Oscillating thermal switch using electrostatic forces

Petelin, Nada (author), Pečar, Borut (author), Vrtačnik, Danilo (author), Perne, Jakob (author), Tomc, Urban (author), Kitanovski, Andrej (author)

Thermal control devices such as thermal switches, thermal diodes, thermal regulators and thermal capacitors can control the intensity and direction of heat flow, which has proven useful in various thermal management applications. Their operation is analogous to that of their electrical counterparts, where temperature differences correspond to voltage differences and heat flow corresponds to electric current. Here we design and fabricate a thermal switch that controls the heat flow from the heat source by changing the thermal conductance when switching ON and OFF. The thermal switch uses electrostatic forces for actuation and makes thermal contact between the heat source and the heat sink when in the ON state, and breaks contact when in the OFF state. The thermal switch is constructed using the commercially available materials. The heat sink and heat source are made of silicon, and the active part of the heat switch is a flexible gadolinium sheet with a thickness of 161 µm. The proof-of-concept device was evaluated for a magnetocaloric application; however, the proposed thermal switch can be used in any thermal circuit for fast thermal regulation and advanced thermal control.

• Language: English
• Keywords: heat transfer, heat management, thermal switch, thermal control devices
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.08 - Published Scientific Conference Contribution
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 6 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 2766, art. 012204
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-158634
• UDC: 536.24
• ISSN on article: 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2766/1/012204
• COBISS.SI-ID: 199190787
• Publication date in RUL: 18.06.2024

Record is a part of a proceedings

• Title: Eurotherm 2024
• COBISS.SI-ID: 197654787

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of physics : Conference series
• Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing
• ISSN: 1742-6596
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2035044

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: prenos toplote, upravljanje s toploto, toplotno stikalo, toplotni kontrolni elementi