The idea is to convert the heat generated in computer processors to electrical energy and increase the battery back-up time of the system. A cathode of low work function will closely surround the processor. An anode will be kept closely to cathode. A unit comprising of a rechargeable Li-ion battery will be connected in series with anode. A switching circuit, with one path to the computer power circuitry and the other to the rechargeable battery unit will be developed. Once the processor starts functioning, heat will be generated and it will force the cathode to emit electrons. The electrons will be collected by anode and then deposited into the rechargeable battery and electrical energy can be stored. When the battery back-up time goes beyond a certain level (5-10% of max.), the switching circuit will enable the rechargeable battery unit and it will deliver power to the notebook and back-up time can be increased.

1. ‘Green IT’- the next burning issue for business, IBM Global Technology Services, Jan. 2007
2. Green IT, Intergovernmental Solutions Newsletter, GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications, Issue 21, Fall 2008
3. white paper #6, #8, # 23, The Green Grid - Research initiative by IBM, Dell, Intel, HP, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, US Dept. of Energy.
4. Intel, available at www.intel.com/products
5. Dell, available at www.dell.com/support
6. Williams, Brown F., RCA Electronics Components, David Sarnoff Research Centre, Princeton New Jersey, 08540, InGaAsCsO, A Low Work Function (Less Than 1.0eV) Photoemitter, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 9, June2009, pp. 273-275
7. Moore’s Law, FPGAs and computation, Steve Trimberger, Xilinx research Labs, CA, March 2006.
8. Darren Murph, Misc. Gadgets, Nov 2006, Eneco“developing” chip to convert excess heat directly to energy.

Processor heat work function electron emission