Thermal Design Options of New Pressure Channel for SCWRs

Author(s):  
Wargha Peiman ◽  
Kamiel Gabriel ◽  
Igor Pioro

This paper focuses on thermal-design options of a new pressure channel for SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactors (SCWRs). The objectives of this paper are to estimate heat losses from the coolant to the moderator for a preliminary fuel-channel design and to investigate effects of the insulator thickness and moderator pressure on the overall heat losses. In order to fulfill the objectives, the heat losses for an existing reactor were calculated and compared with available values from open literature. These calculations became the basis for calculation of the heat loss for the chosen new fuel-channel design. MATLAB, and NIST REFPROP software were utilized for programming and calculation of thermo-physical properties as needed, respectively. Heat losses for different thicknesses of the ceramic insulator were calculated. These calculations showed that the heat losses for the optimum thickness of insulator, which was calculated to be 7 mm, were about 31 MW. In current CANDU reactors the operating pressure of the moderator is close to the atmospheric pressure; higher operating pressures will allow operation of the moderator at higher temperature while preventing occurrence of boiling in the calandria vessel. Higher moderator temperatures will results in a lower temperature difference between the coolant and the moderator, hence reducing the heat sink from the coolant to the moderator. The effect of the moderator pressure on the heat loss was investigated, which showed that the heat loss can be reduced by increasing the operating pressure of the moderator by approximately 1 MW per 0.1 MPa increase in pressure.

Author(s):  
Wargha Peiman ◽  
Eugene Saltanov ◽  
Kamiel Gabriel ◽  
Igor Pioro

The objective of this paper is to calculate heat losses from a CANDU-6 fuel-channel while modifying it according to the specified operating pressure and temperature conditions of SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactors (SCWRs). Heat losses from the coolant to the moderator are significant in a SCWR because of high operating temperatures (i.e., 350–625°C). This has adverse effects on the overall thermal efficiency of the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), so it is necessary to determine the amount of heat losses from fuel-channels proposed for SCWRs. Inconel-718 was chosen as a pressure tube (PT) material and PT minimum required thickness was calculated in accordance with the coolant’s maximum operating pressure and temperature. The heat losses from the fuel-channel were calculated along the heated length of the fuel-channel. Steady-state one-dimensional heat-transfer analysis was conducted, and programming in MATLAB was performed. The fuel-channel was divided into small segments and for each segment thermal resistances of the fuel-channel components were analyzed. Further, the thermophysical properties of the coolant, annulus gas, and moderator were retrieved from the NIST REFPROP software. The analysis outcome resulted in a total heat loss of 29.3 kW per fuel-channel when the pressure of the annulus gas was 0.3 MPa.


Author(s):  
Fatimah Rafat ◽  
Jeffrey Samuel ◽  
Miral Chauhan ◽  
David Kowalczyk ◽  
Igor Pioro

