Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Better Than Dune Chromoplastic? This Guy Might Have Done It

For those not fully in the know, the chromoplastic dew collector is one of my favorite bits of technovelgy from Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune:

"how do you suppose it lives when we leave it? Each is planted most tenderly in its own little pit. The pits are filled with smooth ovals of chromoplastic. Light turns them white. You can see them glistening in the dawn if you look down from a high place. White reflects. But when Old Father Sun departs, the chromoplastic reverts to transparency in the dark. It cools with extreme rapidity. The surface condenses moisture out of the air. That moisture trickles down to keep our plants alive."

Pretty clever idea. But a real-life (not fictional) materials scientist named Aaswath Raman at UCLA has done fiction one better with this nano photonic radiative cooler metamaterial (start around 6:50 for more background):


(Aaswath Raman nano photonic radiative cooler)

From fundamental thermodynamic considerations, in order to convert heat to usable work, it is important to have a heat source with a temperature that is as high as possible, and to have a heat sink with a temperature that is as low as possible. The vast majority of energy conversion processes at the moment use our ambient surroundings on Earth itself, with a temperature of approximately 300 K, as the heat sink. On the other hand, the universe, with a temperature of approximately 3 K, represents a much better heat sink. The ability to harness the coldness of the universe could therefore have broad implications for energy technologies in general, and represents an important emerging frontier in renewable energy research.

The ability of photonic structures such as metamaterials to control the behavior of electromagnetic waves is essential to effectively harness the coldness of the universe. Earth's atmosphere is largely transparent to electromagnetic waves in the wavelength range of 8–13 μm. This wavelength range coincides with the spectral peak for black body radiation at 300 K. Thus, any object, when exposed to the sky, can radiate its heat out in a process known as radiative cooling (Fig. 1a) and passively reach sub-ambient temperatures.

This natural phenomenon has been implemented and studied at night for centuries. However, to improve the thermodynamic efficiency of energy technologies in general, and for cooling applications in particular, it would be far more useful to enable the same cooling effect during the day. The challenge here is that a sky-facing object faces the sun directly during daylight hours. For this purpose, then, one would need to create a structure that reflects the entire solar spectrum very well, while at the same time generating strong thermal radiation in the 8–13 μm wavelength range.

(Via Metamaterials for radiative sky cooling.)

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/9/2019)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")

Philips Smart Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt
'A palm lock must be keyed to one individual's hand shape...' - Frank Herbert, 1965.

MAGGIE Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer
'placed in the wings of a plane to generate power from the light falling on that surface...' - John W. Campbell, 1930.

Pipedream Underground Delivery At Peachtree Corners
'...open mouths of pneumatic tubes, an endless row of them, each marked with its destination.' - Miles J. Breuer, 1932

Hangzhou Robotic Trash Sorting
'...good enough to recognize most things they pick up.' - Harry Harrison, 1956.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"

Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'

Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'

Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?

We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces
'the real border was defended by ...a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats...'

SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock
'The odalarm awoke Jorj X. McKie with a whiff of lemon.'

AI Worms That Spread
'...there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net now'

Challenges Of Two-Armed Robots
When the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

FlexRAM Liquid Metal RAM And One Particular SF Movie Robot
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed.'

Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless
'The lid lifted and she crawled inside...'

Prophetic Offers Lucid Dreaming Halo With Morpheus-1 AI
''Leads trail away from insertion points on her face and wrist... to a lucid dreamer...'

More Like A Tumblebug Than A Motorcycle
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel...'

Tesla Camera-Only Vision Predicted In 1930's SF
'By its means, the machine can see.'

First Ever Proof Of Water On Asteroids
'Yes, strangely enough there was still sufficient water beneath the surface of Vesta.'

Aptera Solar EV More Stylish Than Heinlein Steel Tortoise
'When confronted by hills, or rough terrain, it did not stop, but simply slowed until the task demanded equaled its steady power output.'

Gigantic Space Sunshade Would Fight Global Warming
'...the light of the sun had been polarized by two crossed fields so that no radiation could pass.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.