Cycle Analysis of an Alkali Metal Thermo-Electric Converter for Small Capillary Type

소형 모세관식 알카리 금속 열전변환소자의 사이클해석

This paper describes the design of a small size Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter (AMTEC) which employs a capillary structure for recirculating sodium working fluid. The cycle is based on the simple and small capillary type ${\beta}"$ -alumina and wick tube element. The proposed cell consists of the 37 conversion elements with capillary tube of $50{\mu}m$ in diameter and the sealed cylindrical vessel of 22mm in outer diameter. Results on the cycle analysis of sodium flow and heat transfer in the cell showed that the expected power output was 4.65W and the conversion efficiency was 19% for the source temperature of 900K.