Advances in Design of 50 kW Solar Power System

Clark, Paul; Chen, Bryan; Robertson, William; Streckert, Holger H.; King, W.N.Y.; Palisoc, Art; Neff, Brian A.

doi:10.2514/6.2004-5777

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In later efforts, The Japan Solar Upper Stage program designed a TEC which was estimated to operate at an efficiency of 23.2% with a power density of 5.7 W/cm 2 at an emitter temperature of about 1577 °C [9]. General Atomics proposed the High Power Advanced Low Mass solar thermionics space power system [10,11], and an early prototype achieved a maximum electrical power of 30 W at an emitter temperature of 1397 °C under direct solar heating. Apart from concentrated solar heating, thermionic converters with other sources of heat have been experimentally demonstrated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interplay between Near-Field Radiative Coupling and Space-Charge Effects in a Microgap Thermionic Energy Converter under Fixed Heat Input

Rahman

Nojeh

2020

Phys. Rev. Applied

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We investigate the performance of a micro gap vacuum thermionic energy converter considering the loss mechanisms due to the space charge effect and interelectrode radiative heat transfer. The dependencies of the space charge effect and near-field radiative heat exchange on the interelectrode distance are derived based on established theories. The electrode temperatures are determined by solving the steady-state energy balance equations in a numerical, iterative process and considering a constant energy flux input to the emitter. The resultant behaviour of the different mechanisms of energy flow from the electrodes is studied for a wide range of interelectrode distances, which provides new insights into the device operation.The maximum efficiency of the converter is obtained by optimizing the operating voltage and interelectrode distance. Considering the interplay between space charge and near-field radiative heat transfer, an optimal range is determined for the interelectrode distance. The optimal value of the distance and the lower limit of this range are found to be significantly higher than previously reported, where constant electrode temperatures had been assumed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%