Unconventional thermal cloak hiding an object outside the cloak

Abstract

All the thermal cloaks reported in the literature can be used to thermally hide an object inside the cloak. However, a common limitation of this kind of thermal cloaks is that the cloaked object cannot feel the external heat flow since it is located inside the cloak; thus we call these cloaks ``conventional thermal cloaks''. Here we manage to overcome this limitation by exploiting a class of unconventional thermal cloaks that enable the cloaked object to feel the external heat flow. Our finite element simulations in two dimensions show the desired cloaking effect. The underlying mechanism originates from the complementary effect of thermal metamaterials with negative thermal conductivities. This work suggests a different method to design thermal devices where heat conduction can be controlled at will.

9 pages, 3 figures; added Fig. 3 and more comments related to negative thermal conductivities

References in corpus (5)

• Experiments on transformation thermodynamics: Molding the flow of heat
• A complementary media invisibility cloak that can cloak objects at a distance outside the cloaking shell
• Thermomagnonic spin transfer and Peltier effects in insulating magnets
• Transient heat flux shielding using thermal metamaterials
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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Manipulating local heat flux with different patterns
• Active thermal metasurfaces for remote heating/cooling by mimicking negative thermal conductivity
• Engineering the accurate distortion of an object's temperature-distribution signature
• Extended-localized transition in diffusive quasicrystals