Nuclear Battery-Thermocouple Type Summary Report

Blanke, B.C.; Birden, J.H.; Jordan, K.C.; Murphy, Edward L.

doi:10.2172/4807049

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…However, a possible strategy to bypass these limitations is the decoupling of the electronic and the thermal conductivity, for instance, by creating heterogeneous materials such as nanocomposites with carbon nanotubes, graphene (see Chapter IV) or inorganic nanowires [623,624] with interfaces that enhance phonon scattering. derivatives [15], purple: PEDOT [5,10,[29][30][31], green: polyacetylene [22,23]) and b) n-type materials [43][44][45][46]51,53,54,56,57] extracted from literature. The dashed lines represent the relation α  σ -1/4 , as suggested by Chabinyc and coworkers [581] and by Kemerink and co-workers [603].…”

Section: Organic Semiconductorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These engines, which were given the name of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) or, more commonly, nuclear batteries, were first developed in the late 1950s, in the Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, under contract with the United States Atomic Energy Commission (later Department of Energy) and under the guide of Bertram C. Blanke. [30] Subsequent generators realized for practical applications made use of a pellet of 238 PuO 2 as heat source, whose radioactive decay, being of the alpha type, is relatively easy to shield. RTGs are capable of generating hundreds of watts with an appreciable diminution of the power output of only few percent points over a period of decades.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Thermoelectrics: From history, a window to the future

Beretta

Neophytou

Hodges

et al. 2019

Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports

428

316

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Thermoelectricity offers a sustainable path to recover and convert waste heat into readily available electric energy, and has been studied for more than two centuries. From the controversy between Galvani and Volta on the Animal Electricity, dating back to the end of the XVIII century and anticipating Seebeck's observations, the understanding of the physical mechanisms evolved along with the development of the technology. In the XIX century Ørsted clarified some of the earliest observations of the thermoelectric phenomenon and proposed the first thermoelectric pile, while it was only after the studies on thermodynamics by Thomson, and Rayleigh's suggestion to exploit the Seebeck effect for power generation, that a diverse set of thermoelectric generators was developed.From such pioneering endeavors, technology evolved from massive, and sometimes unreliable, thermopiles to very reliable devices for sophisticated niche applications in the XX century, when Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators for space missions and nuclear batteries for cardiac pacemakers were introduced. While some of the materials adopted to realize the first thermoelectric generators are still investigated nowadays, novel concepts and improved understanding of materials growth, processing, and characterization developed during the last 30 years has provided new avenues for the enhancement of the thermoelectric conversion efficiency, for example through nanostructuration, and favored the development of new classes of thermoelectric materials. With

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Section: Organic Semiconductorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectrics: From history, a window to the future

Beretta

Neophytou

Hodges

et al. 2019

Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports

428

316

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The radioisotope for heat generation is selected by considering several different aspects of mass efficient shielding, specific power, duration of the mission, operating temperature, and required power level . To date, several candidate materials such as 238 PuO 2 , 90 SrTiO 3 , and 241 AmO 2 have been considered as the heat source for space application.…”

Section: Suggested Rtpv Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and performance analysis of a 500-W heat source for radioisotope thermophotovoltaic converters

2017

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Summary A radioisotope thermophotovoltaic (RTPV) system effectively converts the decay heat of radioisotopes into electricity via thermally radiated photons. In this work, a 500‐W thermal heat source unit including 238PuO2 radioisotope fuel, shielding material, and selective emitter is designed from the viewpoint of radiation safety, thermal performance, and overall conversion efficiency by considering various shielding materials, fuel configurations, and packing factor (PF), defined as the ratio of fuel region volume to total heat source enclosure volume including fuel cladding and shield. The design study starts with a reference cubic configuration and extends to the more complicated configurations having separate cylindrical fuels. The results of the study showed that the heat source unit design suggested here can reduce the total radiation dose, peak neutron fluence, and maximum temperature using separate cylindrical fuel rods. For example, a design having a separated 3 × 3 cylindrical fuel rod array of 30% PF increases the overall efficiency by ~39% with similar maximum temperature and radiation doses in comparison with the reference heat source unit with a single cubic module and a 10% PF. This demonstrates the importance of the proper design of the RTPV heat source unit.

