NUCLEAR BATTERY

GROUP : 07 E

Guided By Presented By
1 Ms. Della David Nithin Jackson
Asst. Professor Roll No: 35

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2 INTRODUCTION
 Spacecraft and deep-sea probes, radar, advanced communication satellites and

especially high technology weapon platforms will require much larger power

source than today’s power systems can deliver.

 For the very high power applications, nuclear reactors appear to be the answer.

 Because of the short and unpredictable lifespan of chemical batteries, however,

regular replacements would be required to keep these devices humming.

 Also, enough chemical fuel to provide 100 kW for any significant period of time

would be too heavy and bulky for practical use.

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 Fuel cells and solar cells require little maintenance, and the latter need plenty of

sun.

 Thus the demand to exploit the radioactive energy has become inevitably high.

 Several methods have been developed for conversion of radioactive energy

released during the decay of natural radioactive elements into electrical energy.

 The solution to the long term energy source is of course the nuclear batteries

with a life span measured in decades and has the potential to be nearly 200

times more efficient than the currently used ordinary batteries.

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 These incredibly long-lasting batteries are still in the theoretical and

developmental stage of existence, but they promise to provide clean, safe,
almost endless energy.

 Unlike conventional nuclear power generating devices, these power cells do not
rely on a nuclear reaction or chemical process do not produce radioactive waste
products.

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5 WHAT ARE NUCLEAR BATTRIES?
 The terms atomic battery, nuclear battery, and radioisotope

generator are used to describe a device which uses energy

from the decay of a radioactive isotope to generate electricity.

 Like nuclear reactors they generate electricity from atomic

energy, but differ in that they do not use a chain reaction.

 Compared to other batteries they are very costly, but have extremely long life

and high energy density.

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 Nuclear battery technology began in 1913, when Henry Moseley first

demonstrated the beta cell.

 In 1954 RCA researched a small atomic battery for small radio receivers and

hearing aids.

 Batteries using the energy of radioisotope decay to provide long-lived power (10–

20 years) are being developed internationally.

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7 PREVIOUSLY USED TECHNIQUES FOR HIGH POWR REQUIRMENT

 THERMIONIC CONVERTER

 RADIOISOTOPE THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR

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8 THERMIONIC CONVERTER

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 A thermionic converter consists of a hot electrode which thermionically emits
electrons over a potential energy barrier to a cooler electrode, producing a useful
electric power output.

 In thermionic direct energy conversion, an electric current is obtained by

collecting the electrons emitted by a hot surface.

 Where the hot surface is high work function emitter and the low work function
collector collects the electrons.

 The thin gap of about 0.02 cm between the emitter and the collector is filled with
a metallic vapor plasma such a Cesium.

 Caesium is employed because it is the most easily ionized of all stable elements.

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 RADIOISOTOPE THERMOELECTRIC
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GENERATOR
  A RTG is an electrical generator that obtains its power from
radioactive decay.

 In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a

suitable radioactive material is converted into electricity by
the See beck effect using an array of thermocouples.

 Safe use of RTGs requires containment of the radioisotopes

long after the productive life of the unit.

 In RTG, a thermo electric couple is composed of a +ve type

element and one –ve type element designed as p-n junction.

 A thermoelectric rating for a RTG as:

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The problem with RTGs is that RTGs don't scale down well. So the

scientists had to find some other ways of converting nuclear

energy into electric energy. They have succeeded by developing

nuclear batteries.

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 NUCLEAR BATTERY
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 Nuclear batteries use the incredible amount of energy released naturally by tiny

bits of radio active material without any fission or fusion taking place inside the

battery

 These devices use thin radioactive films that pack in energy at densities

thousands of times greater than those of lithium-ion batteries.

 The nuclear battery concept uses the emission of charged particles from a

surface coated by a radioisotope to directly produce electrical energy

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13 DIRECT CHARGING GENERATORS
 It is also called as Moseley’ Generator

 In this type, the primary generators consists of a capacitor which is charged by

the current of charged particles from a radioactive layer deposited on one of
the electrodes

 Spacing can be either vacuum or dielectric.

 Although this form of nuclear-electric generator have been found in the past for
the extremely low currents and inconveniently high voltages.

 It consisting of a spherical glass globe silvered on the inside, with a radium

isotope emitter installed on the tip of a wire in the center.

