THERMALLY DRIVEN KNUDSEN PUMP

摘要

The present invention relates to thermally driven pumps. More specifically, one embodiment of the present invention relates to the use of a thermoelectric material to create a thermally driven, bi-directional pump, such as a micro pump, with no moving parts using the thermal transpiration effect (a Knudsen pump). One embodiment of the thermally driven pump of the present invention utilizes a thermoelectric material to assist with the thermal transpiration process resulting in a substantially symmetrical, bidirectional pump. A thermoelectric module is used to induce a temperature gradient across a nanoporous article having at least one nanochannel thus creating fluid flow via thermal transpiration across the nanochannel. The use of the thermoelectric module eliminates the need for a heat sink