RU2356115C1 - Heterogeneous current source - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electricity.

SUBSTANCE: heterogeneous current source is attributed to devices converting nuclear decay energy into electric energy and can be used in production of durable compact electric current sources. The claimed device features anode and cathode made in the form of plates made of magneto-permeable material and directed inside current source surfaces of cathode and anode are provided with mirror coatings. In this device anode contacts with south poles of the first constant magnetic elements from one and more pairs, and cathode contacts with north poles of the second constant magnetic elements from one and more pairs. Into transparent electroconductive layer, microcapsules of transparent dielectric are introduced with included microparticles of scintillators and fission material mixture in quantity determined by adduced expression.

EFFECT: increase in electric current generation ensured by diversification of conversion of nuclear decay energy into electric energy, including intermediate conversion of emitted charged particles and fission products energy into visual spectrum electromagnetic radiation energy.

Description

The invention relates to devices that convert nuclear decay energy into electrical energy, and can be used in the manufacture of compact durable electric current sources.

A known current source is a nuclear battery containing fissile material, an anode, a cathode, and an intermediate medium with a semiconductor pn junction (Nuclear battery. Big Soviet Encyclopedia (30 volumes) / Ed. By A.M. Prokhorov. Edition. 3- E. M., Sov. Encyclopedia, 1977.T 30, p. 433).

Such a current source uses only one option for converting nuclear decay energy into electrical energy - by directly influencing radiation on a semiconductor pn junction, while most of the nuclear decay energy does not fall into a semiconductor pn junction, but is spent on heating the source. In addition, semiconductor pn junctions have low absorption at ultra-high frequencies. Therefore, such a current source has a low value of electric current generation.

A known current source used in a scintillation counter containing a scintillator, a cathode and anode of a photomultiplier tube (Scintillators. Scintillation counter. Scintillation. Big Soviet Encyclopedia (30 volumes) / Edited by A.M. Prokhorov. Edition. 3rd. M., Sov. Encyclopedia, 1977.T 25, p. 128-129).

Such a current source also uses only one option for converting nuclear decay energy into electrical energy, i.e. with the intermediate conversion of nuclear decay energy into electromagnetic radiation energy of the visible part of the spectrum due to the scintillation phenomenon and the subsequent conversion of light energy into electric current.

However, since during scintillation, the light flux produced by the scintillator under the influence of radioactive radiation propagates simultaneously in all directions, and the scintillator is located outside the photocell, only part of the light flux emitted by the scintillator is captured by the cathode of the photoelectron multiplier. In addition, with increasing distance from the scintillator to the cathode, the energy of light electromagnetic radiation decreases significantly. In this regard, the generation of electric current by such a current source is small and the signal from the cathode of the photoelectron multiplier requires further amplification.

The prototype closest to the invention, in technical essence, is a current source - a heterogeneous photocell (Patent RU 2217845 C1) containing an anode and a cathode with a transparent electrically conductive layer located between them and a transparent layer of n-type semiconductor polymer with p-type semiconductor nanocrystals and metal nanoparticles.

In such a heterogeneous current source, only one version of the conversion of electromagnetic radiation energy into electrical energy is also used. However, it should be noted that the efficiency of such a current source reaches 60-70% at the maximum at the resonant frequency of electromagnetic radiation, but in order to generate electricity, it is necessary to supply electromagnetic radiation to it from the outside.

The objective of the invention is to ensure the multivariance conversion of a heterogeneous current source of nuclear decay energy into electrical energy, including by intermediate conversion of the decay energy of fissile material into electromagnetic radiation energy of the visible part of the spectrum with its subsequent amplification and absorption in the pn junction using almost the entire light flux emitted by scintillators under the action of nuclear fission products, and minimizing the loss of light energy due to the location scintillators in close proximity to the pn junction; by deflecting part of the charged particles by a magnetic field, followed by their deposition on the anode and cathode; by the direct influence of electromagnetic radiation on the semiconductor pn junction, as well as by converting part of the neutron radiation into secondary electromagnetic radiation and further converting it into electric current in the above ways.

