Related papers: Optimizing the performance of thermionic devices u…
If fusion power reactors are to be feasible, it will still be necessary to convert the energy of the nuclear reaction into usable form. The heat produced will be removed from the reactor core by a primary coolant, which might be water,…
This paper compares the performances of a vibrationpowered electrical generators using PZT piezoelectric ceramic associated to two different power conditioning circuits. A new approach of the piezoelectric power conversion based on a…
Thermal attenuator channels model the decoherence of quantum systems interacting with a thermal bath, e.g., a two-level system subject to thermal noise and an electromagnetic signal travelling through a fiber or in free-space. Hence…
Photovoltaic cells usually have two terminals, one collecting electrons and the other collecting holes. Can more terminals improve such solar cells? Energy-filtering terminals could collect "hot" carriers (electrons or holes not yet relaxed…
Modern society critically depends on the services electric power provides. Power systems rely on a network of power lines and transformers to deliver power from sources of power (generators) to the consumers (loads). However, when power…
The energy transition, crucial for tackling the climate crisis, demands integrating numerous distributed, renewable energy sources into existing grids. Along with climate change and consumer behavioral changes, this leads to changes and…
The problem of energy-efficient precoding is investigated when the terminals in the system are equipped with multiple antennas. Considering static and fast-fading multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels, the energy-efficiency is…
Cooperation between the primary and secondary systems can improve the spectrum efficiency in cognitive radio networks. The key idea is that the secondary system helps to boost the primary system's performance by relaying and in return the…
Warming in complex physical systems, in particular global warming, attracts significant contemporary interest. It is essential, therefore, to understand basic physical mechanisms leading to overheating. It is well known that application of…
In this article we use geometric optimal control to completely solve the problem of minimum-time transitions between thermal equilibrium and fixed average energy states of the quantum parametric oscillator, a system which has been…
Irreversible effects in thermoelectric materials limit their efficiency and economy for applications in power generation and refrigeration. While electron transport is unavoidably irreversible in bulk materials, here we derive conditions…
We investigate the performance of a micro gap vacuum thermionic energy converter considering the loss mechanisms due to the space charge effect and interelectrode radiative heat transfer. The dependencies of the space charge effect and…
In a spatially periodic temperature profile, directed transport of an overdamped Brownian particle can be induced along a periodic potential. With a load force applied to the particle, this setup can perform as a heat engine. For a given…
This work explores different mechanisms that induce thermal rectification in the nanoscale. The presence of interacting energy channels combined with simple asymmetries is sufficient for promoting the desired behavior. We use simple quantum…
We revisit the optimal performance of a thermoelectric generator within the endoreversible approximation, while imposing a finite physical dimensions constraint (FPDC) in the form of a fixed total area of the heat exchangers. Our analysis…
Miniaturization of electronic devices aims at manufacturing ever smaller products, from mesoscopic to nanoscopic sizes. This trend is challenging because the increased levels of dissipated power demands a better understanding of heat…
In this paper, short-term throughput optimal power allocation policies are derived for an energy harvesting transmitter with energy storage losses. In particular, the energy harvesting transmitter is equipped with a battery that loses a…
The energy transition is also about switching to electricity-based technologies such as heat pumps and electric mobility. They avoid heat as an intermediate step and are therefore much more efficient. This can significantly reduce the…
Refrigerators soak up heat energy from a low-temperature region and dump it into a higher temperature region using external work done on the system. Refrigerators are useful in cooling down a system to very low temperatures. In this letter,…
We consider the nonlinear scattering theory for three-terminal thermoelectric devices, used for power generation or refrigeration. Such systems are quantum phase-coherent versions of a thermocouple, and the theory applies to systems in…