A three cell conductively coupled thermionic fuel element (TFE) was assembled using a W-Sc2O3-W emitter trilayer, Ta intercell connectors and a Nb-Al2O3-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.

Topics
Work functions, Electrical properties and parameters, Nuclear fuel, Metal oxides, Educational assessment, Public policy and governance
This content is only available via PDF.
© 2001 American Institute of Physics.
2001
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.