Radioisotopic batteries offer advantages relative to conventional chemical batteries for applications requiring a long lifetime with minimum maintenance. Thus, thermoelectric type cells fueled with Pu have been used extensively on NASA space missions. The design for a small beta battery using nickel‐63 (Ni‐63) and a vacuum direct collection method is described here. A honeycomb nickel wire structure is employed to achieve bi‐directional direct collection by seeding Ni‐63 onto honeycomb shaped wires that will provide structural support as well. The battery design is intended to power low power electronics and distribute power needs in space probes as well as space colonies. Ni‐63 is chosen as the source emitter because it has a long half‐life and ease of manufacturing. The use of vacuum is especially well mated to space use; hence, vacuum insulation is employed to gain a higher efficiency than prior beta batteries with a dielectric insulator. A unique voltage down‐converter is incorporated to efficiently reduce the inherent output voltage from 17.4 kV to This converter operates like a “reverse” Marx circuit where capacitor charging occurs in series but the discharge is in parallel. The reference battery module described here is about and has a power of with a conversion efficiency of These modules can be stacked for higher powers and are very attractive for various applications in space colonization due to their long life (half‐life for ) and low maintenance.
Honeycomb Betavoltaic Battery for Space Applications
SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL FORUM‐STAIF 2008: 12th Conference on Thermophysics Applications in Microgravity; 1st Symposium on Space Resource Utilization; 25th Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion; 6th Conference on Human/Robotic Technology and the Vision for Space Exploration; 6th Symposium on Space Colonization; 5th Symposium on New Frontiers and Future Concept ; 2008 ; Albuquerque (New Mexico)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 969 , 1 ; 557-569
21.01.2008
13 pages
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Advanced Betavoltaic Battery for Space Applications
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