Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
Feb 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aipc..699..529e&link_type=abstract
SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNAT.FORUM-STAIF 2004: Conf.on Thermophys.in Microgravity; Commercial/Civil Next Gen.Space
Statistics
Applications
Spaceborne And Space Research Instruments, Apparatus, And Components, Magnetohydrodynamic Generators And Thermionic Convertors, Plasma Diodes
Scientific paper
Three Cascaded Thermoelectric Converters (CTCs) are optimized for potential use in Multi-Mission Advanced Radioisotope Power Systems (MM-ARPS) for electrical powers up to 1 kWe, or even higher, in support of 7-10 year missions. The peak efficiencies of these CTCs of 9.43% to 14.32% are 40% to 110% higher than that of SiGe in State-of-the-Art (SOA) Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). Such high efficiencies would significantly reduce the amount of 238PuO2 fuel and the total system mass for a lower mission cost. Each CTC is comprised of a SiGe top unicouple that is thermally, but not electrically, coupled to a bottom unicouple with one of the following three choices of thermoelectric materials: (a) p-leg of TAGS-85 and n-leg of 2N-PbTe (b) p-leg of CeFe3.5Co0.5Sb12 and n-leg of CoSb3; and (c) segmented p-leg of CeFe3.5Co0.5Sb12 and Zn4Sb3 and n-leg of CoSb3. The length of the top and bottom unicouples is 10 mm, but the cross-sectional areas of the n- and p-legs of the unicouples are optimized for maximum efficiency operation. They vary with the thermal power inputs of 1, 2, and 3 Wth per SiGe unicouple, and the heat rejection temperature of 375 K, 475 K, and 575 K, from the bottom unicouple. Such geometrical optimization is at nominal hot shoe temperature of 1273 K for the SiGe unicouple and cold shoe temperature of either 780 K or 980 K, depending on the materials of the bottom unicouples. The hot shoe temperature of the bottom unicouples is 20 K lower than the cold shoe of the top SiGe unicouple, but the rate of heat input is the same as the rate of heat rejection from the top unicouple. The present results are conservative as they assume a contact resistance of 150 μΩ-cm2 per leg for the top and the bottom unicouples in the CTCs; however, decreasing this resistance to 50 μΩ-cm2 per leg could increase the current efficiency estimates by an additional 1 - 2 percentage points.
El-Genk Mohamed S.
Saber Hamed H.
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