Free‐piston Stirling power converters have the potential to meet the many future space power requirements for a wide variety of applications with less mass, better efficiency, and less total area (collector and radiator) than other power converter options. These benefits result in significant dollar savings over the projected mission lifetime. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)—Lewis Research Center (LeRC), which has the responsibility to evaluate and develop power technologies that can satisfy anticipated future space mission power requirements, has been developing free‐piston Stirling power converters and is bringing the Stirling technology to readiness. As the principal contractor to NASA‐LeRC, Mechanical Technology Incorporated (MTI) is under contract to develop the necessary space Stirling technology but also demonstrate the readiness of the technology in two generations of full‐scale power converters. The first generation Stirling power converter, the component test power converter (CTPC), initiated cold end testing at the end of 1991, with hot testing scheduled during 1992. This paper reviews test progress of the CTPC including the initial hot engine test results. Modifications incorporated into the CTPC from the earlier space power demonstrator engine are reviewed as well.
Stirling technology development status
10th SymposiumùSpace Nuclear Power and Propulsion ; 1993 ; Albuquerque, NM, USA
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 271 , 2 ; 1039-1044
15.01.1993
6 pages
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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