METHOD FOR DIRECTLY CONVERTING HEAT ENERGY INTO ELECTRIC POWER AND A GENERATOR FOR CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD

摘要

The invention relates to a method for directly converting heat energy into electric power consisting in carrying out heat transmission from a moving heat carrier to thermionic elements and in simultaneously heating said heat carrier through a channel wall from the other hotter part thereof, thereby stabilising a temperature in an energy conversion area. Said thermionic elements are disposed in the hermetic enclosure of a thermionic emission generator in the form of segments which form rings around the heat carrier channel in such a way that a screw trajectory is formed when the heat carrier moving from the channel output along the external part thereof in an inverse direction flows though inter-ring spaces, wherein said motion continues until the temperature of a waste flow is reduced in such a way that it is lower than the temperature of thermal emission of electrons. The inventive generator is embodied in the form of a cylindrical enclosure provided with a device for supplying a heat carrier flow from an external source, a device for removing a waste heat carrier flow and thermionic elements which are arranged inside said enclosure in the form of rings assembled from individual segments and interconnected in the form of a single electric circuit.