Mechanical test of thermoelectric device in RTG prototype

Abstract

Since the United States launched the first space radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), the United States has launched a total of 28 spacecraft with 43 RTGs. There are still more than 30 RTGs in orbit, and the longest working life has exceeded 30 years. During the launching process of RTG, the thermoelectric energy converter needs to withstand the impact at start up and high-frequency vibration during flight, and it faces the harsh service conditions that heat, force, electricity and other external fields are used and coupled together. For this reason, this paper has carried out environmental test verification on the designed RTG prototype through vibration and shock tests. By applying shocks of the same magnitude as the launch and vibrations of the same magnitude during flight, it is found that the thermoelectric devices loaded inside are in the experiment. There is no obvious change in the internal resistance before and after, indicating that the installation method can withstand the complex mechanical environment test during launch, which provides a reference for RTG’s thermoelectric device loading method.