Author(s):  
W. Peiman ◽  
I. Pioro ◽  
K. Gabriel

To address the need to develop new nuclear reactors with higher thermal efficiency, a group of countries, including Canada, have initiated an international collaboration to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors called Generation IV. The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Program has narrowed design options of the nuclear reactors to six concepts, one of which is supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR). Among the Generation IV nuclear-reactor concepts, only SCWRs use water as a coolant. The SCWR concept is considered to be an evolution of water-cooled reactors (pressurized water reactors (PWRs), boiling water reactors (BWRs), pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), and light-water, graphite-moderated reactors (LGRs)), which comprise 96% of the current fleet of operating nuclear power reactors and are categorized under Generation II, III, and III+ nuclear reactors. The latter water-cooled reactors have thermal efficiencies of 30–36%, whereas the evolutionary SCWR will have a thermal efficiency of approximately 45–50%. In terms of a pressure boundary, SCWRs are classified into two categories, namely, pressure-vessel (PV) SCWRs and pressure-channel (PCh) SCWRs. A generic pressure-channel SCWR, which is the focus of this paper, operates at a pressure of 25 MPa with inlet and outlet coolant temperatures of 350°C and 625°C, respectively. The high outlet temperature and pressure of the coolant make it possible to improve thermal efficiency. On the other hand, high operating temperature and pressure of the coolant introduce a challenge for material selection and core design. In this view, there are two major issues that need to be addressed for further development of SCWR. First, the reactor core should be designed, which depends on a fuel-channel design. Second, a nuclear fuel and fuel cycle should be selected. Several fuel-channel designs have been proposed for SCWRs. These fuel-channel designs can be classified into two categories: direct-flow and reentrant channel concepts. The objective of this paper is to study thermal-hydraulic and neutronic aspects of a reentrant fuel-channel design. With this objective, a thermal-hydraulic code has been developed in MATLAB, which calculates fuel-centerline-temperature, sheath-temperature, coolant-temperature, and heat-transfer-coefficient profiles. A lattice code and diffusion code were used to determine a power distribution inside the core. Then, heat flux in a channel with the maximum thermal power was used as an input into the thermal-hydraulic code. This paper presents a fuel centerline temperature of a newly designed fuel bundle with UO2 as a reference fuel. The results show that the maximum fuel centerline temperature exceeds the design temperature limits of 1850°C for fuel.


Author(s):  
W. Peiman ◽  
I. Pioro ◽  
K. Gabriel

To address the need to develop new nuclear reactors with higher thermal efficiency, a group of countries, including Canada, have initiated an international collaboration to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors called Generation IV. The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Program has narrowed design options of the nuclear reactors to six concepts one of which is the SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR). Among the Generation IV nuclear-reactor concepts, only SCWRs use water as the coolant. The SCWR concept is considered to be an evolution of Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), which comprise 81% of the current fleet of operating nuclear reactors and are categorized under Generation II nuclear reactors. The latter water-cooled reactors have thermal efficiencies in the range of 30–35% while the evolutionary SCWR will have a thermal efficiency of about 40–45%. In terms of a pressure boundary SCWRs are classified into two categories, namely, Pressure Vessel (PV) SCWRs and Pressure Channel (PCh) SCWRs. A generic pressure channel SCWR, which is the focus of this paper, operates at a pressure of 25 MPa with inlet and outlet coolant temperatures of 350 and 625°C, respectively. The high outlet temperature and pressure of the coolant make it possible to improve the thermal efficiency. On the other hand, high operating temperature and pressure of the coolant introduce a challenge for material selection and core design. In this view, there are two major issues that need to be addressed for further development of SCWR. First, the reactor core should be designed, which depends on a fuel channel design (for PCh SCWR). Second, a nuclear fuel and fuel cycle should be selected. Third, materials for core components and other key components should be selected based on material testing and experimental results. Several fuel-channel designs have been proposed for SCWRs. These fuel-channel designs can be classified into two categories: direct-flow and re-entrant channel concepts. The objective of this paper is to study thermal-hydraulic and Neutronic aspects of a re-entrant fuel channel design. With this objective, a thermal-hydraulic code has been developed in MATLAB which calculates the fuel centerline temperature, sheath temperature, coolant temperature and heat transfer coefficient profiles. A lattice code and a diffusion code were used in order to determine the power distribution inside the core. Then, the heat flux in a channel with the maximum thermal power was used as an input into the thermal-hydraulic code. This paper presents the fuel centerline temperature of a newly designed fuel bundle with UO2 as a reference fuel. The results show that the maximum fuel centerline temperature and the sheath temperature exceed the temperature limits of 1850°C and 850°C for fuel and sheath, respectively.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
Boris Pruss ◽  
Viktor Romanov ◽  
Yaroslav Prozorov ◽  
Olga Pleskacheva

The paper presents the theory of calculating heat loss through the fences of timber drying chambers. The software for computer modeling of the process of transferring heat energy through the fences of the drying chamber, consisting of various heat-insulating materials, for calculating heat losses during drying of sawn timber is described. The efficiency of the use of modern heat-insulating materials to reduce heat losses during drying of sawn timber has been experimentally confirmed.


