A burgeoning need exists today for small, compact, reliable, lightweight and self-contained rugged power supplies to provide electrical power in such applications as electric automobiles, homes, industrial, agricultural, recreational, remote monitoring systems, spacecraft and deep-sea probes. Radar, advanced communication satellites and especially high technology weapon platforms will require much larger power source than today’s power systems can deliver. Nuclear battery could be a solution to this need of large amount of power

1. WELCOME

2. Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi
Jain College of Engineering, Belagavi
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Seminar on: Nuclear Battery
Under the guidance: Prof. Vireshkumar Mathad
Submitted by: Shruti Sawant
USN:2JI12EE050

3. CONTENT
 Introduction
 Historical Development
 Conversion techniques
 Types of nuclear batteries
 Radioisotope used
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
 Applications
 Conclusion
 References

4. Introduction
 In recent advancement of technology, there is a great need of
small, compact, light weighted and reliable power supplies.
 Nuclear Battery: These are devices which uses energy from the
decay of radio isotopes to generate electricity.
 Unlike nuclear reactor there is no nuclear chain reaction taking
place inside the battery therefore no radioactive waste
produced.
 They are mainly used as power sources for equipment that
must operate unattended for long period of time.

5. Historical Development
 Nuclear battery technology began in 1913, when Henry
Moseley first demonstrated the beta cell.
 A radio isotope electric power system was developed by
inventor Paul Brown which was scientific break through
 The field received considerable in-depth research attention for
applications requiring long-life power sources for space needs
during the 1950s and 1960s.
 In 1954 RCA researched a small atomic battery for small radio
receivers and hearing aids.

6. Conversion techniques
 Thermal conversion
The thermal converters (whose output power is a function of a
temperature differential) include thermoelectric and thermionic
generators.
 Non-thermal conversion
The non-thermal converters (whose output power is not a
function of a temperature difference) extract a fraction of the
incident energy as it is being degraded into heat rather than
using thermal energy to run electrons in a cycle.

7. Types of Nuclear batteries
Thermionic converter
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator
Beta voltaic
Reciprocating Electromechanical Atomic Batteries

8. Thermionic converter
 A thermionic converter consists of a hot electrode which
thermionically emits electrons over a space charge
barrier to a cooler electrode, producing a useful power
output.
 Caesium vapor is used to optimize the electrode work
functions and provide an ion supply (by surface
ionization) to neutralize the electron space charge

10. RADIOISOTOPE
THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR
 This converter uses
thermocouples
 Each thermocouple produces
only small
voltage(millivolt).Number of
Thermocouples are connected
in series to produce larger
voltage

12. BETAVOLTAIC
 These are generators of electric current, using energy
from a radioactive source emitting beta
particles (electrons)
 use a non-thermal conversion process.
 Converts the electron-hole pairs produced by the ionization
trail of beta particles traversing a semiconductor

14. RECIPROCATING ELECTROMECHANICAL
ATOMIC BATTERIES
 Electromechanical atomic batteries use the buildup of charge
between two plates to pull one bendable plate towards the
other, until the two plates touch, discharge, equalizing the
electrostatic buildup, and spring back.
 The mechanical motion produced can be used to produce
electricity through flexing of a piezoelectric material or through
a linear generator

16. RADIOISOTOPES USED
Atomic batteries uses radio isotopes producing low energy beta
particles and sometimes alpha of varying energies
 Tritium
 Nickel-63
 Promethium-147 tested
 Technetium-99
 Plutonium-238
 Curium-242
 Curium-244 used
 Strontium-90

17. Advantages…
 Reliable
 Lighter with high energy density
 Life span : minimum of decades
 Efficient use of end-product obtained post nuclear fission
and nuclear fusion process as fuel in nuclear batteries
 Energy obtained is high
 Reduces green house effect and related effects.

18. Disadvantages…
 High initial cost of production
 Energy conversion methodologies not much advanced
 To gain social acceptance
 Regional and country specific laws regarding the use and
disposal of radioactive materials

19. Applications..
 Space
 Automobiles
 Medical
 Underwater sea probes or sea sensors
 Military

20. Space Applications
 Unaffected by long period of
darkness and radiation belt like
Van-belt
 High power for long time
independent of the atmospheric
conditions
 Used in long duration missions
where fuel cells, batteries and solar
arrays would be too large and
heavy

21. Automobiles
 It is on initial stages of
development
 Nuclear batteries could
replace conventional
fuels then there will be
no case of running out
of fuel

22. Medical Application
 Due to increased longevity and better reliability it is used in
pacemakers ,implanted deep fibrillators and other implanted
devices

23. Underwater sea probes and
sea sensors
 Provides power in inaccessible
places like deep sea that
should keep working for long
time or under extreme
condition like earthquake and
tsunami

24. Military application
 Radioisotope power sources to
provide very high density battery
power to radio frequency
equipment tags, sensors and ultra
wide-band communication

25. Conclusion
 The current research of nuclear batteries shows
promise in future applications
 Implementation of this new technology, feasibility
of the device will be available for wide range of
application
 Nuclear cells are going to be the next best thing
ever invented in human history

26. References
1. Brown, Paul: "Resonant Nuclear Battery Supply", Raum&Zeit, 1(3)
(August-September, 1989).
2. “Nuclear and radiochemistry”, Gerhardt Friedlander,
Joseph.W.Kennedy and Julian Malcolm Miller,A Wiley-Interscience
publication.
3. “Atomic Batteries: Energy from Radioactivity”,Suhas Kumar, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA 94305.
4. “Nuclear batteries with tritium and promethium-147 radioactive
sources”,Galina N. Yakubova, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, 2010.

27. THANK YOU