CLAIM

1. A thermionic electric transducer that includes a body element, a cathode located inside the housing element acting as a source of electrons during heating, and an anode within the housing member operative to receive electrons emitted by the cathode, the cathode being a wire mesh, Which pass in at least two directions, transverse to each other.

2. A thermionic electric converter that includes a body element, a cathode located inside the housing element acting as a source of electrons during heating, and an anode within the housing member operable to receive electrons emitted by the cathode, the cathode being a wire mesh, Which pass in at least two directions, transverse to each other, and a laser acting to excite electrons between the cathode and the anode.

3. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 2, further comprising a charged first focusing ring located within the housing element between the cathode and the anode, acting to direct electrons emitted by the cathode through the first focusing ring on their way to the anode.

4. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 3 also comprises a charged second focusing ring located within the housing element between the first focusing ring and the anode acting to direct the electrons emitted by the cathode through the second focusing ring on their way to the anode.

5. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 2, wherein the cathode is separated from the anode by a distance of 4 μm to 5 cm.

6. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 5, wherein the cathode is separated from the anode by a distance of 1 to 3 cm.

7. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 2, wherein the laser acts to excite electrons just before they reach the anode.

8. The thermionic electric transducer of claim 7, wherein the laser acts to provide quantum interference with the electrons so that the electrons are more easily captured by the anode.

9. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 2, wherein the cathode wire mesh includes at least four layers of wires.

10. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 9, wherein each of the wire layers has wires extending in the other direction from each other of the wire layers, thus, the cathode wire grid comprises wires extending in at least four different directions.

11. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 2, wherein the cathode is a wire mesh whose wires extend in at least two transverse directions.

12. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 2, wherein the cathode is curved in at least one direction perpendicular to the direction of travel.

13. A thermionic electrical converter that includes a housing element, a cathode located inside the housing element acting as a source of electrons during heating, and an anode inside the housing member acting to receive electrons emitted by the cathode, and a laser acting to excite electrons Between the cathode and the anode, thereby creating a quantum interference with the electrons, so that the electrons are more easily captured by the anode.

14. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 13, wherein the laser acts to excite electrons just before they reach the anode.

15. The thermionic electric transducer of claim 14, wherein the laser acts to excite electrons at a distance of 2 μm from the anode.

16. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 15, wherein the cathode is a wire mesh whose wires extend in at least two transverse directions.

17. The thermionic electrical converter of claim 16, wherein the separation distance between the cathode and the anode is from 4 μm to 5 cm.

18. The thermionic electric transducer of claim 15, wherein the electron emission surface area is at least ten times larger than the flat cross-sectional area.

19. A thermionic electric transducer that includes a body element, a cathode located within the housing element acting as a source of electrons when heated, and an anode within the housing member operative to receive electrons emitted by the cathode and extending substantially along the direction of travel, The cathode has a flat cross-sectional area perpendicular to the direction of motion, the cathode has an electron emission surface area for emitting electrons in the direction toward the anode, the electron emission surface area being at least 30% greater than the area of ​​the planar transverse Section.

20. A thermionic electrical converter that includes a housing element, a cathode located within the housing member acting as a source of electrons as an electron source, an anode within the housing member operable to receive electrons emitted by the cathode and extending substantially along the direction of motion defining Direction from the cathode to the anode, the cathode having a flat cross-sectional area perpendicular to the direction of motion, the cathode having an electron emission surface area for emitting electrons in the direction toward the anode, the electron emission surface area being at least 30% greater than the flat cross-sectional area , A and contains a laser acting to excite electrons between the cathode and the anode just before they reach the anode, the surface area of ​​the electron emission being at least twice the area of ​​the planar cross section.

print version
Date of publication 07.01.2007gg