It is shown that under certain conditions of heat input, reservoir temperature, and load voltage or resistance a thermionic converter can equilibrate at two radically different operation points, corresponding to conditions of high and low cesium coverage. Moreover, abrupt transitions between these operating regimes, accompanied by a temperature rise of hundreds of degrees, can occur whenever the critical heat generation rate for a given reservoir temperature is exceeded. To provide an adequate safety margin against such an occurrence, thermionic systems must be operated at relatively high cesium pressures, even though this may cause some performance degradation. This paper consists of …
continued below
Serving as both a federal and a state depository library, the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department maintains millions of items in a variety of formats. The department is a member of the FDLP Content Partnerships Program and an Affiliated Archive of the National Archives.
Descriptive information to help identify this report.
Follow the links below to find similar items on the Digital Library.
Description
It is shown that under certain conditions of heat input, reservoir temperature, and load voltage or resistance a thermionic converter can equilibrate at two radically different operation points, corresponding to conditions of high and low cesium coverage. Moreover, abrupt transitions between these operating regimes, accompanied by a temperature rise of hundreds of degrees, can occur whenever the critical heat generation rate for a given reservoir temperature is exceeded. To provide an adequate safety margin against such an occurrence, thermionic systems must be operated at relatively high cesium pressures, even though this may cause some performance degradation. This paper consists of two parts. The first explains the above effect with reference to a single converter. The second part illustrates the effect of cesium reservoir temperatures on the dynamic behavior of an open-loop thermionic reactor following a small reactivity perturbation.
This report is part of the following collection of related materials.
Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports
Reports, articles and other documents harvested from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is the Department of Energy (DOE) office that collects, preserves, and disseminates DOE-sponsored research and development (R&D) results that are the outcomes of R&D projects or other funded activities at DOE labs and facilities nationwide and grantees at universities and other institutions.
