Development of 160 m³/min Large Capacity Sodium-Immersed Self-Cooled Electromagnetic Pump

Abstract

A large capacity sodium-immersed self-cooled electromagnetic pump (LEMP) was developed for application to the main circulation pumps of FBR. This advanced LEMP is a submergible annular linear induction pump designed to be self-cooled by immersing into sodium and applying high temperature electrical insulation. Almost all the internal electrical losses were transferred to the surrounding sodium, which can be recovered as electricity by turbine generators. The LEMP having specifications of 160 m 3 /min flow rate, 0.28 MPa head and more than 40% efficiency at the rating was designed, fabricated and tested in the sodium pump test facility. The test involves magnetic field measurement in the air and a variety of sodium tests during 2,550 h, which demonstrated good pump performance and flow controllability, and satisfied the design target. The boundary between flow stability and instability of the LEMP operation could be defined by peak position of the Q-H curve, which was specified by Re m ÂS (magnetic Reynolds' number times slip) of 1.4 to 1.5 at 335 C. Based on the test results, the applicability of the LEMP for the FBR was confirmed.

Electromagnetic Pumps for Main Cooling Systems of Commercialized Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

“…A 44 m 3 /min EMP and a 160 m 3 /min EMP were fabricated, and several experimental studies on them were performed. 2,3) From these experimental results, the operation control and structural integrity, including stator supports, were confirmed up to the 160 m 3 /min class. In addition, a number of fundamental experiments and numerical analyses on EMPs below 10 m 3 /min have been performed [4][5][6] in order to clarify the magneto-hydrodynamic characteristics inside an EMP.…”

Electromagnetic Pumps for Main Cooling Systems of Commercialized Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

“…A 44 m 3 /min EMP and a 160 m 3 /min EMP were fabricated, and several experimental studies on them were performed. 2,3) From these experimental results, the operation control and structural integrity, including stator supports, were confirmed up to the 160 m 3 /min class.…”

“…Generally, EMP operation is unstable in the region of high pump head. 3) However, the rated condition of the reference modular-type EMP is in the stable region. It seems that the EMP control method with constant voltage/frequency (V/f), which was used for the 160 m 3 /min EMP, works effectively so that the EMP operates under stable condition from start-up to the rated operation.…”

“…The design is based on the 160 m 3 /min EMP experience, 3) but some modifications have been made. The sodium flow rate of each modular-type EMP of the reference is 126 m 3 /min.…”

Modeling of fully coupled mhd flows in annular linear induction pumps

“…There are mainly two different types of EMP, namely the FLIP (Flat Linear Induction pump) and the ALIP (Annular Linear Induction pump). Many works have been performed so far on such pumps [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. However, there is a recent interest on the development of large-size ALIP for nuclear engineering applications.…”