Testing of milliwatt power source components

Author

Snyder, G.J. ; Borshchevsky, A. ; Zoltan, A. ; Caillat, T. ; Fleurial, J.P. ; Nesmith, B. ; Mondt, J. ; McBirney, T. ; Allen, D. ; Bass, J.C. ; Ghamaty, S. ; Elsner, N. ; Anatychuk, L.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

25-29 Aug. 2002

Firstpage

463

Lastpage

470

Abstract

A milliwatt power source (MPS) has been developed to satisfy the requirements of several potential solar system exploration missions. The MPS is a small power source consisting of three major components: a space qualified heat source (RHU), a thermopile (thermoelectric converter or TEC) and a container to direct the RHU heat to the TEC. Thermopiles from Hi-Z Technology, Inc. of San Diego and the Institute of Thermoelectricity of Chemivtsi Ukraine suitable for the MPS were tested and shown to perform as expected, producing 40 mW of power with a temperature difference of about 170°C. Such thermopiles were successfully life tested for up to a year. A MPS container designed and built by Swales Aerospace was tested with both a TEC simulator and actual TEC. The Swales unit, tested under dynamic vacuum, provided less temperature difference than anticipated, such that the TEC produced 20 mW of power with heat input equivalent to a RHU.

Keywords

life testing; radioisotope thermoelectric generators; space vehicle power plants; thermocouples; thermopiles; 170 degC; 20 mW; 40 mW; Hi-Z Technology; Institute of Thermoelectricity of Chemivtsi Ukraine; Swales Aerospace; dynamic vacuum; heat input; life testing; milliwatt power source components testing; simulator; small power source; solar system exploration missions; space qualified heat source; temperature difference; thermoelectric converter; thermopile; Aerospace testing; Chemical technology; Containers; Life testing; Performance evaluation; Solar system; Space heating; Space technology; Temperature; Thermoelectricity;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Thermoelectrics, 2002. Proceedings ICT '02. Twenty-First International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7683-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICT.2002.1190361

Filename

1190361