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Published on: November 3, 2010
Radiative Heat Shuttling
Ivan Latella1, Riccardo Messina2, J Miguel Rubi3
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, PQ J1K 2R1, Canada.
Abstract:
We demonstrate the existence of a shuttling effect for the radiative heat flux exchanged between two bodies separated by a vacuum gap when the chemical potential of photons or the temperature difference is modulated. We show that this modulation typically gives rise to a supplementary flux which superimposes to the flux produced by the mean gradient, enhancing the heat exchange. When the system displays a negative differential thermal resistance, however, the radiative shuttling contributes to insulate the two bodies from each other. These results pave the way for a novel strategy for an active management of radiative heat exchanges in nonequilibrium systems.
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