Device sensitive to a temperature gradient and its application for constructing a thermal fluxmeter or solar sensor

摘要

The invention relates to a device sensitive to a temperature gradient or to a heat flow comprising at least one elementary cell formed by a thin layer made from a first electric conductor or semiconductor, such as constantan, coated with a very thin electrolytic layer of a second electric conductor or semiconductor, such as copper. It has been discovered that induced electric currents flow through the surface separating the conductors, the electric voltages observed in each of the conducting or semiconducting layers being proportional to the instantaneous spatial mean of the surface thermal gradient. The invention also relates to the application of such cells for measuring temperature gradients and heat flows and for converting heat energy into electric energy.