Self-induced electrostatic-boosted radioisotope heat sources

In this paper the possibility of stimulated self-induced electrostatic fields in radioisotope heat sources for power enhancement is discussed. Because electrons have higher mobility than the positively charged fragments from radioactive decay, a build-up of positive charges can be promoted, leading to an internal induced electrostatic field. This, in turn, results in a repulsive force acting on positive charges, endowing them with additional kinetic energy, and heat release after these charged particles are stopped by inelastic collisions with the boundary wall. Utilizing a simplified geometrical model, an analytical expression for the attainable power enhancement is derived. It is shown that the proposed concept could result in power enhancements of 5-10% for beta sources but enhancements are negligible for alpha sources.