[grey_whiskers]

In a paper titled A Solid-State Maxwell Demon (57) D.P. Sheehan and A.R. Putnam of the departments of Physics and J.H. Wright of the department of Mathematics and Computer science of the University of San Diego have proposed a semiconductor device that would generate useful energy from the thermal noise of an electronic circuit. The authors successfully tested their model on a commercial semiconductor simulator and estimate that the technology necessary to construct a laboratory model will be available by 2007.

It's now past 2007; any follow-up?

Cheers!

[Kevmo]

Thermal diode for energy conversion - US Patent 6396191
It’s now past 2007; any follow-up?
***I think so.

AbstractPatent Abstract: Solid state thermionic energy converter semiconductor diode implementation and ... US Patent 6396191 - Thermal diode for energy conversion ...
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6396191.html - Similar -

Directory:Eneco power chip - PESWikiPiezo-pyroelectric Energy Converter & Method; Thermal Diode for Energy Conversion; Hybrid Thermionic Energy Converter & Method; Solid State Thermionic ...
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Eneco_power_chip -