START-3 was a test program conducted in order to demonstrate and characterize the operational performance of the prototype Integrated Solar Upper Stage (ISUS) thermionic power system. The test device consisted of a graphite thermal storage unit, multilayer foil insulation, and sixteen thermionic converters electrically connected in a series array. Several thermal input conditions were achieved during the test, which resulted in measuring converter performance at average converter hot shoe temperatures in the range of 1600 K to 2000 K. Results indicate that the thermionic converters did not perform as well as expected in the array configuration. Follow-on testing of the individual sixteen converters is currently being performed.


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    Title :

    START-3: Operational evaluations of the ISUS engine ground demonstration thermionic power system


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Space technology and applications international forum -1999 ; 1999 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 458 , 1 ; 673-678


    Publication date :

    1999-01-22


    Size :

    6 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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