Development of a Twin-Screw D-2 Extruder for the ITER Pellet Injection System
- ORNL
A twin-screw extruder for the ITER pellet injection system is under development at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The extruder will provide a stream of solid hydrogen isotopes to a secondary section, where pellets are cut and accelerated with single-stage gas gun into the plasma. A one-fifth ITER scale prototype extruder has been built to produce a continuous solid deuterium extrusion. Deuterium gas is precooled and liquefied before being introduced into the extruder. The precooler consists of a copper vessel containing liquid nitrogen surrounded by a deuterium gas filled copper coil. The liquefier is comprised of a copper cylinder connected to a Cryomech AL330 cryocooler, which is surrounded by a copper coil that the precooled deuterium flows through. The lower extruder barrel is connected to a Cryomech GB-37 cryocooler to solidify the deuterium (at approximate to 15 K) before it is forced through the extruder nozzle. A viewport located below the extruder nozzle provides a direct view of the extrusion. A camera is used to document the extrusion quality and duration. A data acquisition system records the extruder temperatures, torque, and speed, upstream, and downstream pressures. This paper will describe the prototype twin-screw extruder and initial extrusion results.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1018302
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 18th American-Nuclear Society Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy, San Francisco, CA, USA, 20080928, 20081002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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