Performance Analysis of A Variable-Spacing Cesium Thermionic Energy Converter

열전변환 장치의 특성 분석에 대한 연구

A variable-spacing cesium thermionic energy conversion test station is designed and fabricated for the study of power generation. The diode is in the form of a guard-ringed plane-parallel geometry in which a polycrystalline rhenium emitter of 2 cmS02T area faces a radiation-cooled polycrystalline rhenium collector of 1.9 cmS02T area. The emission of plasma from heated refractory electrode metal is the driving reaction in the direct conversion of heat to electricity by thermionic energy conversion. The plasma is produced from electrons and positive ions formed simultaneously by thermionic emission and surface ionization of cesium atoms incident on the hot emitter from the cesium vapor in the diode. And high plasma density causes plasma multiplication within the gap due to volume ionization that results in high power output. The variation of the saturation current of a Knudsen converter is investigated at an emitter-collector gap of 0.1 mm and an emitter temperatures. A maximum power output of 13.47 watta/cmS02T is observed at a collector temperature of 963 K and a cesium reservoir temperature of 603 K.