Hall-field limitations in MHD generators

Technical Report · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6754828

Hermina, W L

An experimental and theoretical study of Hall field limitations in clean fuel combustion-driven MHD generators has been completed. The purpose of this study has been to understand the processes leading up to both insulator and plasma initiated interelectrode breakdown. The present work has been most concerned with insulator initiated breakdown as a result of the lower breakdown thresholds for this breakdown mode as compared to the plasma initiated breakdown mode. The experimental work consisted of two sets of experiments. In the first set, several interelectrode insulator cooling techniques were studied for the purpose of extending the insulator initiated breakdown threshold to higher voltages. The second set of experiments dealt with the dependence of the Hall field behavior on generator parameters such as magnetic field, insulator size and transverse current density. The theoretical work consisted of developing a computer program to model the processes leading up to both insulator and plasma initiated breakdown. The program has been used to explain the trends observed in the experiments and also to predict the dependence of the Hall field behavior on generator parameters for both an experimental scale and a large scale generator. The results of the research demonstrate the effectiveness of several interelectrode insulator cooling techniques in preventing insulator initiated breakdown. Experimental and theoretical results have also been obtained that indicate the dependence of the Hall behavior on several generator parameters.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (USA). High Temperature Gasdynamics Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: AC01-80ET15611
• OSTI ID: 6754828
• Report Number(s): HTGL-229; ON: DE83001149
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
300104* -- MHD Generators-- Duct Engineering & Fluid Dynamics
BREAKDOWN
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COOLING
CURRENT DENSITY
CURRENTS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRICAL INSULATORS
ELECTRODES
EQUIPMENT
HALL EFFECT
LEAKAGE CURRENT
LIMITING VALUES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MHD CHANNELS
MHD GENERATORS
OPEN-CYCLE MHD GENERATORS
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA
SIMULATION
VOLTAGE DROP