Progress Toward High Power Output in Thermionic Energy Converters
Abstract
Thermionic energy converters are solid‐state heat engines that have the potential to produce electricity with efficiencies of over 30% and area‐specific power densities of 100 Wcm−2. Despite this prospect, no prototypes reported in the literature have achieved true efficiencies close to this target, and many of the most recent investigations report power densities on the order of mWcm−2 or less. These discrepancies stem in part from the low‐temperature (1 Wcm−2 and employing emitter temperatures of 1300 K or higher. With this result in mind, this review provides an overview of historical and current design architectures and comments on their capacity to realize the efficiency and power potential of thermionic energy converters. Also emphasized is the importance of using standardized efficiency metrics to report thermionic energy converter performance data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 03, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1002/advs.202003812
Entities
People
- F. Schmitt
- Igor Bargatin
- Jared Schwede
- Matthew F. Campbell
- Thomas J. Celenza
Organizations
- California Energy Commission
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Science Foundation
- University of Pennsylvania