A High Pressure Mercury Turbine Cycle for Use in Spacecraft and Terrestrial Power Plants.

Abstract

A high pressure thermomechanical cycle using mercury as the working fluid can be made practical at close to theoretical thermodynamic efficiency between a hot shoe temperature of about 1200 K (3000 psia boiler pressure) and 600 K condenser. Means are proposed for utilizing a simple Rankine cycle without superheat, in which liquid droplets are vaporized by radiative heat transfer after being sprayed into the boiler chamber as a mist; and in which vapor wetness is controlled (by addition of further hot mist if need be) prior to expansion in a nozzle; and in which, after expansion, the kinetic energy of both droplet and vapor phases is utilized in a turbine.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 22, 1983
Accession Number
ADA129016

Entities

People

  • Robert M. Lerner

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Control Systems
  • Energy Storage
  • Energy Transfer
  • Fluid Flow
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Of Vaporization
  • Heat Transfer
  • Ideal Gas Law
  • Latent Heat
  • Material Degradation Processes
  • Materials Science
  • Mechanics
  • Solar Energy
  • Thermal Conductivity
  • Thermodynamics

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.
  • Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster