Editing Thermionic converter (section)

== History ==

After the first demonstration of the practical arc-mode caesium vapor thermionic converter by V. Wilson in 1957, several applications of it were demonstrated in the following decade, including its use with [[solar power|solar]], [[combustion]], [[radioisotope]], and [[nuclear reactor]] heat sources. The application most seriously pursued, however, was the integration of thermionic [[nuclear fuel]] elements directly into the core of nuclear reactors for production of electrical power in space.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1   = Mills
 |first1  = Joseph C.
 |last2   = Dahlberg
 |first2  = Richard C.
 |title   = Thermionic Systems for DOD Missions
 |journal = AIP Conference Proceedings
 |volume  = 217
 |issue   = 3
 |pages   = 1088–92
 |date    = January 10, 1991
 |doi     = 10.1063/1.40069
 |bibcode = 1991AIPC..217.1088M
 |url     = http://link.aip.org/link/?APCPCS/217/1088/1
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://archive.today/20120710170713/http://link.aip.org/link/?APCPCS/217/1088/1
|archive-date = July 10, 2012
|url-access= subscription
 }}
</ref><ref>
{{cite journal
 | last= Gryaznov
 | first= G. M.
 |author2=E. E. Zhabotinskii |author3=A. V. Zrodnikov |author4=Yu. V. Nikolaev |author5=N. N. Ponomarev-Stepnoi |author6=V. Ya. Pupko |author7=V. I. Serbin |author8=V. A. Usov
 | title= Thermoemission reactor-converters for nuclear power units in outer space
 | journal=Soviet Atomic Energy
 | volume= 66
 | issue= 6
 | pages= 374–377
 | publisher= Plenus Pub. Co.
 | date= June 1989
 | issn= 1573-8205
 | doi= 10.1007/BF01123508
| s2cid= 95666931
 }}
</ref>  The exceptionally high [[operating temperature]] of thermionic converters, which makes their practical use difficult in other applications, gives the thermionic converter decisive advantages over competing energy conversion technologies in the space power application where radiant heat rejection is required. Substantial thermionic space reactor development programs were conducted in the [[United States|U.S.]], [[France]], and [[Germany]] in the period 1963–1973, and the US resumed a significant thermionic nuclear fuel element development program in the period 1983–1993.

Thermionic power systems were used in combination with various [[nuclear reactor]]s ([[BES-5]], [[Topaz Nuclear Reactor|TOPAZ]]) as electrical power supply on a number of Soviet military surveillance satellites between 1967 and 1988.<ref>
{{cite book
 | title= Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
 | date= July 1993
 | pages= 12–
 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lQwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | title= Proceedings of a Symposium Advanced Compact Reactor Systems: National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., November 15-17, 1982
 | year= 1983
 | publisher= National Academies
 | pages= 65–
 | id= NAP:15535
 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fmIrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA65
}}
</ref>
See [[Kosmos 954]] for more details.

Although the priority for thermionic reactor use diminished as the US and [[Russia]]n [[space program]]s were curtailed, research and technology development in thermionic energy conversion have continued. In recent years technology development programs for solar-heated thermionic space power systems were conducted. Prototype combustion-heated thermionic systems for domestic heat and electric power [[cogeneration]], and for [[rectifier|rectification]], have been developed.<ref>
{{cite journal
 | last1= van Kemenade
 | first1= E.
 | last2= Veltkamp
 | first2= W. B.
 | title= Design of a Thermionic Converter for a Domestic Heating System
 | journal= Proceedings of the 29th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference
 | volume= II
 | date= August 7, 1994
 | url= http://alexandria.tue.nl/repository/freearticles/603938.pdf
}}
</ref>