A number of design changes for improving the performance of super-alloy AMTEC cells, and options of integrating them to General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) modules in the configuration proposed by Advanced Modular Power Systems were investigated, for satisfying the electric power requirements for the Pluto/Express mission. A power system consisting of 6 fresh-fuel GPHS modules and 48, 7-tube super-alloy cells connected electrically in 4 parallel strings would weight 28.75 kg and provide at EOM, at an efficiency of 13.2%. The cells’ BASE brazes and evaporator temperatures would be below 1059 K and 971 K, respectively. A power system consisting of 5 fresh-fuel GPHS modules and 4 parallel strings of 8, 9-tube cells each would deliver at EOM and weight only 24.53 kg. In this system, the AMTEC cells would also operate at low BASE brazes and evaporator temperatures (1071 K and 995 K, respectively).
Super-alloy, AMTEC cells for the pluto/express mission
Space technology and applications international forum -1999 ; 1999 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 458 , 1 ; 1293-1300
1999-01-22
8 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Super-Alloy, AMTEC Cells for the Pluto/Express Mission
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999
|Parametric analyses of vapor-anode, multitube AMTEC cells for Pluto/Express mission
American Institute of Physics | 1998
|Parametric Analyses of Vapor-Anode, Multitube AMTEC Cells for Pluto/Express Mission
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998
|Pluto Express: Mission to Pluto
NTRS | 1996
|A thermal model of the conical evaporator in Pluto/Express, multi-tube AMTEC cells
American Institute of Physics | 1999
|