Casimir rack and pinion as a miniaturized kinetic energy harvester.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27627286.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1103/PhysRevE.94.022147.
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Abstract
We study a nanoscale machine composed of a rack and a pinion with no contact, but intermeshed via the lateral Casimir force. We adopt a simple model for the random velocity of the rack subject to external random forces, namely, a dichotomous noise with zero mean value. We show that the pinion, even when it experiences random thermal torque, can do work against a load. The device thus converts the kinetic energy of the random motions of the rack into useful work.