Cesium-plasma-conductivity enhancement in the advanced thermionic energy converter. Final report

Technical Report ·

OSTI ID:6582439

Manikopoulos, C N

Two methods of plasma conductivity enhancement in a cesium vapor thermionic energy converter have been studied. The first involved resonance photoabsorption of several cesium lines and the second utilized cesium plasma sustenance by application of microwave power. An extensive study of ionization processes in a cesium discharge in the presence of resonance ionization was made. Calculations were made of expected percentage excitation levels for several cesium resonance transitions for different values of neutral density and temperature as well as incident radiation power levels. The results of some of these computations were tabulated. Several ionization schemes were considered. A number of cesium transitions were investigated in the range of 799 to 870 nanometers for four different cesium reservoir temperatures, 467, 511, 550 and 591 K. The related absorption coefficients of the radiation lines in the plasma were deduced and tabulated. The resulting plasma conductivity increase was recorded and the associated ionization enhancement was deduced. A microwave cavity was built where the emitter and collector of a simple thermionic converter made up two of the cavity walls and resonant microwave power was externally applied. The I-V characteristics of the thermionic converter were studied under several microwave power levels in the range of 0 to 2 watts. Significant shifts to higher currents were observed as the microwave power levels were raised. In conclusion, both methods show promise as auxiliary ionization mechanisms for the thermionic energy converter, especially at low emitter temperatures.

• Research Organization: Rutgers--the State Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (USA). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-79ET15420
• OSTI ID: 6582439
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/15420-T1; ON: DE83004388
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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