Contact: Dr. Glen L. Schmidt
Phone: (505) 277-7272
Contact: Chris Burroughs
Phone: (505) 277-1816
January 29, 1998 INTERNATIONAL THERMIONIC SOCIETY FORMED AT UNM
Russia, the Netherlands and the United States were among the countries represented Wednesday, Jan. 28 at the first meeting of International Thermionic Society held at the New Mexico Engineering Research Institute (NMERI) at the University of New Mexico.
"We're a brand new organization dedicated to promoting the advancement of the science and engineering of thermionic energy conversion," says Dr. Glen L. Schmidt, chief scientist of the Energy Conversion Research Laboratory at NMERI and one of the group's founding fathers.
The meeting was held in conjunction with the Space Technology and Applications International Forum held Jan. 26-29 at the Albuquerque, N.M. Convention Center.
The organization was formed because lack of federal funding and support available in recent years for scientists studying thermionic energy as possible fuel sources for future space missions.
Thermionic energy dates back to Thomas Edition's patent of the light bulb, which consisted of a vacuum containing two electrodes, one that could be heated and one that could be cooled. By connecting the electrodes with a conductor, an electric current could pass through, lighting up the bulb and simultaneously generating heat. Thermionic energy conversion uses this same process, whereby a heated surface emits electrons that are collected by a cooler surface. A thermionic power system generates electrical power using this transfer of electrons. Today that concept has been refined to use nuclear reactors as a heat source. Because nuclear reactors reject waste heat at a high temperature -- some 700 degrees C -- they are considered by many to be the perfect fuel for putting space crafts into high orbit.
Schmidt says that some 150 people throughout the world have already been identified as possible members of the new organization. Potential members were encouraged to register through a Web site. Among those on hand for the first meeting at NMERI were Yrui Nikolaev and Boris Stepemnov, both of Moscow, Russia. They are familiar with UNM, having spent several years at NMERI in the early 1990s working on the Topaz International Program. The Topaz was a Russian nuclear reactor housed at NMERI between 1991-96, giving American scientists the opportunity to study the advanced thermionic technology developed in the Soviet Union. The Russians are generally acknowledged as leaders in this field of study. The idea for the new organization emerged in October, but founders waited until Wednesday for the official organization meeting because of the large number of thermionics experts who were going to be in Albuquerque for the space conference. "We have a lot of work to do. We have to focus and determine what resources we want to develop," Schmidt says.
RSS