The technical result of the invention is to increase the production of a heterogeneous current source of electrical energy while maintaining its size and mass.

The technical result is achieved in that in a known heterogeneous current source containing an anode and a cathode with a transparent conductive layer between them and a transparent layer of n-type semiconductor polymer with p-type semiconductor nanocrystals and metal nanoparticles, as well as scintillators and fissile matter, in unlike the prototype, in it the surface of the anode and cathode, facing the inside of the current source, are provided with silver mirror coatings, and the anode and cathode are made in the form of plates of magnetoprons material, moreover, the anode is in contact with the south poles of the first permanent magnetic elements of one or more pairs, and the cathode is in contact with the north poles of the second permanent magnetic elements of one or more pairs, while microcapsules of a transparent dielectric in an amount of n are introduced into the transparent conductive layer defined by the expression;

1≤n≤ (V _es / r ³ ) · 10 ^-2 ,

where V _es - the volume of the transparent conductive layer of the source;

r is the characteristic size of the microcapsules introduced into the transparent electrically conductive layer from the transparent dielectric material, and the microparticles of the mixture of scintillators and fissile material are placed into the microcapsules from the transparent dielectric.

In such a heterogeneous current source, the decay energy of fissile material is converted into electric current energy mainly in three ways:

1) by intermediate conversion of the energy of the emitted charged particles and fission products into electromagnetic energy of the visible part of the spectrum due to the scintillation phenomenon, followed by its amplification due to the plasma resonance of metal nanoparticles near the absorption spectrum of p-type nanocrystals (see prototype) and further transformation it into the energy of electric current at the pn junction. At the same time, due to the reflectivity of the silver mirror coatings of the anode and cathode, as well as the small thickness of the heterogeneous current source itself (thin-film construction), almost all light radiation emitted by scintillators in transparent-dielectric microcapsules under the influence of nuclear radiation and decay products is used, while scintillators with fissile materials are located in close proximity to the pn junction, due to which the energy of electromagnetic radiation produced by them is practically not weakens;

2) by deflecting part of the charged particles by a magnetic field created by pairs of permanent magnetic elements, followed by the deposition of charged particles on the anode and cathode;

3) by direct exposure to radioactive radiation on a semiconductor pn junction.

In addition, the influence of a part of the neutrons obtained during the decay of fissile material, which have overcome the walls of microcapsules made of a transparent dielectric, on the silver coatings of the anode and cathode, as well as on metal nanoparticles (if they are made of silver) leads to the activation of silver atoms and the emission of secondary radiation , which is converted into electric current in the listed ways.

As a result of this, the generation of electric current by a heterogeneous source is increased. Since the introduction of microcapsules is carried out in a layer already existing in the source and at the same time their concentration does not exceed 1%, the dimensions and mass of the claimed source practically do not increase.

The combination of all these essential features of a heterogeneous current source allows it to increase the generation of electric current due to the multivariance of the conversion of nuclear decay energy into electrical energy, the use of almost all light radiation of scintillators, and the reduction of energy losses of light electromagnetic radiation due to the location of scintillators in close proximity to p-n transition, as well as the conversion of part of the produced neutron radiation into electromagnetic radiation with further converting it into electric current while maintaining the dimensions and mass of the source.

Since the claimed combination of essential features allows us to solve the problem, the claimed heterogeneous current source meets the criterion of "inventive step".

The implementation of the claimed technical solution is illustrated using a structural diagram representing a heterogeneous current source in the context.

