Liquid-metal MHD energy conversion. Status report, March 1976--September 1977. [Coal combustion products are mixed with liquid copper and act as working fluid]

Technical Report · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6068707· OSTI ID:6068707

Petrick, M; Dunn, P F; Pierson, E S; Dauzvardis, P V; Pollack, I

A new open-cycle coal-fired liquid-metal MHD concept has been developed, in which the combustion products are mixed directly with liquid copper and the mixture is then passed through the MHD generator. This concept yields a system with an efficiency comparable to that of open-cycle plasma MHD at combustor temperatures as much as 1000 K lower and MHD generator temperatures more than 1000 K lower than is the case for open-cycle plasma MHD. Significantly, the liquid-metal system uses components that are close to or within present-day technology, and it appears that readily available containment materials are compatible with the fluids. The first commercial system studies for the liquid-metal Rankine-cycle concept show that it yields a higher conversion efficiency than conventional steam cycles for lower-temperature heat sources, such as a liquid-metal fast-breeder reactor, a light-water reactor, or solar collectors without any potential for hazardous reactions betweeen liquid metals (e.g., sodium) and water. Fabrication of the high-temperature liquid-metal MHD facility has been completed, and shakedown runs have been performed, using a substitute mixer-generator test section. Data obtained in this test section agreed well with existing single-phase and newly-developed two-phase correlations for the pressure gradient.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6068707
• Report Number(s): ANL/MHD-78-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
COAL-FIRED MHD GENERATORS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
TEST FACILITIES
LIQUID-METAL MHD GENERATORS
BRAYTON CYCLE
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
COMPRESSORS
COPPER
LIQUID METALS
MATERIALS
MIXERS
OPEN-CYCLE MHD GENERATORS
OPERATION
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
RANKINE CYCLE
WORKING FLUIDS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
LIQUIDS
METALS
MHD GENERATORS
THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
300101* - MHD Generators- Design & Development