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Title: Report on goals of RTG impact member research

Abstract

During recent years, Battelle has been engaged in research on impact members of radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) for space use. Emphasis in the research to date has been on developing a materials technology. This effort has now reached a stage where consideration can be given to engineering measures for assessing and upgrading the performance of impact members in RTGs of current interest, including particularly General Electric Company's Multi-Hundred Watt (MHW) RTG and the General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) being developed by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. New research goals have been set accordingly. The purpose of the report is to present these goals, give the rationale for them, and indicate the research approaches for meeting them.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Battelle Columbus Labs., OH (USA)
OSTI Identifier:
6707681
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 6707681
Report Number(s):
BMI-X-694
TRN: 78-017142
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-92-094
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
07 ISOTOPES AND RADIATION SOURCES; 30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; RADIOISOTOPE HEAT SOURCES; IMPACT STRENGTH; THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS; SAFETY; PLUTONIUM 238; PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE; SPACECRAFT POWER SUPPLIES; ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS; ACTINIDE ISOTOPES; ACTINIDE NUCLEI; ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES; CHALCOGENIDES; DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS; ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT; EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI; HEAT SOURCES; HEAVY NUCLEI; ISOTOPES; MECHANICAL PROPERTIES; NUCLEI; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS; PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES; PLUTONIUM OXIDES; POWER SUPPLIES; RADIOISOTOPES; TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS; YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems 070300* -- Isotopic Power Supplies; 300303 -- Thermoelectric Generators-- Materials, Components, & Auxiliaries

Citation Formats

Duckworth, W.H. Report on goals of RTG impact member research. United States: N. p., 1978. Web. doi:10.2172/6707681.
Duckworth, W.H. Report on goals of RTG impact member research. United States. doi:10.2172/6707681.
Duckworth, W.H. Mon . "Report on goals of RTG impact member research". United States. doi:10.2172/6707681. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6707681.
@article{osti_6707681,
title = {Report on goals of RTG impact member research},
author = {Duckworth, W.H.},
abstractNote = {During recent years, Battelle has been engaged in research on impact members of radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) for space use. Emphasis in the research to date has been on developing a materials technology. This effort has now reached a stage where consideration can be given to engineering measures for assessing and upgrading the performance of impact members in RTGs of current interest, including particularly General Electric Company's Multi-Hundred Watt (MHW) RTG and the General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) being developed by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. New research goals have been set accordingly. The purpose of the report is to present these goals, give the rationale for them, and indicate the research approaches for meeting them.},
doi = {10.2172/6707681},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1978},
month = {Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1978}
}

Technical Report:

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  • The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) provides power for space missions by transmitting the heat of {sup 238}Pu decay to an array of thermoelectric elements in a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). Because the potential for a launch abort or return from orbit exists for any space mission, the heat source response to credible accident scenarios is being evaluated. The first two RTG Impact Tests were designed to provide information on the response of a fully loaded RTG to end-on impact against a concrete target. The results of these tests indicated that at impact velocities up to 57 m/s the converter shellmore » and internal components protect the GPHS capsules from excessive deformation. At higher velocities, some of the internal components of the RTG interact with the GPHS capsules to cause excessive localized deformation and failure.« less
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  • This report on the Department of Energy (DOE) mission directed goals for electric vehicle battery research and development is a revision and update of report DOE/CE-0148. The original report was prepared by the Task Force on Electric Vehicle Battery Goals and published by the Electric and Hybrid Propulsion (EHP) Division of the Office of Transportation Systems. The EHP Division of the DOE formed the Task Force on Electric Vehicle Battery Goals to evaluate existing EV battery R and D goals and to recommend new battery goals targeted at the urban van mission. The original report (DOE/CE-0148) was distributed to governmentmore » and industry for review and comment. After consolidation of the comments, each comment was considered in the context of the project scope. INEL edited and published this document as the final report on the efforts of the Task Force on Electric Vehicle-Battery Goals. To the extent possible within the original scope of the project, the comments of government and industry are incorporated herein. This report will be updated periodically as results from current research, both federally and privately supported, become available.« less
  • Presented at the Seventh Symposium on Space Nuclear Power Systems in Albuquerque, NM, January 7-11, 1990. It will be shown that end-on impacts, which are more likely to occur with Ulysses than with Galileo, will produce greater average fueled clad distortion than was typical of Galileo. Fortunately, the predicted distortions remain well within the Galileo database. It will also be shown that the 2-dimensional calculations which were performed for the Galileo configuration were indeed valid in that application and are also valid for the Ulysses configuration. There are three copies in the file.
  • This paper presents the results done to perform specialized RTG design studies. The analytical results indicate that a lander by itself experiences much higher g-loads than the lander with an integral penetrator; but that minor modifications of the shape of the lander can very substantially reduce the maximum g-load during landing, thus eliminating the need for retrorockets for RTG survival. Paper presented at the 27th IECEC in San Diego, CA August 3-7, 1992. Also included are four copies (3 bound) from Fairchild presentation.