A high-efficiency thermoelectric converter for space applications

Conference · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:5579376

Metzger, J D ^[1]; El-Genk, M S ^[2]

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1. Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
2. New Mexico Univ., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Inst. for Space Nuclear Power Studies

This paper presents a concept for using high-temperature superconducting materials in thermoelectric generators (SCTE) to produce electricity at conversion efficiencies approaching 50% of the Carrot efficiency. The SCTE generator is applicable to systems operating in temperature ranges of high-temperature superconducting materials and thus would be a low-grade converter. Operating in cryogenic temperature ranges provides the advantage of inherently increasing the limits of the Carrot efficiency. Potential applications are for systems operating in space where the ambient temperatures are in the cryogenic temperature range. The advantage of using high-temperature superconducting material in a thermoelectric converter is that it would significantly reduce or eliminate the Joule heating losses in a thermoelectric element. This paper investigates the system aspects and the material requirements of the SCTE converter concept, and presents a conceptual design and an application for a space power system.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-89SR18035
• OSTI ID: 5579376
• Report Number(s): WSRC-MS-90-343; CONF-910801-27; ON: DE92010062
• Resource Relation: Conference: 26. intersociety energy conversion engineering (IECE) conference, Boston, MA (United States), 3-9 Aug 1991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
HIGH-TC SUPERCONDUCTORS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS
MATERIALS
BARIUM OXIDES
CARNOT CYCLE
COPPER OXIDES
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
HEAT TRANSFER
JOULE HEATING
SPACE
SPACE POWER REACTORS
THERMOELECTRIC CONVERSION
YTTRIUM OXIDES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
BARIUM COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
CONVERSION
COPPER COMPOUNDS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC HEATING
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY TRANSFER
HEATING
MOBILE REACTORS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLASMA HEATING
POWER REACTORS
REACTORS
RESISTANCE HEATING
SUPERCONDUCTORS
THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
YTTRIUM COMPOUNDS
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
300303* - Thermoelectric Generators- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries