Radioisotope Thermo Electric Generators: The New Science Nuclear Generators
Author: Barney Garcia
If you had to orbit the earth, travel to the moon or just hover around in the outer reaches of space, you might not have fared well with normal power generation systems. The far reaches of space, with a total lack of gravity and sheer, bone-chilling cold is quite an obstacle for carrying your favorite large diesel generator for producing electric power out there.
– Nuclear Power generation systems have served us with this onerous task of providing for energy for more than two decades and radioisotope thermoelectric generators are one such way of doing the same.
The Radioisotope Thermoelectric generator consists of two parts: One part which is responsible for producing heat and the other helps in converting this heat into electricity. The heat is produced due to its self – decaying intense radioactive waves by the plutonium – 238, a radioisotope. This resulting heat is converted by a thermo electric converter by utilizing the seebeck effect, a basic thermo electric principle, founded in 1822. A voltage is formed by the diffusion of electrons across the junction of two different metals which then forms a thermocouple.
This technology is now being used on space programs and the Galileo Mission, the Mars mission and more modern space programs have employed the nuclear technology for heat and electricity production. Other examples include the Pioneer, Viking, Voyager and Apollo Missions.
Safety is a major issue when it comes to producing nuclear energy and lack of adherence to safety norms has resulted in nothing less than fatality. However, radioisotope thermoelectric generators are relatively safer and need only to be contained within secure elements or shells to avoid contamination to the neighboring surroundings. These devices require no maintenance since there are no moving parts and can generate electricity for a number of years.
A constant demand for innovation in the way electricity has to be produced for different systems in a sheer variety of situations has made a wide range of types of generators to choose from. Complicated systems have evolved over time to cater to all kinds of electrical needs. RTGs are just the beginning.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/radioisotope-thermo-electric-generators-the-new-science-nuclear-generators-71891.html
About the Author
Jason Uvios writes about "Radioisotope Thermo Electric Generators: The New Science Nuclear Generators" to visit: electric power generators, gas powered generators and power outage backup generators.
What would happen if I plugged a 60 cycle generator into a 50 cycle electric motor?
Specifically, a 440 volt 50 cycle, 10 amp motor to a 20kW diesel generator, pumping out at North American 60 Cycle. Would it burn out the motor? What performance issues would I be facing?
Thank you for your time
Diesel 3 phase 100 Kva electric generator shuts down?
I have a Diesel generator using leroy sommers alternator and which uses intelilite MRS 11 controller , it is 380 V , 50 Hz , yesterday i started having problems , after running the genset for like 12 seconds it shuts down and i get two error msgs the first one is : Shutdown Level for Phase 1 under volts
the second error msg is : Shutdown Level for Gen voltage Unbalance .
in the first 12 seconds the voltage on 3 phases got no problem and after 12 seconds the generator auto shuts down and i cannot seem the find the problem , any help will be appreciated
Its seems ur AVR circuit circuits not functioning or mal functioning check all glass fuses & relays ( coil & contacts of pcb mounted miniature relays ) healthines in AVR PCB isn’t open type or sealed type ?,. Check all input plugs & connection to speed sensor too.voltage monitoring relay should pick up (AVR pcb). go thro the manual if there any , what is the climate is ti too Humid chill & windy , Is ur Generator is fitted out side or inside building ? some time certain environment AVR circuit may mal function , some time there won’t be a fault at all .once after checking all those points -try again best of Luck – or pm me
Forget diesel.
I have a large house .5 mile from the next. Now and again the power will go off. I have a small 4.5kva petrol generator that runs most of the things in the house. The problem is that lots of the things you have will run fine, ie tv, lights, fridge, computer, heating system (gas) not the immersion heater if you have one, but the moment you switch on the cooker or kettle thing will go wrong. Heating stuff up uses lots of power. If i want to boil the kettle i have to switch off most of the other stuff so that the generator does not trip out.
You could get round this by getting a large generator but that’s not so good for a flat. You should also remember that they make a lot of noise, petrol or diesel.
Also remember if you plug one into your mains, TURN OFF THE MAINS POWER ON YOUR FUSE BOARD but leave the trips on. The moment you try to power the rest of the street with the new generator will be the last time it works. Done That !! When you plug it into a plug socket it will back feed the board and so the rest of the house. Keep in mind that when you do this the house is being run on a small, thin cable from the generator!!
Best of luck.
car with a Diesel engine that runs a generator for an electric motor?
ok so you know how trains work how they have a diesel engine that runs a generator that provides power to an electric engine to move the train…will why cant we do that on a smaller scale in a car, oviesly it has a ton of power and very effiteant of trains wouldent do it. so why not do it in cars? has anyone done this yet? if so email me at
gregorydotson79@gmail.com
thank you Greg
want to buy a Domestic diesel generator?
I need to buy a diesel generator to run a few appliances in my flat in the event of a power cut, IE a/c Refrigerator, television, computer deep freezer electric stove micro wave cooker can a 6250 w generator do this job or do I need to get something more powerful any comments welcome thanks in advance.
Even some older Gen-Sets have contacts for a remote start switch.
This is where you might wire in sensors to detect when commercial power is lost. You may install a relay to actuate those contacts. You can control that relay with a computer controlled module that is run by your software. The computer you have installed the thumb scanner on can control this. If the software is for this specific generator, then it may already include a remote start, as well as a logger to record start and stop times. Kits are often available.
i want to start and stop electric generator by using thumb scanner and computer. how i can do it? ?
generator is 730 kva.
to check its working time, consumed diesel, i purchased a software.but i wish to know how i connect it with computer? is it safe? any precaution? any electric wiring diagram? is it safe etc. i want to use thumb scaneer as start and stop switch.
If it is only the Hertz cycles and not the voltage that differs, the motor will run 20% faster on 60Hz than on 50 Hz.
The voltage on the motor tag must be the same as from the generator, so 440V, the cycles (in Hz) run the field on the motor and so the rpm, by increasing the cycles the motor will run more rpms in this case ~20% more