Self-Supporting Radioisotope Generators With STC-55W Stirling Converters

摘要

Previous Orbital Stirling generator designs rely on the spacecraft mounting structure to fasten the radiators, the converters, and the heat source assembly. This paper describes a self-supporting generator concept with a 1-piece honeycomb panel serving as a radiator and a rigid platform for the converters and the heat source assembly to be bolted on. This self-supporting generator allows for simpler mounting structure and more options on mounting location. Using this self-supporting generator concept, we derived four different design options to connect the converter pair rigidly to reduce vibration. This paper describes the four design options and their assembly procedure.