Simultaneous focusing and rotation of a bifunctional thermal metamaterial with constant anisotropic conductivity

We show that a constant anisotropic conductivity tensor can lead to two different functionalities at the same time, thermal focusing or a shielding effect together with a rotating effect. This design is of practical applications, as in energy harvesting and dissipation devices, and it is desirable t...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of applied physics 2019-09, Vol.126 (9)
Hauptverfasser: Tsai, Yu-Lin, Li, Jiangyu, Chen, Tungyang
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We show that a constant anisotropic conductivity tensor can lead to two different functionalities at the same time, thermal focusing or a shielding effect together with a rotating effect. This design is of practical applications, as in energy harvesting and dissipation devices, and it is desirable to concentrate or to shield the thermal energy from a selected direction. We demonstrate that it is possible to control the way that heat flows within a medium to achieve the bifunctional effect solely through a suitable balance among the three material parameters of a homogeneous medium. It is seen that the diagonal entries of the conductivity tensor will govern the thermal focusing or shielding effect, while the off diagonal terms control the rotational effect. To fabricate the designed anisotropic material, we show that the material can be realized via the construction of a layered medium with two alternating isotropic constituents. Theoretical analysis and numerical calculations based on finite element calculations are presented to validate the performance of the design. The use of uniform conductivity to manage heat conduction brings exciting new advances for practical applications, with which one can manipulate thermal energy and offer unprecedented control of heat conduction at the same time.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.5119213