A three cell conductively coupled thermionic fuel element (TFE) was assembled using a W-Sc 2 O 3 -W emitter trilayer, Ta intercell connectors and a Nb-Al 2 O 3 -Nb collector trilayer. An electric heater supplied heat through radiation to the fuel clad. Current-voltage (IV) characteristics were obtained at emitter temperatures from 1650 K to 1800 K. A comparison with IV curves calculated with TECMDL indicates that the emitter bare work functions were around 5.1 eV. The agreement between calculated and observed voltages demonstrates that the 3 cells were indeed in series, thereby validating the feasibility of the conductively coupled multi-cell TFE, which is applicable to both nuclear and solar space power sources.


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    Title :

    Tests of a conductively coupled multi-cell thermionic fuel element


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Space Technology and Applications International Forum - 2001 ; 2001 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 552 , 1 ; 1119-1124


    Publication date :

    2001-02-02


    Size :

    6 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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