Article
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Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
A Micro-Nuclear Power Generator for Space Missions
Version 1
: Received: 27 April 2023 / Approved: 27 April 2023 / Online: 27 April 2023 (07:51:43 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Ayodele, O.L.; Luta, D.N.; Kahn, M.T. A Micro-Nuclear Power Generator for Space Missions. Energies 2023, 16, 4422. Ayodele, O.L.; Luta, D.N.; Kahn, M.T. A Micro-Nuclear Power Generator for Space Missions. Energies 2023, 16, 4422.
Abstract
The increased interest in space activities, structural health monitoring, and terrestrial monitoring in hostile and inaccessible zones places a high demand for energy sources for autonomous systems. Conventional electrochemical batteries that could be used are plagued by low energy storage density, short life, disposal of unwanted batteries, and related undesired recharging or replacement maintenance requirements, which endangers the environment. Fuel cells and solar energy sources being exploited to mitigate the adverse effect of environmental threats posed by batteries and fossil fuels are costly to acquire and maintain. The availability of energy sources derived from waste heat from radioactive decay for domestic appliances and industrial equipment will also help alleviate the effects of climate change, which continues to threaten the environment due to fossil fuel energy-based sources that emit harmful carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. A combination of energy from waste heat, harvested via thermoelectricity and existing battery technology to produce a hybrid energy source, can guarantee secured energy for an extended period. Based on the Seebeck effect, thermoelectric energy generation may considerably contribute to sustainable energy development and meet the power demand for spacecraft applications. Modeling of the energy from waste heat, the Li-ion battery, and a hybrid energy source are considered, and their performances are established using the MATLAB/Simulink environment. Results confirmed the comparative advantage of the hybrid energy source over and above the respective electrochemical batteries and waste heat energy sources regarding effectiveness and performance efficiency. Since batteries are required to operate in a constantly changing environment, the effects of temperatures on batteries were investigated. The results show that the performances of batteries decrease with a decrease in ambient temperature and that the higher the maximum operating capacity, the higher the battery's internal temperature.
Keywords
RTG; MMRTG; Li-ion battery, spacecraft; energy storage
Subject
Engineering, Energy and Fuel Technology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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