The heterogeneous current source contains cathode 1, a transparent layer of n-type semiconductor polymer 2 with p-type 3 semiconductor nanocrystals and metal nanoparticles 4, and a transparent electrically conductive layer 5 located between the cathode 1 and anode 6. The surface of the cathode 1 and anode 6, facing the current source are provided with silver mirror coatings 7, and the cathode 1 and anode 6 are made in the form of plates of magnetically permeable material, and the anode 6 is in contact with the south poles of the first permanent magnetic elements 11 of one oh and more pairs, and the cathode 1 is in contact with the north poles of the second permanent magnetic elements 12 of one or more pairs. Microcapsules of a transparent dielectric 8 are introduced into a transparent electrically conductive layer 5 of a current source, in which microparticles of a mixture of scintillators 9 and microparticles of fissile material 10 are placed.

The choice of silver as the material for the mirror coating 7 of the cathode 1 and the anode 6 is dictated by the need to ensure not only the maximum reflectivity in the visible part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation for its concentration at the pn junction, but also ensure the most reliable electrical contact between the anode 6 and the transparent electrically conductive layer 5, as well as between the cathode 1 and the semiconductor polymer 2, in addition, silver is a substance that can be activated by neutrons and emit a second chnoe electromagnetic radiation. The implementation of the cathode 1 and the anode 6 of a magnetically permeable material is necessary to ensure the possibility of creating a magnetic field between them in contact with the permanent magnetic elements 11 and 12.

The execution of microcapsules 8 from a transparent dielectric (e.g. glass) is dictated by the need to protect the scintillator microparticles 9 from premature discharge under the influence of an electric current flowing in the transparent conductive layer, protect the layer itself from being destroyed by fission products, and provide free transmission of electromagnetic radiation of the visible part of the spectrum in all directions. The scintillators 9 placed in the transparent dielectric microcapsules 8 are a mixture of crystalline phosphors activated by α, β, γ and neutron radiation.

The mass ratio of the scintillator microparticles 9 and fissile material 10 to obtain a continuously luminous composition is known and is given, for example, in the publication “Course in General Physics. Part III. Optics. Physics of the atom and atomic nucleus. " Kiev, Edelweiss. Dnipro, 1994. P. 254.

The principle of operation of the inventive heterogeneous current source is as follows.

During the decay of fissile material 10, charged α and β particles are formed, as well as γ radiation and neutrons. Under the influence of the majority of α, β, and γ radiation, as well as neutrons, placed in microcapsules from a transparent dielectric 8, the scintillator microparticles 9 emit electromagnetic radiation from the visible part of the spectrum, which, due to the transparency of the scintillator crystals 9 and the transparency of the walls of the microcapsules from the transparent dielectric 8, simultaneously propagates to all side. In this case, due to the small thickness of the current source and the close proximity of the scintillator with fissile material to the pn junction, almost all electromagnetic radiation of the visible part of the spectrum from microcapsules 8 without attenuation either directly or reflected from the silver mirror coating 7 of cathode 1 or anode 6 gets into the layer of a transparent n-type semiconductor polymer 2 containing p-type 3 semiconductor nanocrystals, and partially absorbed in p-type 3 semiconductor nanocrystals, the band gap is There are fewer photon energies of electromagnetic radiation. At the indicated absorption, electrons from the valence band of these p-type 3 nanocrystals pass into the conduction band. In this case, the concentration of free electrons in the p-type 3 nanocrystals increases and they diffuse into the indicated n-type semiconductor polymer 2. Thus, the concentration of free electrons in the region of the anode 6 increases compared to the region near the cathode 1, which leads to the appearance of an electron current from the anode 6 to the cathode 1 and further into the external circuit, if it is closed. Moreover, if these metal nanoparticles 4 are chosen so that the frequency of their plasma resonance is near the maximum absorption spectrum of these p-type 3 nanocrystals, then the dielectric constant of the medium of the layer of transparent n-type 2 semiconductor polymer containing p-type 3 semiconductor nanocrystals at a frequency the electromagnetic radiation acting on them increases significantly, which in turn leads to a significant increase in the efficiency of electron generation and their current. The magnetic field created by the permanent magnetic elements 11 and 12 and transmitted to the anode 6 and cathode 1 due to their magnetic permeability, contributes to the deviation of part of α and β particles escaping from the microcapsules 8, and their separate deposition on the anode 6 (β particles) and cathode 1 (α particles), as a result of which an additional electromotive force (EMF) arises between them. Another part of the radioactive radiation, also breaking through the walls of the microcapsules made of transparent dielectric 8, acts directly on the semiconductor pn junction formed by the transparent n-type semiconductor polymer 2 and the p-type 3 semiconductor nanocrystals contained in it, as a result of which between the anode 6 and the cathode 1 there is another additional EMF. In addition, the effect of neutrons produced during the decay of microparticles of fissile matter and breaking the walls of microcapsules from a transparent dielectric 8 on silver mirror coatings 7 of the anode 6 and cathode 1, as well as metal nanoparticles 4 (if they are made of silver), leads to the activation of their constituents silver atoms and their emission of secondary electromagnetic radiation, which is converted into electric current in the listed ways (i.e., by the secondary action of scintillator microparticles in transparent dielectrics capsule 8, a direct effect on the semiconductor pn junction, and deflection and deposition of charged particles on the cathode 1 and anode 6), which also ultimately increases the generation of electrical energy by a heterogeneous current source. The effect occurs in the presence of at least one microcapsule 8 of a transparent dielectric with scintillator microparticles 9 activated by fissile material 10, i.e.

