Scott D. Wilson

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Performance of an Advanced Stirling Convertor 

Based on Heat Flux Sensor Measurements

NASA/TM—2012-217731

October 2012

AIAA–2012–217731
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Scott D. Wilson

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Performance of an Advanced Stirling Convertor 

Based on Heat Flux Sensor Measurements

NASA/TM—2012-217731

October 2012

AIAA–2012–217731

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Prepared for the

10th International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC)

sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Atlanta, Georgia, July 30–August 1, 2012
Acknowledgments

This work is funded through the NASA Science Mission Directorate and the Radioisotope Power Systems Program Offi ce.The 

authors wish to acknowledge the many people who supported this testing and analysis effort including Gus Fralick, John Wrbanek,

Chuck Blaha, Ali Sayir, Tom Sabo, Art Atherton, Wayne Gerber, Nissim Lugasy, and Jeff Schreiber.

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NASA/TM—2012-217731 1 

Performance of an Advanced Stirling Convertor Based on

Heat Flux Sensor Measurements

Scott D. Wilson

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) 

have been developing the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) for use as a power system 

for space science missions. This generator would use two high-efficiency Advanced Stirling Convertors 

(ASCs), developed by Sunpower, Inc., and NASA Glenn Research Center. The ASCs convert thermal 

energy from a radioisotope heat source into electricity. As part of ground testing of these ASCs, different 

operating conditions are used to simulate expected mission conditions. These conditions require achieving 

a particular operating frequency, hot-end and cold-end temperatures, and specified electrical power output 

for a given heat input. It is difficult to measure heat input to Stirling convertors due to the complex 

geometries of the hot components, temperature limits of sensor materials, and invasive integration of 

sensors. A thin-film heat flux sensor was used to directly measure heat input to an ASC. The effort 

succeeded in designing and fabricating unique sensors, which were integrated into a Stirling convertor 

ground test and exposed to test temperatures exceeding 700 °C in air for 10,000 hr. Sensor measurements 

were used to calculate thermal efficiency for ASC–E (Engineering Unit) #1 and #4. The post-disassembly 

condition of the sensors is also discussed. 

Nomenclature

Alumina Aluminum oxide

ASC(–E) Advanced Stirling Convertor (Engineering Unit)

ASRG Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator 

Au Gold

DOE Department of Energy

emf Electromotive force

GPHS General Purpose Heat Source

GRC Glenn Research Center

LMSSC Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

PVD Physical vapor deposition

Pt Platinum

RPS Radioisotope Power System

Stirling Heat Addition

Stirling convertors are being developed for use in the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator 

(ASRG). The ASRG, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Lockheed Martin Space 

Systems Company (LMSSC), is a high-efficiency Radioisotope Power System (RPS) technology being 

developed to support future space missions. This generator would use two high-efficiency Advanced 

Stirling Convertors (ASCs), developed by Sunpower, Inc., and NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). 

The ASCs convert thermal energy from a radioisotope heat source into electricity. 
NASA/TM—2012-217731 2 

Figure 1.—Typical heat flow for ASC testing.

As part of ground testing of these ASCs, different operating points are used to simulate expected 

mission conditions. These conditions require achieving particular operating parameters for specified 

alternator power output and heat input from the electrical heat source, commonly used in lab tests. 

Techniques used to monitor Stirling convertors for change in performance include measurements of 

temperature, pressure, energy addition, and power output (Refs. 1 to 3). It is difficult to directly measure 

energy addition to Stirling convertors due to the complex geometries of the hot components, temperature 

limits of sensor materials, and invasive implementation. A heat flux sensor was conceptualized to directly 

measure heat energy addition from the electric heat sources to a Stirling convertor. Figure 1 depicts a 

Stirling convertor inside an insulation enclosure, typically used in Stirling ground tests. The heat flow is 

shown with red arrows and the indicated power (shown as “PV Power”), generated by the pressure wave 

acting on the piston, is shown in the green arrow. Not shown is the electrical power output from the 

alternator or alternator losses, which are usually 8 to 9 percent of the indicated power. The heat flux 

sensor would eventually be located between the electric heater and the heat collector to measure the heat 

added to the Stirling. 

Testing Stirling convertors involves developing support hardware that enables 24/7 unattended 

operation and data collection, including control and data acquisition systems, heating and cooling 

components, and general mounting and insulation packages. Microporous bulk insulation is used in the 

ground support test hardware to minimize the loss of thermal energy from the electric heat source to the 

environment and, therefore, maximize the amount of heat reaching the convertor. For most in-air ground

tests, from 20 to 30 percent of the electric power, referred to here as “gross heat input,” is lost through the

insulation package and the remaining heat energy is absorbed by the convertor. Also, not shown, is the 

small fraction of the gross heat input, usually from 1 to 2 percent, that is lost back out of the heater head 

to the insulation after it has been absorbed by the Stirling heat collector. To quantify net heat input to the 

Stirling convertor, that small amount of heat energy must be determined either experimentally or 

analytically, but was not in scope for this effort, which served as proof of concept. 
NASA/TM—2012-217731 3 

Heat flux sensors are devices that measure the temperature drop across a finite thickness, often using 

thermocouples, which generate an electrical signal that is proportional to temperature. Heat flux sensors 

have been used in numerous areas, including industrial and engineering applications, building heating and 

cooling assessments, physics and medical studies, agriculture, and others. Commercially available heat 

flux sensors are typically available for operating temperatures below 500 °C. Some products, marketed as 

“high-temperature” heat flux sensors, can operate above 800 °C but are generally produced in shapes and 

sizes suitable for particular large-scale industrial applications. For aeronautics and aerospace harsh 

environment applications, thin films have been deposited on complex geometries such as fan blades and 

engine injector valves (Ref. 4). All heat flux sensors operate by measuring the temperature difference 

across a thermal resistance, based on Fourier’s law of heat conduction.

Design and Fabrication

Design requirements for this effort included sensor implementation without significantly diminishing 

available margin in heat source temperature limit or life and in a way that did not prevent the convertor 

from operating as expected. To make a noninvasive heat flux measurement between the heat source and 

Stirling convertor, a temperature difference and a way to measure it was needed. The proposed solution 

was to measure the surface temperature on each side of a solid disk, located between the heat source and 

Stirling convertor. The disk needed to introduce a thermal resistance, imposing a temperature drop from 

the heat source to the heat collector. The sensor design included thin-film thermocouples adhered to a 

ceramic substrate, intended to be robust enough to carry the application load and survive thermallyinduced stresses from temperature transients during startup and shutdown. 

The heat flux sensor was fabricated by depositing microlayers of noble metals onto a ceramic 

substrate (Ref. 5). The substrates were made via slipcasting, where powder was ball-milled in an aqueous 

solution, binders and dispersants were added, and castings were bisque fired and fully sintered. The disks 

were then machined to a thickness of 0.120±0.0005 in. with a near mirror surface finish and characterized 

by measuring the thermal conductivity. The thin-film thermocouples are deposited onto the ceramic disks 

in a pattern designed for a particular application. Wires are attached to the thin-film thermocouple 

patterns and fed out to a cold junction where the noble metal wires are transitioned to less-expensive, 

more-durable copper wires that interface the data acquisition system. The cold junction represents an 

additional offset of junction electromotive force (emf) voltage, which must be accounted for in the final 

calculation of junction temperature. 

The sensors were designed to measure temperatures that could vary on the face of the sensor due to 

local heating of the cartridge heaters located in the heat source. To adequately capture radial and 

circumferential variations in temperature, sensors were spaced out in the radial direction and placed under 

and between heaters. For the nonstandard gold (Au) versus platinum (Pt) thermocouples, the positive leg 

was made from pure Au while the negative leg was made from pure Pt. The pattern was deposited on one 

side of a disk and its mirror image on the opposite side. 

Convertor Testing

The ASC was designed to produce a nominal 80 We from 250 Wth gross heat input when integrated 

into the ASRG. The ASC–E (Engineering Unit) convertors utilize Inconel 718 heater heads, which 

operate at a maximum hot-end temperature of 650 °C. The cold-end temperature operating range is 40 to 

90 °C. A heat collector is attached to the hot end of the heater head, which interfaces to an electric heat 

source during laboratory operation. A conductive flange, called the cold-side adapter flange, has been 

attached to the heat rejection zone of the heater head.
NASA/TM—2012-217731 4 

Figure 2.—Test setup for ASC–E #1 and #4.

The sensors were installed into test setup for the ASC–E serial #1 and #4, shown in Figure 2. The

white boxes house the insulation, hot end of the convertor, and electric heater. One heat flux sensor was 

installed onto each of the two convertors present in the setup. Historically, heat addition to the Stirling 

convertor has been quantified during operation by reducing static thermal loss data into a form that can be 

used during performance tests. A new method for measuring heat addition was desired to enable direct 

measurement of heat addition to the convertor that was envisioned as being insensitive to changes in the 

test setup, which could cause predictions to be in error. Errors can be caused by changes in the test setup 

due to aging insulation, which makes it difficult to distinguish between slow drift in a convertor’s 

operating point and a slow degradation in the convertor’s performance. Modeling errors are possible 

when assumptions are made for an initial test condition and do not apply to a final test configuration. 

Prior to installation, the heat flux sensor wires were soldered to a custom wire feedthrough, shown in 

Figure 3. The relatively delicate 0.076-mm-diameter Au and Pt wires were successfully soldered to the 

copper wires present in the feedthrough, which was custom made to contain Type-T thermocouples for 

the cold-junction temperature measurement. The top left image shows the heat source sitting on top of the 

heat flux sensor. On each side of the heat flux sensor were nickel spacers, which contained Type-N 

thermocouple probes used as reference temperature measurements. The bottom left image shows the top 

spacer and the wire paths, which were machined into the microporous insulation by the vendor. The 

image on the right shows the outside surface of the enclosure where the custom feedthrough feeds out. 

Also shown is a D-sub feedthrough that contained seven Type-K thermocouples used to measure hot-end 

and heat source temperatures. 

After the sensors were installed into the test setup, steps were taken to ensure that the data being 

streamed from the Agilent data recorder to LabVIEW (National Instruments) was being processed and 

captured correctly. The sensor output was recorded during convertor insulation loss testing, a test 

performed to enable first-order prediction of heat lost to the environment during operation. Figure 4

shows each junction’s temperature measurement for each of the four test temperatures. The convertor hotend temperature was maintained at each of the following test temperatures: 350, 450, 550, and 650 °C. 

ASC–E #1’s sensor was delivered with Junctions 1 and 2 open so it was surprising to see both junctions 

fully functional. Junction 7, noted as functioning during the previous checkout test, did not report a 

temperature for the first two test points and then started functioning on the last two test points. ASC–E 

#4’s sensor was delivered with Junction 8 open, therefore, it was not unusual to find that junction 

inoperative. The data were used to determine that most junctions initially operated within the expected 

temperature range.
NASA/TM—2012-217731 5 

Figure 4.—ASC–E #1 and #4’s heat flux sensor data: Temperatures during insulation loss testing.

Figure 3.—Heat flux sensor and heat source installed (top left), nickel spacer and wire path located in the 

microporous insulation (bottom left), and exterior view of custom wire feedthrough (right).

Custom wire 

feedthrough

D-sub wire 

feedthrough

Custom wire 

feedthrough

Heat source

Micro-porous 

insulation 

Wire path

Nickel spacer
NASA/TM—2012-217731 6 

The calculation for heat transfer from the electric heater to the Stirling was represented by an average 

heat flow through the thickness of the ceramic substrate. The heat flow was calculated based on temperature measurements across the substrate. The thermocouple numbering scheme, shown in Figure 5, shows 

the thermocouple junctions located on each side of the disk that enable the measurement of temperature 

difference. 

Equation (1) shows the heat flow (W) between junctions 1 and 4, where A (m2

) is heat transfer area, k

(W/(m-°C)) is the disk’s average thermal conductivity, and ∆x (m) is the disk thickness. The subscripts 

r1, r2, and r3 seen in Equations (1) to (3) represent each of the three different radial locations shown in 

Figure 5. In the formulation shown below, heat flow was calculated in two ways. Equations (1) to (3), the 

representative area for each junction is equal, so the calculation of heat flow at each junction assumes the 

entire disk face is at that temperature. Junctions 1 to 6 are located between heaters. Equations (1) to (3) 

can be averaged, as shown in Equation (4). 

( ) TT 411

x

kA Qr = (1) 

( ) 2 TT 52

x

kA Qr = (2) 

( ) 3 TT 63

x

kA Qr = (3) 

Equation (4) shows the average heat flow for the pattern located between cartridge heaters. Similarly, 

Equation (5) shows the average heat flow for the pattern located under a cartridge heater. 

( ) ( ) ( )÷ -+-+- = 3

635241

avg

TTTTTT

x

kA QB (4) 

( ) ( ) ( )÷ -+-+- = 3

129118107

avg

TTTTTT

x

kA QU (5) 

The above values for heat flow were compared to an average value of heat flow, shown in

Equation (6). The average heat flow was calculated based on an average surface temperature for each side 

of the disk. All of the face temperatures are averaged and used to calculate the temperature difference 

through the disk.

Figure 5.—ASC–E #1 and #4’s sensor surviving junctions at 10,000 hr. 
NASA/TM—2012-217731 7 

( ( ) ( )) avg Avg 987321 Avg T,T,T,T,T,TT,T,T,T,T,T 121110654

x

kA Q = (6) 

Using an average heat flow was believed to be a reasonable approach based on the assumption that 

there would be a relatively small temperature gradient across the face of the sensor. This formulation also 

assumed adiabatic conditions at the surface of the ceramic disk. Some fraction of the total heat transfer is 

lost to the surrounding insulation. However, the amount should be relatively small because the thermal 

conductivity ratio of nickel parts to the ceramic is 10:1 and of the ceramic to blanket insulation 

surrounding that area is 30:1. One-dimensional heat transfer through a finite volume was calculated to 

estimate a worst-case heat loss from the edges of the heat flux sensor assembly. For an assembly surface 

temperature of 700 °C, the insulation loss is 420 W/m2

. Approximating the exterior surface of the 

insulation with a thin, revolved surface results in a heat loss of 2.3 W (about 1 percent of total heat flow) 

so the average heat flow formulation is believed to be a suitable approach. 

Results

Inspection of the heat flux sensor data revealed that many of the thermocouple junctions had failed 

during the 10,000-hr test. An interesting phenomenon observed about the thermocouple performance was 

that the junction output could fail, usually resulting in a zero value, and then later recover to a logical 

value (nearly picking up where it left off before failure). Figure 6 shows temperatures for both sensors 

from 0 to 10,000 hr. ASC–E #4’s sensor did not have a useful temperature difference measurement until 

around 6000 hr. 

Some junctions had intermittently failed during the test. One would expect that the films that 

experienced physical damage would remain failed throughout the test. Furthermore, a change in chemistry 

due to diffusion of interfacing metallics should result in a constant bias. One possible explanation for the 

temporary nature of the output failure is that some portion of a film had adhered to the interfacing disk, 

despite the aluminum oxide (alumina) coating present to protect the thin-film sensors. At that point, the 

electrical circuit would be partially present on the sensor and partially present on the interfacing disk. Those 

parts of the circuit could become disjointed during thermal transients caused by convertor shutdown and 

startup. This could explain the intermittent signal output during startup and shutdown.

Figure 6.—ASC–E #1 and #4’s heat flux sensor data: Temperatures for all junctions, 0 to 10,000 hr.
NASA/TM—2012-217731 8 

Figure 7 shows the thermocouples that survived the 10,000 hr test for both sensors. These junctions 

are highlighted in Figure 5, where the surviving junctions are shown with an arrow and enabled heat flux 

measurements are shown with bolded arrows.

The available temperatures were compared to the spacer temperatures, only to find the thick spacer 

temperature was about 35 °C higher than the sensor temperature near that spacer. In contrast, the thin 

spacer temperature was just about the same as the sensor temperature near that spacer. The local 

temperature drop observed might be explained by the steep temperature gradient near the much hotter 

heat source and by differences in contact resistance between the two spacers, although the latter does not 

appear to be prevalent throughout the data for either convertor, and is therefore unlikely.

Based on the surviving thermocouples, heat flow values were calculated for locations under and 

between the cartridge heaters. For comparison, the average heat flow was calculated using a temperature 

difference based on an average face temperature. Also included in the results are events that occurred 

throughout the 10,000-hr test, which explains some of the changes in trends. These events, summarized in 

Table I, include shutdown for facility maintenance, controlled shutdown due to failed test 

instrumentation, and changes in the operating point based on the desire to maintain a particular steadystate operation.

TABLE I.—TEST EVENT LIST

Item Hr Description

1 808 A & B PID adjustment (–1 °C)

2 2986 No shutdown, unknown event

3 4444 Manual shutdown, known change in 

performance

4 6049 Manual shutdown, rack calibration

5 6926 Manual shutdown, power lead swap

6 8024 Controlled shutdown, thermocouple failure

7 8999 No shutdown, unknown event

8 9273 No shutdown, unknown event

9 9667 Manual shutdown, facility maintenance

10 9743 No shutdown, unknown event

11 9888 No shutdown, unknown event

12 9980 Manual shutdown, facility maintenance

Figure 7.—ASC–E #1 and #4’s heat flux sensor data: Temperatures for surviving junctions, 0 to 10,000 hr.
NASA/TM—2012-217731 9 

The measurements represent heat flow through the ceramic disk located between the heat source and 

Stirling convertor. Each disk contained six local heat flow measurement sites. In addition, the average 

heat flow was also calculated based on face temperature. By the end of the test, each disk contained only 

two local heat flow measurements. The sensors did not perform as desired due to intermittent junction 

failures, which disabled the heat flow measurements. 

Figure 8 highlights events relevant to ASC–E #1 (left) and ASC–E #4 (right). Event 2 shows an 

increase in heat flow but does not correspond to a recorded event in the test history. Based on the four 

surviving thermocouples on ASC–E #4’s sensor, heat flow values were calculated for two locations under 

a cartridge heater. Events 2, 7, 8, 10, and 11 represent unknown causes for the change observed in heat 

flow. Other events represent shutdown/startup thermal transients. 

Figure 9 (left) shows the resulting heat flow measurements made during the 10,000-hr test, with only 

the last 4000 hr shown for ASC–E #4. Heat flow varied most on ASC–E #1 ranging from 175 to 205 W 

and averaging at about 190 W. The value of heat flow usually changed after a convertor startup, as seen 

after events 3, 4, and 5. Heat flow only varied from 180 to 195 W on ASC–E #4. The convertor heat flow 

values are about 10 percent lower than the 200 to 210 W expected at those alternator power output levels. 

That could have elevated the efficiency calculations by about 3 to 4 percent. 

Figure 9 shows the resulting heat flow and thermal efficiency for both convertors, where the 

efficiency was calculated using a constant alternator power output for each convertor. These hermetically 

sealed units operated on an AC bus controller so the operating frequency and piston amplitude remained 

essentially constant throughout the test. Each convertor’s hot-end temperature was used as an input to a 

Figure 9.—Heat flow and thermal efficiency shown for ASC–E #1 and #4 based on heat flux sensor data. 

Figure 8.—ASC–E #1 and #4’s heat flux sensor data: Heat flow for surviving thermocouple junctions.
NASA/TM—2012-217731 10

PID temperature controller so the gross electrical heat input was allowed to vary in order to maintain the 

desired hot-end temperature. ASC–E #4’s thermal efficiency appears to be slowly increasing throughout

the period of successful data collection (6000 to 10,000 hr), reaching 35 percent at the end of the test. The 

thermal efficiency of ASC–E #1 was gradually increasing toward 39 percent until event 3, after which a 

new trend appeared. Upon every startup after event 3, the efficiency started at around 35 percent and 

decreased until the next shutdown occurred. Data between events 3 to 4 and between events 5 to 9 

represent periods when alternator power output remained relatively constant while ASC–E #1’s heat flow 

increased. As expected, the calculated thermal efficiency is decreasing for those same periods. The spacer 

and heat source temperatures decreased slowly over the 10,000-hr test, suggesting the contact resistance 

was gradually decreasing between the heat source and convertor heater head, a phenomena observed in 

past extended operation tests. These decreasing trends were not well correlated to the heat flow 

calculations, suggesting that the heat flux sensor measurements were independent in how well it was 

thermally joined to the convertor. 

The energy diagram shown in Figure 10 represents an energy balance for ASC–E #1 performed at 

9000 hr of operation. The energy is balanced between the combination of measured, estimated, and 

calculated values of energy in watts. The gross heat input and electrical power output were both measured 

using highly accurate voltage and current meters. The sensor heat flow was measured using the heat flux 

sensor, of which the uncertainty has not yet been quantified. The indicated power output represents the 

mechanical power available from the Stirling engine. It was calculated by assuming an alternator 

efficiency of 91 percent (shown as 7 W loss), which was determined during alternator characterization 

testing performed at GRC. The heat rejected was calculated by subtracting the head insulation loss, 

parasitic loss, and indicated power output from the sensor heat flow. Parasitic loss was estimated based on 

modeling results for this convertor operating under a 625 °C hot-end temperature. The head insulation 

loss represents the amount of heat energy lost back to the insulation surrounding the hot surfaces of the 

heat collector and cylinder. The heater insulation loss was calculated by taking the difference of the gross 

heat input and sensor heat flow. All of the values shown are in the range of what is expected from this 

convertor design operating at a 625 °C hot-end temperature. 

