Power Chips?

[GlassMann]

Check out this site that I found.

http://www.powerchips.gi

Does this seem like a possible technology? Or do you guys think it probably just a lot of hype to scam investors?

Glenn

 

[btrueblood]

Not hype per se. The technology is viable and do-able with a couple caveats.

1) It's been done before, thermoelectric and thermionic converters have been used for both power generation and heat pump applications.

2) The idea of using a low-work function electrode is not new either. Maybe current calculation techniques can optimize the electrode shape/material/temperature combinations, dunno - I'm not a condensed matter physicist.

3) The idea of using CVD diamond plating is new, and a good idea - any plasma electron exchange device is plauged with the possible "back flow" of charged ions. In the case of thermionic devices, this is what would cause the tubes to burn out after XXX hours operation. Using a diamond film could help reduce this problem (increase the energy required to vaporize/ionize anode material). Maybe. Don't know if it doesn't simultaneously affect work function.

4) I'd love to have a couple of these to test. I'm not sure the company could provide me with a couple no matter how much $$$ I'd pay. They've been at it for > 5 years, with no published data, or prototypes available that I can see. Like a lot of other neat ideas, the results will depend on getting a lot of finicky details right. I'd like to see some kind of documentation of their development efforts to date before I'd invest any money that I wasn't willing to see fly away.

My $.02.

 

[25362]

What is the temperature difference suggested ? What about radiation heat transfer from one chip to the other ?