Stirling Convertor Based 50-500W Radioisotope Power System Generator Study

Free piston Stirling convertor based generators present a significant advantage over traditional radioisotope power systems (radioisotope thermoelectric generators), which is conversion efficiency. Several configurations are considered ranging from 50 We to 500 We. Current dynamic systems have yet to prove themselves with respect to reliability. Therefore, a significant portion of the analysis focuses on reliability of the configurations. As dynamic convertor reliability has yet to be determined generator reliability studies are relative to convertor reliability. Reliability studies include the system controller, individual convertor controllers, and convertor redundancy. In addition to reliability: power, thermal efficiency, conversion efficiency, and weight are considered. Investigated configurations show system level efficiencies as high as 24% are possible.