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“…The dreadful effects of emission-driven climate change continue to accelerate the need to develop sustainable energy sources. Thermoelectrics (TE) are among the leading options because they can transform heat from the sun, radioactivity, hot surfaces in industry and automotives, and even human bodies into electricity in a static and emission-free state. − However, the low energy conversion efficiency and the exorbitant cost of state-of-the-art TE materials remain as the main conundrum to the commercial application of this technology. , Therefore, current research efforts are increasingly focused on TE’s cost-performance improvement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric and Magnetic Properties of Biphasic ZrFe_0.5Ni_0.5Sb Double Half-Heusler and ZrNiSb Half-Heusler Induced by Co Doping

Kahiu,

Kihoi,

Kim

et al. 2024

ACS Appl. Electron. Mater.

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Improving the efficiency of upcoming thermoelectric (TE) materials and exploring their potential for various niche applications are among the promising strategies for addressing the challenges that impede the commercialization of traditional TE materials. This work reports the results of efforts to improve the performance of the recently optimized ZrFe0.4Ni0.6Sb double half-Heusler (DhH) by cobalt (Co) doping. The synthesized ZrFe0.4–y Co y Ni0.6Sb samples exhibit phase separation into coherent biphasic DhH and ZrNiSb phases with greatly improved electrical conductivity, which increases from ∼400 S/cm in sample y = 0 to ∼3886 S/cm in sample y = 0.4 at room temperature. In addition to the suppression of bipolar conduction, the thermal conductivity also decreases by ∼18% in sample y = 0.1 compared to sample y = 0, which can be attributed to the enhanced phonon scattering and leads to an increase in peak zT from 0.33 in sample y = 0 to 0.37 in sample y = 0.1 at 973 K. Unfortunately, higher doping concentrations not only deteriorate the Seebeck coefficient but also excessively increase the electronic and lattice thermal conductivities, leading to lower zT values in the samples y > 0.1. By synthesizing and analyzing the (ZrFe0.4Ni0.6NiSb)1–z + (ZrNiSb) z samples, it is confirmed that the ZrNiSb phases are responsible for the appalling TE performance in the y > 0.1 samples. Further investigation using the recently restructured single parabolic model shows that the ZrFe0.4Ni0.6NiSb system was already overdoped before Co doping, which explains the reason for the resulting PF decrease. Finally, the ferromagnetic nature and tunable magnetism of the synthesized samples are revealed by using a vibrating sample magnetometer to study their magnetism, expanding their range of potential niche applications in spintronics.

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Nuclear Battery-Thermocouple Type Summary Report

Abstract: The object ot this contract was to conduct research on radioactive materials and thermocouples suitable for the direct conversion of heat to electrical energy. U. a Army Signal Corps Contract No.

Cited by 10 publications

References 4 publications

Thermoelectrics: From history, a window to the future

Thermoelectrics: From history, a window to the future

Design and performance analysis of a 500-W heat source for radioisotope thermophotovoltaic converters

Thermoelectric and Magnetic Properties of Biphasic ZrFe_0.5Ni_0.5Sb Double Half-Heusler and ZrNiSb Half-Heusler Induced by Co Doping

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Nuclear Battery-Thermocouple Type Summary Report

Abstract: The object ot this contract was to conduct research on radioactive materials and thermocouples suitable for the direct conversion of heat to electrical energy. U. a Army Signal Corps Contract No.

Cited by 10 publications

References 4 publications

Thermoelectrics: From history, a window to the future

Thermoelectrics: From history, a window to the future

Design and performance analysis of a 500-W heat source for radioisotope thermophotovoltaic converters

Thermoelectric and Magnetic Properties of Biphasic ZrFe0.5Ni0.5Sb Double Half-Heusler and ZrNiSb Half-Heusler Induced by Co Doping

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Product

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Thermoelectric and Magnetic Properties of Biphasic ZrFe_0.5Ni_0.5Sb Double Half-Heusler and ZrNiSb Half-Heusler Induced by Co Doping