Advanced thermionic energy conversion. Joint highlights and status report, July-September 1979

Technical Report · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6512245· OSTI ID:6512245

Begg, L. L.; Manda, M. L.; Carlsmith, B.; Smith, M.; Johnson, D.; Fizpatrick, G. O.; Britt, E. J.; McVey, J.; Hatch, G. L.; Desplat, J. L.; Hansen, L. K.; Woo, H.; Papageorgopoulos, C. A.; Dick, R. S.

The DOE portion of the effort is directed primarily toward terrestrial applications of thermionic energy converters suitable for use with fossil fueled heat sources in power plants. The NASA program is directed at establishing the technical feasibility of an advanced, light-weight, long-life thermionic conversion system compatible with a remote nuclear or solar heat source. The principal application foreseen at this time is in nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) missions in the mid-1990's. Significant accomplishments for the DOE program include: (1) successfully operating a thermionic converter using a cold insulator seal (Plexiglass and Viton); (2) completed fabrication and testing of SPC-9, a reference planar converter with smooth molybdenum electrodes; (3) created a shooting type analytical ignited mode converter computer model; (4) projected the operating conditions needed to achieve advanced converter performance with a thick cesium oxide collector; and (5) invented a cellular ceramic heat exchanger for obtaining high radiant heat flux from a hot gas. Accomplishments for the NASA program include: (1) achieved over 3100 hours of operation with the cylindrical converter JPL-5 (STR/STR); (2) provided guidelines for definition of optimum lead characteristics in the JPL NEP computer program; and (3) performed a preliminary NEP optimization study which suggests a 400 kWe system with a specific mass of 26 kg/kWe is possible with present converter performance (V/sub B/ = 2.0). Details are presented. (WHK)

• Research Organization: Rasor Associates, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76ET11293
• OSTI ID: 6512245
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/11293-T3; COO-2263-16
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
THERMIONIC CONVERTERS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
COMBINED-CYCLE POWER PLANTS
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
FABRICATION
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
HEAT PIPES
HEAT TRANSFER
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PLASMA
PROPULSION REACTORS
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
THERMIONIC COLLECTORS
THERMIONIC EMITTERS
TOPPING CYCLES
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ENERGY TRANSFER
POWER PLANTS
REACTORS
TESTING
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
300401* - Thermionic Converters- Design & Development
300402 - Thermionic Converters- Performance & Testing
300403 - Thermionic Converters- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries