A nuclear thermionic converter has a vertical stack of annular or ring-shaped nuclear fuel members. Within the ring-shaped members is reflector material. Thermionic diodes are mounted on the periphery of the fuel rings, with the emitters being in contact with the fuel. The collectors are filled with moderating material and the reactor is cooled by heat radiation.

A thermionic fuel element for electrical power generation having an all bonded sheath-sheath insulator collector assembly. The thus bonded assembly is provided with at least one internal groove by which an emitter intercell sub-assembly is bonded to the first-mentioned assembly. The subassembly is constructed to provide the required electric interconnections between a series of interconnected collector-emitter units or cells as well as providing passageways for an alkali metal vapor located in a...

This invention relates to a reactor core for a nuclear reactor, particularly for a "fast" type nuclear reactor, provided with nuclear fuel, for direct conversion into electrical energy of released heat produced by nuclear fission. The heat-to-electricity conversion takes place by means of thermionic converters having an inner-positioned collector and an outer-positioned emitter. The nuclear fuel is subdivided into sub-critical discs whose reactivity is influenced by a change in their mutual dist...

A moderated thermionic core assembly has been provided which employs vapor chamber condenser-cooled stacked thermionic fuel elements. A cylindrical moderator block is provided with a plurality of radial wells drilled in an ordered array about the periphery of the moderator block. Each well is adapted to receive a tubular fuel element which includes two series-connected nuclear fueled thermionic converter elements having a neutral plasma maintained between the emitter and collector electrodes of ...

Power plant with a plurality of similarly constructed, elongated units, each unit including a closed working fluid loop for MHD-conversion. The electrical outputs are connected in parallel on a common bus. Prime heater is a nuclear reactor distributed among the units, and separately controlled for each of them by a computer, to operate a unit in the cooling mode or in the power mode, depending upon overall power demand. Each unit includes a compressor-turbine aggregate for circulating air for he...

A male connector (B) includes an outer housing (10) equipped with a rotatable lever (31) and an inner connector (20) which moves in an axial direction in the outer housing by rotation of the lever. A female connector (A) includes a shell for receiving the male connector; the male and female connectors having abutting faces (36 and 4) abutting on each other by magnetic force when the inner connector (20) and the female connector (A) are engaged with each other, at least one of the abutting faces ...

An energy source for a heat-utilizing device which includes a source of gamma radiation, an absorber of such radiation and a heat-utilization device in heat-transfer relationship with the absorber of gamma radiation. The enclosure of the energy source is so constructed that additional heat-utilizing device may also be energized from the same source of gamma radiation.

A luminance signal processing circuit of a VCR functions as a non-correlation component enhancement circuit during recording, and as a line correlation noise reduction circuit during reproduction. The luminance signal processing circuit enhances the non-correlation components in the luminance signal utilizing a 1H delay circuit of the output side of a conventional 3 line logical comb filter which is used as a Y/C separting circuit, during recording. The luminance signal processing circuit remove...

Disclosed is an electron beam scanning method and a scanning electron microscope, wherein an electron beam scans an electrical insulation sample in reciprocative directions, with a time difference of n period(s) (n=0, 1, 2, . . . ) plus a half period of a.c. power or external a.c. magnetic field being provided between a scanning start time point in each scanning direction of the deflection magnetic field and a corresponding zero-cross point of the a.c. power or external magnetic field so as to r...

The present invention provides an optical element for measuring information of living body for noninvasively measuring a body fluid component in a test sample of living body with high accuracy, stability, and ease. The optical element includes a light incident surface, a contact surface contacting living body and having a groove to protrude living body and a light emission surface, in which a light incident from the light incident surface is applied to living body, and the light absorbed and sca...