3 ms·
Anyone know what temperature this runs at internally? If the black body radiation is high enough frequency maybe we could tune a special solar panel to pick it
by bilsbie 2y ago
Anyone know what temperature this runs at internally?
If the black body radiation is high enough frequency maybe we could tune a special solar panel to pick it up and be dramatically more efficient than thermal electric.
- perihelions 2y agoThey've built those in the lab decades ago [0]. I don't know what the large drawback is that prevents them from being more widely used. In the thermophotovoltaic case they were looking at emitter temperatures between 1,200 and 1,350 K. [0] https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1867178 https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1867178 ("Thermophotovoltaic Converter Performance for Radioisotope Power Systems", 2005)
- sandworm101 2y agoBlackbody radiation is the wrong approach. If you are going to slap a PV panel onto a radioactive source then tune it for the emitted radiation rather than the blackbody heat. Radiation from nuclear decay should be very narrowband, allowing for a more efficient PV solution.
- perihelions 2y agoThere is no emitted radiation: the heat source self-absorbs its own alpha radiation and converts it into heat.
- angiosperm 2y agoArrayed as a thin film on a substrate, you can use the kinetic energy of the alpha particles directly for thrust. The substrate will need to dissipate some heat from nuclei emitted in the wrong direction.
- eternauta3k 2y agoWhat is the status of making power directly from e.g. alpha radiation?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- adrianN 2y agoYou could also do https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaic_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaic_device