A high performance, Nb-1Zr/C-103, vapor anode, multi-tube AMTEC cell design is presented. The cell measures 41.27 mm in diameter, is 125.3 mm high, and has eight BASE tubes connected electrically in series. The hot structure of the cell (hot plate, BASE tubes support plate, hot plenum wall, evaporator standoff, evaporator wick, and side wall facing the BASE tubes) is made of Nb-1Zr. The cold structure of the cell (condenser, interior cylindrical thermal radiation shield, the casing and the wick of the liquid sodium return artery, and side wall above the BASE tubes) is made of the stronger, lower thermal conductivity niobium alloy C-103. This cell, which weighs 163.4 g, could deliver 7.0  W e at 17% efficiency and load voltage of 3.3 V, when using TiN BASE electrodes characterized by B=75 A.K 1/2 /m 2 .Pa and G=50 and assuming BASE/electrode contact resistance of 0.06 Ω-cm2 and leakage resistance of the BASE braze structure of 3 Ω. For these performance parameters and when the interior cylindrical C-103 thermal radiation shield is covered with low emissivity rhodium, the projected specific mass of the cell is 23.4  g/W e . The BASE brazes and the evaporator temperatures were below the recommended limits of 1123 K and 1023 K, respectively. In addition, the temperature margin in the cell was at least + 20 K. When electrodes characterized by B=120 A.K 1/2 /m 2 .Pa and G =10 were used, the cell power increased to 8.38  W e at 3.5 V and efficiency of 18.8%, for a cell specific mass of 19.7  g/W e . Issues related to structure strength of the cell and the performance degradation of the BASE and electrodes are not addressed in this paper.


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    Title :

    Analyses of Nb-1Zr/C-103, vapor anode, multi-tube AMTEC cells


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL FORUM - 2000 ; 2000 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 504 , 1 ; 1383-1390


    Publication date :

    2000-01-19


    Size :

    8 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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