The objective of this effort, under NASA’s Project Prometheus, the Nuclear Systems Program, is to develop a high efficiency thermoelectric (T/E) energy conversion device to power milliwatt radioisotope power systems (mWRPS) for future NASA space science applications. The conversion efficiency goal is 8% at a power output level of 50 to several hundred mW. A two stage cascaded T/E module design is being used to achieve these program objectives. This concept incorporates the advanced superlattice BiTe thermoelectric device technology, which is under development by Research Triangle institute (RTI), with Teledyne’s segmented T/E couple technology. The hot stage device in the cascade is comprised of Teledyne’s PbTe/TAGS/PbSnTe segmented T/E couple which is glass bonded into a monolithic multicouple configuration. The cold stage device is an RTI developed thin film superlattice BiTe based multicouple device.

Topics
Superlattices, Power electronics, Thermoelectric devices, Energy conversion, Space science, Thin films, Isotopes, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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© 2005 American Institute of Physics.
2005
American Institute of Physics
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