Method of Suppressing Sublimation in Advanced Thermoelectric Devices

摘要

US. Patent No. 7,480,984 Jeffrey S. Sakamoto, Thierry Caillat, Jean-Pierre Fleurial, and G. Jeffrey Snyder, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA In deep space missions, thermoelectric generators must operate reliably and convert heat to electricity for many years, even decades. Because sublima- tion of material components in the generators can diminish thermoelectric performance, a physical barrier, bonded to the outer surface of thermoelectric elements, is needed to suppress the mass loss caused by thermal decomposition. A binding member applies a continuous metal foil to a predetermined portion of the thermoelectric material surface. To promote bonding, the continuous metal foil and the surface are heated. The bonded metal foil forms a physical barrier to enclose a portion of the surface. Accordingly, thermal decomposition is suppressed at the thermoelectric material confined by the physical barrier. Simultaneous Multiple-Location Separation Control U.S. Patent No. 7,537,182 David Greenblatt, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA As a fluid flow moves over a body, a boundary or shear layer of the flow separates. Control of shear layer separation, however, can be used to alter and improve the body's aerodynamics or hydrodynamics. A method of controlling a shear layer for a fluid dynamic body introduces periodic disturbances into the fluid medium at a first flow separation location. The initial periodic disturbances are defined by a first frequency and a first phase. Simultaneously, second periodic disturbances are introduced into the fluid medium at a second of the flow separation locations, where the periodic disturbances are defined by their own separate frequency and different phases. A phase difference between the first and second periodic disturbances is adjusted to control flow separation of the shear layer as the fluid medium moves over the fluid dynamic body. The separation-control mechanism provides a way of controlling an airflow's shear layer as it moves over an airfoil.