The solid core heatpipe nuclear reactor has the potential to be the most dependable concept for the nuclear space power system. The design of the conversion system employed permits multiple failure modes instead of the single failure mode of other concepts. Regardless of the material used for the reactor, either stainless steel, high‐temperature alloys, Nb1Zr, Tantalum Alloys or MoRe Alloys, making the solid core by machining holes in a large diameter billet is not satisfactory. This is because the large diameter billet will have large grains that are detrimental to the performance of the reactor due to grain boundary diffusion. The ideal fabrication method for the solid core is by hot isostatic pressure diffusion bonding, (HIPing). By this technique, wrought fine‐grained tubes of the alloy chosen are assembled into the final shape with solid cusps and seal welded so that there is a vacuum in between all surfaces to be diffusion bonded. This welded structure is then HIPed for diffusion bonding. A solid core made of Type 321 stainless steel has been satisfactorily produced by Advanced Methods and Materials and is undergoing evaluation by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
Fabricating the Solid Core Heatpipe Reactor
SPACE TECH.& APPLIC.INT.FORUM-STAIF 2006: 10th Conf Thermophys Applic Microgravity; 23rd Symp Space Nucl Pwr & Propulsion; 4th Conf Human/Robotic Tech & Nat'l Vision for Space Explor.; 4th Symp Space Coloniz.; 3rd Symp on New Frontiers & Future Concepts ; 2006 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 813 , 1 ; 776-782
2006-01-20
7 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
A Solid Core Heatpipe Reactor with Cylindrical Thermoelectric Converter Modules
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