Effect of geometrical variations on AMTEC cell heat losses

Alkali metal thermal to electric converter (AMTEC) cells are built with rea dily available materials. Improvement of the performance of an AMTEC cell r equires improvement and development of components as well as cell geometry. The present paper shows parametric results obtained by changing cell geome try to determine the effects of these design changes on the cell performanc e. In order to improve the cell performance, heat losses, input thermal pow er, cell's output power and efficiency have been investigated in detail by varying the cell designs. Changing some geometrical dimensions of the cell has proved to be very effective in improving the cell performance. As a res ult of this overall effort we have been able to demonstrate the improvement in the efficiency of AMTEC cell by 17.5% over the one in operation called Ground Demonstration Converter System at Air Force Research Laboratory, Alb uquerque, New Mexico. Published by Elsevier Science S.A.