MOMENTUM • VIRGINIA TECH MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 17 overheats if this heat is not continually removed . Boreyko ’ s invention is affixed to this heat source . Generated heat is transferred through the conducting plate , into the water . Water turns to steam and moves away from the source of the heat . The hydrophobic , nonconducting side prevents heat from entering via the air or other heat sources that may be near , allowing the diode to manage the heat only from its main subject .
Boreyko ’ s team measured a nearly 100-fold increase in heat conduction when the wicked side was heated , compared to the hydrophobic side . This is a significant improvement to existing thermal diodes . According to Boreyko , current diodes are either not very effective , only conducting a few times more heat in one direction , or require gravity . This new bridging-droplet thermal diode can be used upright , sideways , or even upside-down , and would even work in space where gravity is negligible .
The team has filed a provisional patent and is in search of industry partners to carry on the work .
Lab member Mojtaba Edalatpour shows the thermal diode developed by Boreyko ’ s team .