A final report on the output power characteristics and capabilities of single cell TOPAZ II Thermionic Fuel Element (TFE) No. 24 is presented. Thermal power tests were conducted for over 3000 hours to investigate converter performance under normal and adverse operating conditions. Experiments conducted include low power testing, high power testing, air introduction to the interelectrode gap, collector temperature optimization, thermal modeling, and output power characteristic measurements. During testing, no unexpected degradation in converter performance was observed. The TFE has been removed from the test stand and returned to Scientific Industrial Association ‘‘LUCH’’ for materials analysis and report. This research was conducted at the Thermionic System Evaluation Test (TSET) Facility at the New Mexico Engineering Research Institute (NMERI) as a part of the Topaz International Program (TIP) by the Air Force Phillips Laboratory (PL).
