Open AccessReview on Thermionic Energy Converters
Author(s) -
Kamarul Aizat Abdul Khalid,
Thye Jien Leong,
Khairudin Mohamed
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ieee transactions on electron devices
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.828
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1557-9646
pISSN - 0018-9383
DOI - 10.1109/ted.2016.2556751
Subject(s) - components, circuits, devices and systems , engineered materials, dielectrics and plasmas
Thermionic energy converter (TEC) is a heat engine that generates electricity directly using heat as its source of energy and electron as its working fluid. Despite having a huge potential as an efficient direct energy conversion device, the progress in vacuum-based thermionic energy converter development has always been hindered by the space charge problem and the unavailability of materials with low work function. It is only recently that researchers have started to look back into this technology as recent advances in manufacturing technology techniques have made it possible to solve these problems, making TECs a viable option in replacing current energy production systems. The focus of this paper is to review the challenges of producing efficient and practical TECs, along with recent findings and developments in mitigating these challenges. Furthermore, this paper looked into potential applications of TECs, based on recent works and technologies, and found that, with certain improvements, it can be applied in many sectors.