Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Harvesting that heat energy using a thermoelectric generator can increase the fuel efficiency of the car. Thermoelectric generators have been investigated to replace the alternators in cars demonstrating a 3.45% reduction in fuel consumption. [33] Projections for future improvements are up to a 10% increase in mileage for hybrid vehicles. [34]
Diagram of an RTG used on the Cassini probe. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG), sometimes referred to as a radioisotope power system (RPS), is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the Seebeck effect.
The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa via a thermocouple. [1] A thermoelectric device creates a voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when a voltage is applied to it, heat is transferred from one side to the other, creating a temperature ...
This material is used in the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that power Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Galileo, Ulysses, Cassini, and New Horizons spacecraft. SiGe thermoelectric material converts enough radiated heat into electrical power to fully meet the power demands of each spacecraft. The properties of the material and the remaining ...
The Systems Nuclear Auxiliary POWER (SNAP) program was a program of experimental radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and space nuclear reactors flown during the 1960s by NASA. The SNAP program developed as a result of Project Feedback, a Rand Corporation study of reconnaissance satellites completed in 1954. [1]
Diagram of a MMRTG. The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) is a type of radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) developed for NASA space missions [1] such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Energy's Office of Space and Defense Power Systems within the Office of Nuclear Energy.
The efficiency of a thermoelectric device for electricity generation is given by , defined as =.. The maximum efficiency of a thermoelectric device is typically described in terms of its device figure of merit where the maximum device efficiency is approximately given by [7] = + ¯ + ¯ +, where is the fixed temperature at the hot junction, is the fixed temperature at the surface being cooled ...
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator; Steam generator (nuclear power) ... "Congressional Research Service report on Nuclear Energy Policy" (PDF).