Measured

196 W 63 W

108 W

81 W

277 W

Estimated 

13 W

5 W

7 W 

Calculated

Sensor Heat Flow

70 W

Indicated Power

Output

Alternator 

Heat Rejected Parasitic Loss

Head Insulation Loss

Heater Insulation Loss

Electrical Power

Output

Figure 10.—Energy diagram of ASC–E #1 energy balance performed

at 9000 hr. 

Gross Heat Input
NASA/TM—2012-217731 11

Conclusion

A thin-film heat flux sensor was designed, fabricated, characterized, and tested to directly measure 

the heat transfer from the heat source to a Stirling convertor while on test at NASA Glenn Research 

Center. The development effort identified materials, fabrication procedures, and data collection 

techniques required for measuring heat flux in a Stirling convertor application. The sensors contained 

gold versus platinum thermocouples deposited on full dense aluminum oxide (alumina) ceramic 

substrates. The sensors were tested for 10,000 hr at temperatures exceeding 700 °C in the Advanced 

Stirling Convertor Engineering Unit (ASC–E) #1 and #4 setup. The test started in 2009 and was 

completed in 2011, when the test was shut down and the sensors removed. Many thermocouple junctions 

had failed during the test, however, the surviving thermocouple junctions were used to calculate heat flow 

into the Stirling convertor for over 10,000 hr on ASC–E #1 and for the last 4000 hr of testing on ASC–E 

#4. While the effort proved the concept of directly measuring heat flow into an electrically heated Stirling 

convertor, it also showed that such sensors need to incorporate design improvements to improve 

reliability for possible future use in power systems. 

References

1. Schreiber, J.G., Thieme, L.G., and Wong, W.A., “Supporting Technology at GRC to Mitigate Risk as 

Stirling Power Conversion Transitions to Flight,” Proceedings of the Sixth International Energy 

Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC 2008), Cleveland, OH, August 2008.

2. Lewandowski, E.J., et al., “Extended Operation Testing of Stirling Convertors in Support of Stirling 

Radioisotope Power System Development,” Proceedings of the Sixth International Energy 

Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC 2008), American Institute for Aeronautics and 

Astronautics, Cleveland, OH, August 2008. 

3. Oriti, S.M., and Cornell, P.A., “Processing and Preparation of Advanced Stirling Convertors for 

Extended Operation at NASA Glenn Research Center,” Proceedings of the Sixth International Energy 

Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC 2008), American Institute for Aeronautics and 

Astronautics, Cleveland, OH, August 2008.

4. Wrbanek, J.D., and Fralick, G.C., “Thin Film Physical Sensor Instrumentation Research and 

Development at NASA Glenn Research Center,” NASA/TM—2006-214395, ISA# TP06IIS023, 

September 2006. 

5. Wilson, S.D., Fralick, G.C., Wrbanek, J.D., and Sayir, A., “Fabrication and Testing of a Thin-Film 

Heat Flux Sensor for a Stirling Convertor,” NASA/TM—2010-216063, AIAA 2009–4581, January 

2010.
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 ACRONYM(S)

NASA 

11. SPONSORING/MONITORING

 REPORT NUMBER

NASA/TM-2012-217731 

12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Unclassified-Unlimited 

Subject Category: 20 

Available electronically at http://www.sti.nasa.gov 

This publication is available from the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 443-757-5802

13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

14. ABSTRACT

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) have been developing the Advanced 

Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) for use as a power system for space science missions. This generator would use two highefficiency Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASCs), developed by Sunpower, Inc., and NASA Glenn Research Center. The ASCs convert 

thermal energy from a radioisotope heat source into electricity. As part of ground testing of these ASCs, different operating conditions are 

used to simulate expected mission conditions. These conditions require achieving a particular operating frequency, hot-end and cold-end 

temperatures, and specified electrical power output for a given heat input. It is difficult to measure heat input to Stirling convertors due to 

the complex geometries of the hot components, temperature limits of sensor materials, and invasive integration of sensors. A thin-film heat 

flux sensor was used to directly measure heat input to an ASC. The effort succeeded in designing and fabricating unique sensors, which 

were integrated into a Stirling convertor ground test and exposed to test temperatures exceeding 700 °C in air for 10,000 hr. Sensor 

measurements were used to calculate thermal efficiency for ASC-E (Engineering Unit) #1 and #4. The post-disassembly condition of the 

sensors is also discussed. 

15. SUBJECT TERMS

Advanced Stirling Convertor (ASC); Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG); Thin-film thermocouples; Thin-film heat 

flux sensor; Net heat input; Stirling heat addition 

16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF

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UU 

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