• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2016

For a stable electric power supply in the space, nuclear batteries have been used as the main power source in a spacecraft owing to their long lifetime and high reliability. In accordance with the plan for lunar mission in Korea, nuclear batteries will supply electricity to the rover that needs to be developed. According to the information about the estimated payload, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute started with the conceptual design based on the previous studies in USA and Russia. Because a nuclear battery converts the decay heat of the radioisotope into electricity, thermal design, radiation shield, and shock protection need to be considered. In this study, two types of nuclear batteries, radial type and axial type, were designed according to the alignment of the thermoelectric module. Heat transfer analyses were performed to compare their thermoelectric efficiency, and test mockups were fabricated to evaluate their performances.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.153-160
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• 2010

A magnetocardiogram (MCG) is a recording of the biomagnetic signals generated by cardiac electrical activity. Biomagnetic instruments are based on superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). A liquid cryogenic Dewar flask was used to maintain the superconductors in a superconducting state at a very low temperature (4 K). In this study, the temperature distribution characteristics of the liquid helium in the Dewar flask was investigated. The Dewar flask used in this study has a 30 L liquid helium capacity with a hold time of 5 d. The Dewar flask has two thermal shields rated at 150 and 40 K. The temperatures measured at the end of the thermal shield and calculated from the computer model were compared. This study attempted to minimize the heat transfer rate of the cryogenic Dewar flask using an optimization method about the geometric variable to find the characteristics for the design geometric variables in terms of the stress distribution of the Dewar flask. For thermal and optimization analysis of the structure, the finite element method code ANSYS 10 was used. The computer model used for the cryogenic Dewar flask was useful to predict the temperature distribution for the area less affected by the thermal radiation.