Metamaterials remove heat and control its flow and direction

Factal Antenna Systems has filed patent on better methods for removing heat, and controlling its flow and direction. The technology uses tiny resonators made of self-scaled structures called fractals to form a virtual bridge to lead heat, or other electromagnetic radiation forms, controlling flow from one area to another. The resulting ‘heat transfer’ happens at the speed of light and can be superior to other methods such as convection, conduction, or ambient radiation loss.

CEO and inventor Nathan Cohen says “Our initiative to exploit fundamental technology on fractal metamaterials is bearing bountiful fruit, such as the world’s first and best invisibility cloak (US patent 8,253,639) , and now ‘metatransfer’ cooling.” Cohen is an astrophysicist with decades of experience in radio astronomy, optics, radar/ultrasound, and infrared. He is considered one of the world’s experts in applications of fractals. Cohen added that the company holds the fundamental patent on fractal metamaterials.

Metamaterials are used in the new technology as an array of close-spaced resonators that radiate the heat to each adjacent fractal resonator ‘cell’. The close spacing forces a special type of radiation called ‘evanescent waves’. There is no physical contact. The fractal shapes used to make the metamaterials assure that the heat is efficiently transferred, from hot areas to desired cool areas, at wide bandwidths. No outside power is needed. The metatransfer material can be paper thin and easily bendable, with simple and inexpensive connects. Because the effect is a special type of electromagnetic radiation, it occurs at the speed of light.

Cohen further added that although the technology has been kept close to the vest, recent scholarly publications have reported such metatransfer ability, with less efficiency and bandwidth. “We are deeply appreciative these independent research results are now public, as it makes our job easier to cite outside scientific validation that post-dates our pioneering efforts.” Cohen stresses that the pending patent, both in first to invent and first to file, pre-dates any potential competing claims.

Cohen expects the technology to see wide use in the next two decades. “We intend to start out small, with disruptive applications, and use 3D prototype printing, for example, to make the metatransfer heat cooling an integral part of devices,” he concluded.

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