Thermal and Flow Modeling of Alkali-Metal Thermoelectric Power Generation (AMTEC)

Lee, Kye Bock; Rhi, Seok Ho; Lee, Ki Woo; Lee, Wook Hyun; Jang, Chan Chul; Lee, Won Gook; Kim, Nak Keun; Shin, Dong Ryun

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.538-541.419

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…7 Wu et al 5 established an axisymmetric invariable temperature phase change interface model of a porous evaporator wick based on an AMTEC. Previously, Rhi et al 8 presented thermal modeling of an AMTEC system using an analytical one-dimensional (1-D) simulation method for a single cell. In addition, a basic computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of heat transfer with a single cell was attempted.…”

Section: Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As shown in Table I, a number of mathematical models for calculating the effective thermal conductivity between the internal fluid and the porous material have been studied. 5,8 It is practical to specify an effective thermal conductivity for the porous media of the AMTEC, if the convective heat transfer is negligible inside the wick. 13 The serial and parallel models define the range of effective thermal conductivities, such as lower and upper bounds, respectively, regardless of two-phase materials.…”

Section: Structure Schematic Expressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Study on the Characteristics of an Alkali-Metal Thermoelectric Power Generation System

Lee

Hwang

Lee

et al. 2015

Journal of Elec Materi

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In the present study, a numerical simulation and experimental studies of an alkali-metal thermoelectric energy converter (AMTEC) system were carried out. The present, unique AMTEC model consists of an evaporator, a b-alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) tube, a condenser, and an artery cable wick. The key points for operation of the present AMTEC were 1100 K in the evaporator and 600 K in the condenser. A numerical model based on sodium-saturated porous wicks was developed and shown to be able to simulate the AMTEC system. The simulation results show that the AMTEC system can generate up to 100 W with a given design. The AMTEC system developed in the present work and used in the practical investigations could generate an electromotive force of 7 V. Artery wick and evaporator wick structures were simulated for the optimum design. Both sodium-saturated wicks were affected by numerous variables, such as the input heat power, cooling temperature, sodium mass flow rate, and capillary-driven fluid flow. Based on an effective thermal conductivity model, the presented simulation could successfully predict the system performance. Based on the numerical simulation, the AMTEC system operates with efficiency near 10% to 15%. In the case of an improved BASE design, the system could reach efficiency of over 30%. The system was designed for 0.6 V power, 25 A current, and 100 W power input. In addition, in this study, the temperature effects in each part of the AMTEC system were analyzed using a heat transfer model in porous media to apply to the computational fluid dynamics at a predetermined temperature condition for the design of a 100-W AMTEC prototype. It was found that a current density of 0.5 A/cm 2 to 0.9 A/cm 2 for the BASE is suitable when the temperatures of the evaporator section and condenser section are 1100 K and 600 K, respectively.

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Section: Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Structure Schematic Expressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the Characteristics of an Alkali-Metal Thermoelectric Power Generation System

Lee

Hwang

Lee

et al. 2015

Journal of Elec Materi

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Introduction

Ming¹,

Liu²,

Wu³

et al. 2016

Solar Chimney Power Plant Generating Technology

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Impact of Sintered Temperature on the Heat and Cation Transport in NaK-BASE Tube

2021

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Alkali metal thermoelectric converter (AMTEC) is a clean energy converter that can be coupled with biomass for power generation. In present research, the transport of heat and cation was investigated in NaK-BASE tubes prepared at different sintered temperatures. The heat conduction and the fractal model were employed to investigate the temperature distributions based on the microstructures of the NaK-BASE tubes sintered at different temperatures, and the transport of Na+ and K+ in NaK-BASE tube was simulated by Poisson-Nernst-Planck multi-ions transport model, and the cation concentrations and surface charge densities were obtained in the NaK-BASE tubes with different temperatures. The results showed that microstructure of the NaK-BASE was related to the sintered temperature, and the microstructure of the NaK-BASE impacted the temperature distribution, the cation concentration and the surface charge density of Na+ and K+ in the NaK-BASE tubes. At the same heat source temperature, the average temperature in the NaK-BASE prepared at high sintered temperature was higher than that prepared at low sintered temperature. In addition, the increase of the average temperature resulted in the increase of the cation concentration and the surface charge density of Na+ and K+ in the NaK-BASE, therefore, the performance of the NaK-AMTEC could be enhanced by increasing the sintered temperature and the average temperature of the NaK-BASE.

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Thermal and Flow Modeling of Alkali-Metal Thermoelectric Power Generation (AMTEC)

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

Study on the Characteristics of an Alkali-Metal Thermoelectric Power Generation System

Study on the Characteristics of an Alkali-Metal Thermoelectric Power Generation System

Introduction

Impact of Sintered Temperature on the Heat and Cation Transport in NaK-BASE Tube

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