Patent ID: 9243624
Filing Date: 2016-01-26
CPC Classification: F04B

Claim Text:
1. A thermoelectric pump comprising: a nanoporous article for transferring fluid by thermal transpiration having a first end and a second end, and at least one nanochannel traversing said nanoporous article from said first end to said second end; a first heat transfer plate adjacent said first end of said nanoporous article creating a first air gap between said first heat transfer plate and said nanoporous article to distribute fluid across the first end of the nanoporous article; a second heat transfer plate adjacent said second end of said nanoporous article creating a fluid across the second end of the nanoporous article; a first port for transporting fluid capable of being connected to a reservoir adjacent to said first air gap; a second port for transporting fluid capable of being connected to a reservoir adjacent to said second air gap; a thermoelectric device intermediate to the first heat transfer plate and the second heat transfer plate for inducing a temperature gradient across the nanoporous article, said thermoelectric device having a top in contact with the first heat transfer plate and a bottom in contact with said second heat transfer plate such that heat is transferred between the respective sides of the thermoelectric device and nanoporous article across the heat transfer plates; a power supply electrically connected to a first electrical connector and a second electrical connector of the thermoelectric device such that a temperature gradient is induced across the thermoelectric device when voltage is applied, wherein said first electrical connector is attached to said top of the device, said second electrical connector is attached to said bottom of the device, and said first connector is electrically connected to said second connector by a circuit that traverses said thermoelectric device from said top to said bottom at least once; a first terminal of said power supply electrically connected to said top of said thermoelectric device and a second terminal of said power supply electrically connected to said bottom of said thermoelectric device such that when the circuit is closed and voltage applied, current flows through the thermoelectric device from said top to said bottom and heat is transferred from said bottom to said top creating a temperature gradient across said thermoelectric device; said top of said thermoelectric, device heating said first heat transfer plate by conduction and said bottom of said thermoelectric device cooling said second heat transfer plate by conduction; and said first heat transfer plate actively heating said second end of said nanoporous article by conduction and said second beat transfer plate actively cooling said first end of said nanoporous article by conduction thereby creating a temperature gradient across said nanoporous article and inducing a pressure differential across said nanochannels resulting in forward fluid flow from said first port to said second port by thermal transpiration.