A ten megawatt rocket driven MHD disk generator system has been designed as part of the feasibility study of multimegawatt MHD space power systems for SDI0 mission applications. The experimental system consists of a plasma generatodinjector, a supersonic nozzle, a parallel wall disk channel, and a diffuser. The magnetic field is provided by a heat sink cryogenic magnet coil. Facility support systems include a reactant feed system, a cooling system, an excitation and power extraction system, an exhaust system, and the required instrumentation and control system.The fuel is an aluminum-MMH gel. The oxidizer is a potassium nitrate-IRFNA solution. At the design oneto-one mixture ratio, the specific enthalpy is 10 MJkg. The products of combustion are expanded from the stagnation combustion pressure of 11 atmospheres to supersonic/ sub-atmospheric flow conditions at the inlet of the channel. The supersonic nozzle consists of 24 water cooled vanes which impart a 45 degree swirl to the working fluid at the entrance of the MHD channel. The MHD channel operates in the impulse mode with a nearly constant plasma conductivity in the range 40 to 50 mho/m from the channel inlet to its exit. The magnetic induction is tapered from an inlet value of 5 Tesla to an exit value of 3.25 Tesla. For atmospheric pressure exhaust and a diffuser recovery of 50 percent, an enthalpy extraction of 1 MJkg is predicted so that at the design flow rate of 10 kg/sec, a power output of 10 MW is projected. Following initial excitation, power for the magnet is provided by the channel itself. Fabrication of the system components was initiated early in 1989. Testing is planned for the second half of 1989.
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