The Silicon Turbine Turbine Systems innovation is a patented integrated circuit (IC) that generates electrical power from abundant ambient heat sources. Arrays of these ICs have the potential to power everything from homes to electric vehicles to the grid. Our “silicon turbine” operates at a molecular level and relies on a thin film superconducting material going in and out of a superconducting state to create the moving magnetic field required to generate electricity.
Each IC consists of a permanent magnet, a thin film of superconducting material and an array of nano-coils parallel to the superconducting film and perpendicular to the magnet. When the strip goes into a superconducting state the magnetic field is concentrated inside the nano-coils due to the Meissner effect, moving the field enough to generate an electrical current in the nano-coils. A current pulse at the superconductor’s critical current (JC) is passed through the superconducting strip, which quenches the superconducting state and consequently the warping of the magnetic field. This induces an electrical current through the coils in the opposite direction, completing the cycle and generating an alternating current. When the superconductor is quenched, it cools the cryogenic bath in which the superconductor is immersed so that the “exhaust” of the system is net cooling rather than heating. In order to keep the thin film at a constant superconducting state, an external heat source is required to bring the temperature back to the original temperature.
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