On the other hand, microcapsules 8 placed in the selected layer should not have a noticeable effect on the conductivity of this layer, so as not to create unnecessary additional internal resistance to current electrons, and also practically not reduce the optical transparency of the layer.

For this, the condition must be met - the volume of the layer allocated for the introduction of microcapsules should be much larger than the total volume of the dielectric microcapsules placed in it 8:

where V _es - the volume allocated for the introduction of microcapsules layer;

V _μ is the total volume of microcapsules 8 made of a transparent dielectric material introduced into the selected layer with microparticles of a mixture of scintillators 9 and fissile material 10, i.e. V _es must be at least two orders of magnitude greater than V _mk :

where, believing that

where r is the characteristic size of the introduced microcapsules, n is the number of microcapsules, then the maximum number of microcapsules introduced into the selected layer of 8 will be determined as:

where n is the number of microcapsules introduced into the selected layer.

Finally, the allowable number of microcapsules introduced into the selected layer must satisfy the relation obtained from (1) and (5):

In the manufacture of microcapsules, it is necessary to strive to minimize their characteristic size to ensure the largest luminous area, which is possible with the use of nanotechnology-based cultivation.

Since the half-life of fissile materials varies from fractions of a second to several thousand, or even millions of years, the choice of a certain type of fissile material, as well as the appropriate scintillators for use in such a heterogeneous current source, is the subject of optimization for a specific technical task.

Thus, by using almost the entire light flux emitted by scintillators and ensuring the multivariance of converting nuclear decay energy into electrical energy, the inventive heterogeneous current source increases the generation of electrical energy while maintaining its size and mass, which allows the creation of compact batteries capable of it generate electricity for a long time.

Claims (1)

A heterogeneous current source containing an anode and a cathode with a transparent electrically conductive layer located between them and a transparent layer of an n-type semiconductor polymer with p-type semiconductor nanocrystals and metal nanoparticles, as well as scintillators and fissile material, characterized in that the anode and the cathodes facing the current source are provided with silver mirror coatings, and the anode and cathode are made in the form of plates of magnetically permeable material, and the anode is in contact with the southern fields the first permanent magnetic elements of one or more pairs, and the cathode is in contact with the north poles of the second permanent magnetic elements of one or more pairs, while microcapsules of a transparent dielectric in an amount of n are introduced into the transparent conductive layer, defined by the expression:
1≤n≤ (V _es / r ³ ) · 10 ^-2 ,
where V _es - the volume of the transparent conductive layer of the source;
r is the characteristic size of the microcapsules introduced into the transparent electrically conductive layer from the transparent dielectric material, and the microparticles of the mixture of scintillators and fissile material are placed into the microcapsules from the transparent dielectric.