Numerical investigation on startup characteristics of high temperature heat pipe for nuclear reactor

Zhang, Zeqin; Chai, Xiaoming; Wang, Chenglong; Sun, Hedong; Zhang, Dalin; Tian, Wenxi; Qiu, Suizheng; Su, G.H.

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111180

Cited by 42 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…in the core are all modeled as solid domains. In the thermal analysis, the heat pipe adopts a pure heat conduction model for modeling 23,24 . Regardless of the flow of the liquid working fluid in the wick of the heat pipe, the vapor area of the heat pipe is regarded as a solid domain with a very large thermal conductivity.…”

Section: Nuster‐100 Core Performance Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW _e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)

Huang

Wang

Tian

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary To meet the requirements of the unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) for the power source, a conceptual design of a 100‐kWe level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor (NUSTER‐100) is proposed. The NUSTER‐100 is a 1‐MWt reactor that has been designed to couple with a 100‐kWe thermoelectric generator system. The high temperature sodium heat pipes are adopted to cool the reactor core. The cascaded wide temperature range thermoelectric generation (TEG) system is used to achieve thermoelectric conversion, which ensures high power generation efficiency and low operating noise. The neutronic and thermal‐mechanical analysis results are provided for the design. The core power distribution and energy spectrum are obtained. The neutronic analysis results are imported into ANSYS as input for thermal‐mechanical analysis. In this paper, the fuel‐HPs channel and the 1/8 symmetrical core are selected as the analysis objects, and the temperature distribution and statics parameters under the normal operation condition are obtained. The analysis results show that under normal operation conditions, the core parameters meet the design requirements. These design parameters are all lower than the safety limit. This work provides a certain reference for the design and application of the heat pipe reactor power system.

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Section: Nuster‐100 Core Performance Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW _e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)

Huang

Wang

Tian

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

Self Cite

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“…Extensive literature has examined the theoretical and experimental aspects of heat pipe characteristics. [7][8][9]. Wang et al [10] Examined the unstable initiation technique of a cylindrical micro-fluted heat pipe and found that CuO nanofluid can minimize the initiation time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Two-Phase Sub-Cooled Heat-Pipe at Different Regimes

Elsayed,

Ali,

Mansour

et al. 2024

Preprint

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A new sub-cooled two-phase thermosyphon or heat-pipe devices are important for enhancing heat transfer. The properties are examined using theoretical modeling and experimental measurements of the sub-cooled heat loop during the heating-up, steady-state, and cooling-down phases. Experimentally, the sub-cooled heat-pipe's heating rate effective, cooling rate, and evaporator length are evaluated in heating-up, steady-state, and cooling-down modes. The dynamic model of the sub-cooled heat-pipe in the current practical investigation is important for several applications of irregular operation. This research seeks to create a theoretical framework, which accurately represents the double-tube evaporator's dynamic properties. This will be achieved by examining several transient parameters throughout the warm-up, stable condition, and cool-down phases of operation. The model effectively reproduces the phase and thermal properties of a closed, sub-cooled heat-pipe containing two phases. The experimental results of our practical setup based on the thermal evaporator wall and the working fluid show simple exponential behavior. The results from the experimental measurements and the theoretical model demonstrate their mutual accord.

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“…HPR has the characteristics of high inherent safety, simple structure, low operation pressure and easy modularization, which make it have broad application prospects in deep sea, space, star catalogues and other scenarios Yu etal., 2019. However, the transfer of heat energy is realized through evaporation, condensation process and natural circulation flow of the working fluid inside the heat pipe Zhang et al, 2021. This heat transfer process is relatively slow, and it takes long time for the heat transfer from the hot end of the heat pipe to the thermoelectric converter at the cold end of the heat pipe to generate electrical energy. Therefore, the electric power cannot respond to the change of core power in time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Model predictive power control of a heat pipe cooled reactor

Huang

Sun

2023

Front. Energy Res.

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Heat pipe cooled reactor (HPR) has broad application prospects in deep space exploration, deep-sea submarine exploration, and other scenarios due to the small size, high inherent safety, and easy modularization and expansion. However, the HPR conducts thermal energy through evaporation and condensation of the working fluid inside the heat pipe. This feature makes the HPR a large time-delay system. If the power control system adopts the conventional PID algorithm, there will be a long settling time. Therefore, the model predictive control algorithm is proposed for the power control system to improve the control performance. The HPR linear model, which is developed by linearization of its nonlinear model, is chosen as the predictive model. The optimal control value is obtained by solving the optimization problem based on the predictive model and the electric power feedback value. The discrepancy between the predive model and the actual system response results in the presence of steady-state error. To solve this problem, an integral controller is added to eliminate the error. The appropriate control system parameters are tuned by the trial and error method. The proposed control system has satisfactory control performance, which can significantly shorten the settling time. The model predictive control can effectively overcome the influence of the large time-delay characteristic.

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Numerical investigation on startup characteristics of high temperature heat pipe for nuclear reactor

Cited by 42 publications

References 9 publications

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW _e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW _e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Two-Phase Sub-Cooled Heat-Pipe at Different Regimes

Model predictive power control of a heat pipe cooled reactor

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Numerical investigation on startup characteristics of high temperature heat pipe for nuclear reactor

Cited by 42 publications

References 9 publications

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Two-Phase Sub-Cooled Heat-Pipe at Different Regimes

Model predictive power control of a heat pipe cooled reactor

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW _e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)

Preliminary conceptual design and analysis of a 100 kW _e level Nuclear Silent Thermal‐Electrical Reactor ( NUSTER ‐100)