American Testing of the TOPAZ-II: An Investigation of Output Current Oscillation

Morris, D. Brent; Suriano, Mark A.; Taylor, James M.

doi:10.1063/1.2950125

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Most of the further research on thermionic conversion was based on his study. Two main TFE tests were named V‐71 and Ya‐21u; lots of results were concluded in the 1990s 13‐15 . Hu et al proposed a thermoelectric performance model, thermoelectric characteristics during start‐up and steady‐state were conducted 16 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numericalsimulation on thermal‐hydraulic and thermoelectric characteristics of theTOPAZ‐IIreactor core

et al. 2020

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Summary Numerical simulation of the Space Reactor Power System is of great importance to reactors development and application in aerospace. In this paper, thermal‐hydraulic and thermoelectric characteristics analysis based on 1/6th full thermionic reactor core of the TOPAZ‐II were performed using 3‐D computational fluid dynamics software STAR‐CCM+. A Benchmark study was conducted by comparing the numerical results with experimental data and design values with a maximum error of 5.4%‐11.8%. For the thermal‐hydraulic analysis: (a) the highest temperature point occurred at the center hole of the center thermionic fuel element (TFE) with the temperature of 2303 K; (b) the maximum temperature difference located in the fuel region and interelectrode gap with the value about 200 K and 1000 K, respectively; (c) axial temperature distribution of coolant is similar in each flow channel, and the maximum temperature difference appears at the reactor core outlet with the value of 10 K. For the thermoelectric analysis, the potential on center or the edge TFE is much higher or lower than the others, the calculated electrical power of the full thermionic reactor core is 4.95 kW, the distribution trend of current and potential is in a good agreement with the axial emitter temperature.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numericalsimulation on thermal‐hydraulic and thermoelectric characteristics of theTOPAZ‐IIreactor core

et al. 2020

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“…5 Hu et al proposed a TFE performance model for TOPAZ-II; local electric current density data were used as the input in the model; steady-state results are in good agreement with the design values. 8 Taylor analyzed the minimum reactor power to maintain the TOPAZ-II system at "stationkeeping mode," which based on Ya-21u test results. The TFE experiment test units were build and tested at Scientific Industrial Association (LUTCH) in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and reassembled in the United States during the TIP in the 1990s.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7 Morris et al studied the phenomenon of output current periodic oscillation in the V-71 test, he found that it could be caused by unintentional injection of argon into the cesium reservoir. 8 Taylor analyzed the minimum reactor power to maintain the TOPAZ-II system at "stationkeeping mode," which based on Ya-21u test results. 9 Benke et al developed a thermal analysis network method in low power level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric characteristics analysis of thermionic space nuclear power reactor

et al. 2019

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A thermoelectric analysis of space nuclear power reactor is of great importance to the space reactors development. In this paper, the reactor core model of TOPAZ-II designed by Soviet Union, including neutronics model, thermal-hydraulic model, and electrical circuit model, is established based on reasonable assumptions. A system analysis code is developed to analyze the thermoelectric characteristics of the TOPAZ-II under the condition of steady-state operation, start-up procedure, power change mode, and reactor shutdown. The code has been benchmarked with experimental data, and the maximum relative error is 16.6%. Numerical results show that for the steady state, the simulated electrical power is 5.2 kW within the design value range. For transient state, the reactor thermoelectric characteristics are mainly affected by the electrode temperature: (a) For the start-up procedure, when the emitter temperature increases above 1700 K, electrical system begins to work and reach full power in 5 minutes. (b) For power change mode, the emitter temperature decreases by 5%, while the electrical power decreases by 67%; (c) For reactor shutdown, electrical power reduces to 0 kW as the emitter temperature decreases to 1400 K in 100 seconds. This study provides valuable theoretical supports for the design and analysis of the thermionic space nuclear power reactor. KEYWORDS steady and transient analysis, thermoelectric characteristics, thermionic space nuclear power reactor Nomenclature: A, cross section area (m 2 ); C, delayed neutron precursor concentration (m −3 ); c, specific heat (J kg −1 K −1 ); D, diameter (m); e, electron charge, 1.602 × 10 −19 C; H, heat transfer coefficient (W m −2 K −1 ); I, current (A); J, current density (A/cm 2 ); k, boltzman constant, 1/11 600; N, number; P, power (W); Q, heat source (W m -3 ); r, radius (m); T, temperature (K); t, time (s); l, length (m); p, pressure (Pa); V, volume (m 3 )/voltage (V); W, mass flow rate (kg s −1 ) characteristics analysis of thermionic space nuclear power reactor. Int J Energy Res. 2020;44:855 868 .

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Effect of near-field evanescent wave heat transfer on the performance of a cesium thermionic energy converter with graphene anode

Zhao,

Fang,

Jiang

et al. 2024

Journal of Power Sources

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American Testing of the TOPAZ-II: An Investigation of Output Current Oscillation

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Numericalsimulation on thermal‐hydraulic and thermoelectric characteristics of theTOPAZ‐IIreactor core

Numericalsimulation on thermal‐hydraulic and thermoelectric characteristics of theTOPAZ‐IIreactor core

Thermoelectric characteristics analysis of thermionic space nuclear power reactor

Effect of near-field evanescent wave heat transfer on the performance of a cesium thermionic energy converter with graphene anode

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