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US 8,281,783 B2Granted
Thermal absorber with gravity counterflow regeneration for solar AMTEC power systems
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorMark D. Bennett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermal absorber including a light-transparent reservoir having an alkali metal received therein, a housing sealingly coupled to the reservoir to define an enclosed volume, the housing including a thermal barrier wall that divides the volume into a cold chamber and a hot chamber, the cold chamber including a sump having a drain hole in fluid communication with the hot chamber, and at least one AMTEC cell supported by the cell supporting surface, the AMTEC cell extending through the cold chamber and the hot chamber.
Claims18
A thermal absorber comprising:
- a light-transparent reservoir having an alkali metal received therein;
- a housing sealingly coupled to said reservoir to define an enclosed volume, said housing including a thermal barrier wall that divides said volume into a cold chamber and a hot chamber, said thermal barrier wall including a sump in said cold chamber having a drain hole in fluid communication with said hot chamber;
- at least one alkali metal thermal-to-electric converter (“AMTEC”) cell supported by said thermal barrier wall, said AMTEC cell extending through said cold chamber and said hot chamber;
- and
- a support structure connected to orient said housing such that at least a portion of said cold chamber is at an elevation above at least a portion of said hot chamber, and said sump is positioned at a relatively lower elevation portion of said cold chamber such that said alkali metal condensing in said cold portion flows downwardly along said thermal barrier wall by gravity to collect in said sump, and flows from said sump through said drain hole by gravity to said hot chamber.
2 more elements
A thermal absorber comprising:
- a reservoir being at least partially transparent to solar energy;
- an alkali metal received in said reservoir;
- a housing sealingly coupled to said reservoir to define a volume, said housing including a thermal barrier wall that divides said volume into at least a cold chamber and a hot chamber, said thermal barrier wall further defining a cell supporting surface and a sump in said cold chamber, said sump including a drain hole in fluid communication with said hot chamber;
- at least one alkali metal thermal-to-electric converter (“AMTEC”) cell supported by said cell supporting surface, said AMTEC cell extending through said cold chamber and said hot chamber;
- and
- a support structure connected to orient said housing such that at least a portion of said cold chamber is at an elevation above at least a portion of said hot chamber, and said sump is positioned at a relatively lower elevation portion of said cold chamber such that said alkali metal condensing in said cold portion flows downwardly along said thermal barrier wall by gravity to collect in said sump, and flows from said sump through said drain hole by gravity to said hot chamber.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.