An electrical essay: The radiant heat pump

An idealized form of the radiant heat pump (RHP) is shown in Fig. 1 (a). The box has square ends, it is long and somewhat tapered, and is completely lined with perfectly reflecting surfaces. There is a plate suspended at each end. Each plate almost fills its end, and almost touches. The plates have a black-body coating. At roughly room temperature, 27 C, the radiant emission from each square inch, all in the infrared, would be 0.3 watt. Let both plates be brought to the 27 C temperature when first placed in the box.