Resonant thermal oscillator to improve output of a thermo-fluidic system

A method, comprising:

• providing a thermal oscillator system comprising
• a thermal oscillator module comprising a thermally conductive sheet, a vapor-transmitting layer, and two counter-flowing fluid streams separated into a first channel and a second channel, respectively, by the thermally conductive sheet and the vapor-transmitting layer;
• wherein the two fluid streams comprise a first fluid stream and a second fluid stream;
• wherein the thermal oscillator module is configured to allow the first fluid stream to be heated under exposure to a time-varying thermal energy source;
• and
• a flow control device positioned along the first channel and dependent on a time-varying thermal energy intensity input;
• and
• wherein either:
• the thermal oscillator system comprises a solar thermal resonant energy exchange desalination (STREED) system, wherein the thermal oscillator module comprises a combined distillation and heat exchange module, wherein the first fluid stream is a portion of a feed stream, the second fluid stream is a counterflowing portion of the feed stream, the thermally conductive sheet and the vapor-transmitting layer are stacked between the first fluid stream and the second fluid stream in the combined distillation and heat exchange module, and the vapor-transmitting layer comprises a membrane-less air gap;
• or
• the thermal oscillator system comprises a nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation (NESMD) system, wherein the thermal oscillator module comprises a distillation module coupled to a separate heat exchange module, wherein the first fluid stream is a feed stream, the second fluid stream is a distillate stream, the vapor-transmitting layer divides the feed stream and the distillate stream in the distillation module, the thermally conductive sheet divides the feed stream and the distillate stream in the heat exchange module, and the vapor-transmitting layer comprises a membrane;
• and
• driving resonant thermal oscillations in the thermal oscillator module using the flow control device to tune a flow rate of the first fluid steam to a resonant value of the flow rate at which a distillate output of the thermal oscillator module is substantially increased compared to a distillate output of the thermal oscillator module driven at a non-resonant value of the flow rate.