Thermionics Quo Vadis? An Assessment of the DTRA’s Advanced Thermionics Research and Development Program
Thermionics Quo Vadis? An Assessment of the DTRA’s Advanced Thermionics Research and Development Program
Generating electricity from a heat source using no moving mechanical parts is the ultimate goal of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s thermionics program. However, developing thermionic energy conversion devices has proven difficult, although much progress has been made. In spite of initial success during the late 1960s and intermittent funding since that time, for a variety of reasons no thermionic system has yet been developed in the United States that can be used today on Earth or in space