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Transient Thermal Energy Harvesting at a Single Temperature Using Nonlinearity
Tamzeed B Amin1, James M Mangum1, Md R Kabir2
1Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|April 26, 2025
Summary
Researchers theoretically demonstrate transient thermal energy harvesting using nonlinear circuits with diodes. Higher quality diodes yield more stored charge, but harvesting is temporary and requires capacitor disconnection before discharge.
Area of Science:
- Nonlinear circuit analysis
- Thermodynamics
- Energy harvesting
Background:
- Investigating methods for harvesting thermal energy.
- Exploring the role of nonlinear components in energy conversion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To theoretically study two nonlinear circuits for transient thermal energy harvesting.
- To analyze the impact of diode quality and capacitance on energy harvesting.
Main Methods:
- Solving Ito-Langevin and Fokker-Planck equations.
- Utilizing a large parameter space including capacitance and diode quality.
- Theoretical modeling of series and full-wave rectifier circuits.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated transient thermal energy harvesting at a single temperature using diodes.
- Observed that higher quality diodes result in greater stored charge and longer lifetimes.
- Confirmed that capacitor charge is zero at equilibrium, satisfying the second law of thermodynamics.
Conclusions:
- Nonlinear circuits with diodes can achieve transient thermal energy harvesting.
- Effective harvesting requires charging capacitors and then disconnecting them before discharge.
- Diode nonlinearity is key to harvesting ambient thermal energy, albeit transiently.
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