Thermionic Power Generation for Individual Soldier

We propose to develop highly efficient, compact thermal systems to enable high-performance solid-state energy conversion based on thermionics. Thermionic energy converters have the potential to leapfrog competing small-scale generation in power density and efficiency, but have been largely neglected for decades. These advantages of thermionics enable us to build fuel-flexible miniature generators with more than 6 W output weighing 1 lbs or less, with minimal-service lifetimes in excess of 5000 hours. In order to build a fully contained generator system which uses the thermionic power module Spark is developing, we propose the following tasks: 1) solve balance-of-plant for miniature generator, and 2) (Option) power conversion & ignition. These tasks will de-risk the two main challenges we anticipate during generator integration and scaling the generator design to the size and weight constraints.