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  A very little known fact is that beta particle ejected from

an insulated radioactive source leave it with a +ve charge.

 The beta particles can be made to pass through a silicon

diode generating power in a way similar to that used in PV
cells

 Radioisotope such as enclosed in a polystyrene capsule

within an Aluminium collector.

 The max voltage can reach up to 7kV, but can generate

only microamperes of current.

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15 JUNCTION TYPE BATTERY
 The kind of nuclear batteries directly converts the high-energy particles emitted
by a radioactive source into an electric current.

 The device consists of a small quantity of Ni-63 placed near an ordinary silicon p-
n junction - a diode, basically.

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 As the Ni-63 decays it emits beta particles, which are high-energy electrons that
spontaneously fly out of the radioisotope's unstable nucleus.

 The emitted beta particles ionized the diode's atoms, exciting unpaired
electrons and holes that are separated at the vicinity of the p-n interface.

 These separated electrons and holes streamed away form the junction,
producing current.

 It has been found that beta particles with energies below 250KeV do not cause
substantial damage in Si.

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 The maximum and average energies (66.9KeV and 17.4KeV respectively) of the
beta particles emitted by Ni-63 are well below the threshold energy, where
damage is observing silicon.

 The long half-life period (100 years) makes Ni-63 very attractive for remote long
life applications such as power of spacecraft instrumentation. These entire
things make Ni-63 ideally suitable in nuclear batteries.

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18 SELF-RECIPROCATING CANTILEVER

 This concept involves a more direct use of the charged particles produced by the
decay of the radio active source

 The creation of a resonator by inducing movement due to attraction or repulsion

resulting from the collection of charged particles.

 As the charge is collected, the deflection of a cantilever beam increases until it

contacts a grounded element, thus discharging the beam and causing it to return
to its original position.

 This process will repeat as long as the source is active. This has been tested
experimentally.

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 First the beta particles, which are high-energy electrons, fly spontaneously from
the radioactive source.

 These electrons get collected on the copper sheet. Copper sheet becomes
negatively charged.

 Thus an electrostatic force of attraction is established between the silicon

cantilever and radioactive source. Due to this force the cantilever bends down.

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 The piece of piezoelectric material bonded to the top of the silicon cantilever bends along
with it.

 The mechanical stresses of the bend unbalances the charge distribution inside the
piezoelectric crystal structure, producing a voltage in electrodes attached to the top and
bottom of the crystal.

 After a brief period the cantilever come close enough to the source to discharge the
accumulated electrons by direct contact.

 The discharge can also take place through tunnelling or gas breakdown. At that moment,
electrons flow back to the source, and the electrostatic attractive force vanishes.

 The cantilever then springs back and oscillates like a diving board after a diver jumps, and
the recurring mechanical deformation of the piezoelectric plate produces a series of
electric pulses.

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21 FUEL CONSIDERATIONS
 Avoidance of gamma in the decay chain

 Half life

 Particle range

 Watch out for (alpha, n)reactions

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22 ADVANTAGES
 Long life

 Nuclear cells offers reliable electricity

 No drop in the potential during its entire operational period.

 Safeties with respect to the containers are also adequately taken care as the
battery cases are hermetically sealed. Thus the risk of safety hazards involving
radioactive material stands reduced.

 As the energy associated with fissile material is several times higher than
conventional sources, the cells are comparatively much lighter and thus
facilitates high energy densities to be achieved

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23 DRAWBACKS
 High initial cost of production

 The size of nuclear batteries for certain specific applications may cause

problems.

 Social acceptance

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24 APPLICATIONS
 Space applications

 Medical Applications

 Mobile devices

 Automobiles

 Military applications

 Underwater sea probes and sea sensors

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25 CONCLUSION
 The world of tomorrow that science fiction dreams of and technology manifests
might be a very small one. It would reason that small devices would need small
batteries to power them.

 As the technology grows, the need for more power and more heat will undoubtedly
grow along with it.

 Clearly the current research of nuclear batteries shows promise in future

applications for sure. With implementation of this new technology credibility and
feasibility of the device will be heightened.

 With several features being added to this little wonder and other parallel laboratory
works going on, nuclear cells are going to be the next best thing ever invented in
the human history.

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THANK YOU…..

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