公开(公告)号：US20210111011A1

公开(公告)日：2021-04-15

申请号：US17065132

申请日：2020-10-07

Applicant: Modern Electron, Inc.

Inventor： Stephen E. Clark ,  Roelof E. Groenewald ,  Arvind Kannan ,  Andrew T. Koch ,  Hsin-I Lu ,  Alexander J. Pearse ,  Peter J. Scherpelz

IPC: H01J45/00 ,  H01J17/54 ,  H01J17/06

Abstract: Various disclosed embodiments include thermionic energy converters and electronic circuitry for generating pulses for igniting plasma in a hermetic package of a thermionic energy converter. In various embodiments, an illustrative thermionic energy converter includes a hermetic package charged with a non-cesium gas additive. The hermetic package is configured to route into the hermetic package pulses for igniting plasma in the hermetic package. A cesium reservoir is disposed in the hermetic package. A cathode is disposed in the hermetic package and an anode is disposed in the hermetic package.