Performance correlations for high temperature potassium heat pipes

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6372733

Merrigan, M A; Keddy, E S; Sena, J T

Potassium heat pipes designed for operation at a nominal temperature of 775K have been developed for use in a heat pipe cooled reactor design. The heat pipes operate in a gravity assist mode with a maximum required power throughput of approximately 16 kW per heat pipe. Based on a series of sub-scale experiments with 2.12 and 3.2 cm diameter heat pipes the prototypic heat pipe diameter was set at 5.7 cm with a simple knurled wall wick used in the interests of mechanical simplicity. The performance levels required for this design had been demonstrated in prior work with gutter assisted wicks and emphasis in the present work was on the attainment of similar performance with a simplified wick structure. The wick structure used in the experiment consisted of a pattern of knurled grooves in the internal wall of the heat pipe. The knurl depth required for the planned heat pipe performance was determined by scaling of wick characteristic data from the sub-scale tests. These tests indicated that the maximum performance limits of the test heat pipes did not follow normal entrainment limit predictions for textured wall gravity assist heat pipes. Test data was therefore scaled to the prototype design based on the assumption that the performance was controlled by an entrainment parameter based on the liquid flow depth in the groove structure. This correlation provided a reasonable fit to the sub-scale test data and was used in scale up of the design from the 8.0 cm/sup 2/ cross section of the largest sub-scale heat pipe to the 25.5 cm/sup 2/ cross section prototype. Correlation of the model predictions with test data from the prototype is discussed.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6372733
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-87-1000; CONF-870585-2; ON: DE87007456
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220200* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Components & Accessories
ALKALI METALS
COOLING
CORRELATIONS
DATA
DESIGN
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HEAT PIPE WICKS
HEAT PIPES
HEAT TRANSFER
HIGH TEMPERATURE
INFORMATION
METALS
NUMERICAL DATA
PERFORMANCE
POTASSIUM
REACTOR COMPONENTS
TESTING