A thermal regulator using passive all-magnetic actuation

Thermal regulators are two-terminal devices used for passive temperature control of electronics, batteries, or buildings. Existing thermal expansion regulators suffer from large thicknesses and substantial hysteresis. Here we report an all-magnetic thermal regulator in which the temperature of the control terminal (Tcontrol) leads to passive steady-state surface mating/demating that enables/blocks heat conduction. The mechanism relies on Tcontrol-dependent magnetic forces between gadolinium and neodymium iron boron magnets when Tcontrol is near gadolinium's Curie temperature of 21oC. Our centimeter-scale prototype has a thermal switch ratio of 34−13+30 in vacuum and 2.1−0.2+0.2 in air, a vacuum OFF state thermal conductance of 3.5 mW/K, an average switching temperature of 20oC, a small thermal deadband of 5oC, and a relatively compact thickness <2 cm. We quantify the regulator performance over >2,000 cycles and construct the regulator using commercially available materials, showing that this thermomagnetic device can be used for effective thermal regulation near room temperature.