Radiatively coupled thermionic power system concept

Abstract

It is shown that thermionic converters at moderate emitter temperatures of about 1600 K can be designed for a radiatively coupled 100 kWe device. A nuclear reactor is a primary heat source, with heat pipes extracting heat from the reactor and distributing it over a large surface opposite an array of thermionic energy converters. The radiative heat transfer across the vacuum gap heats up the thermionic emitters, and excess heat from the converters is radiated from the collector electrodes to the vacuum of space; the heat transfer is controlled by the energy density to be transferred, and by the temperature differential between the heat source and the heat receiver. It is concluded that this system achieves isolation of power converter modules from the heat source, elimination of additional radiators, and reduction of converter dimensions.