THERMIONIC REACTOR Russian patent published in 1999 - IPC

FIELD: thermionic heat-to- electricity conversion. SUBSTANCE: thermionic converter that may have electrode-to-electrode clearance as small as below 30 mcm has emitter and collector with flat effective surfaces and insulating spacers fitted between them; emitter is connected to heat supply system and collector, to non-converted heat discharge system; inclined drilling is made on side surface of one or both of these electrodes running to effective surface, its depth being 0.1 to 0.8 of half-width of effective surface; distance from drilling origin to effective surface is minimum 0.2 of electrode height and inclination angle is between 2 and 50 deg. EFFECT: improved specific power and efficiency. 1 dwg