Author(s):  
Leonid S. Bobe ◽  
Nikolay A. Salnikov

Analysis and calculation have been conducted of the process of low-pressure reverse osmosis in the membrane apparatus of the system for recycling hygiene water for the space station. The paper describes the physics of the reverse osmosis treatment and determines the motive force of the process, which is the difference of effective pressures (operating pressure minus osmotic pressure) in the solution near the surface of the membrane and in the purified water. It is demonstrated that the membrane scrubbing action is accompanied by diffusion outflow of the cleaning agent components away from the membrane. The mass transfer coefficient and the difference of concentrations (and, accordingly, the difference of osmotic pressures) in the boundary layer of the pressure channel can be determined using an extended analogy between mass transfer and heat transfer. A procedure has been proposed and proven in an experiment for calculating the throughput of a reverse osmosis apparatus purifying the hygiene water obtained through the use of a cleaning agent used in sanitation and housekeeping procedures on Earth. Key words: life support system, hygiene water, water processing, low-pressure reverse osmosis, space station.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (41) ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
SHAVKAT KLYCHEV ◽  
◽  
BAKHRAMOV SAGDULLA ◽  
VALERIY KHARCHENKO ◽  
VLADIMIR PANCHENKO ◽  
...  

There are needed energy (heat) accumulators to increase the efficiency of solar installations, including solar collectors (water heaters, air heaters, dryers). One of the tasks of designing heat accumulators is to ensure its minimal heat loss. The article considers the problem of determining the distribution of temperatures and heat losses by convection and radiation of the heat insulation-accumulating body (water) system for a ball heat accumulator under symmetric boundary conditions. The problem is solved numerically according to the program developed on the basis of the proposed «gap method». (Research purpose) The research purpose is in determining heat losses by convection and radiation of a two-layer ball heat accumulator with symmetric boundary conditions. (Materials and methods) Authors used the Fourier heat equation for spherical bodies. The article presents the determined boundary and initial conditions for bodies and their surfaces. (Results and discussion) The thickness of the insulation and the volume of the heat accumulator affect the dynamics and values of heat loss. The effect of increasing the thickness of the thermal insulation decreases with increasing its thickness, starting with a certain volume of the heat accumulator or with R > 0.3 meters, the heat losses change almost linearly over time. The dynamics of heat loss decreases with increasing shelf life, but the losses remain large. (Conclusions) Authors have developed a method and program for numerical calculation of heat loss and temperature over time in a spherical two-layer heat accumulator with symmetric boundary conditions, taking into account both falling and intrinsic radiation. The proposed method allows to unify the boundary conditions between contacting bodies.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorota Anna Krawczyk ◽  
Tomasz Janusz Teleszewski

This paper presents possible variants of reducing the heat loss in an existing heating network made from single pre-insulated pipes located in central Europe. In order to achieve this aim, simulations were carried out for five different variants related to the modification of the network operation temperature, replacement of a single network with a double pre-insulated one, and changes in the cross-section geometry of the thermal insulation of the double heating network from circular to egg-shaped. The proposed egg-shaped thermal insulation was obtained by modifying the shape of the Cassini oval, in that the supply pipe has a greater insulation thickness compared to the return pipe. The larger insulation field in the supply pipe contributed to reducing the heat flux density around the supply line and, as a result, to significantly reducing heat loss. The egg-shaped thermal insulation described in the publication in a mathematical formula can be used in practice. This work compares the heat losses for the presented variants and determines the ecological effect. Heat losses were determined using the boundary element method (BEM), using a proprietary computer program written as part of the VIPSKILLS 2016-1-PL01-KA203-026152 project Erasmus+.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (164) ◽  
pp. 77-81
Author(s):  
Yu. Ivashina ◽  
V. Zavodyannyi

To calculate the share of thermal energy consumed by this apartment in an apartment building, it is necessary to determine the heat transfer of all heating radiators in the house. But the heat transfer given in the passport of the heating device corresponds to the temperature pressure equal to 70K. Often the owners install non-standard devices, so the problem of determining the heat transfer of heating radiators in real conditions is relevant. Thermometric method, which is called electric, is widely used for laboratory determination of heat transfer of heating devices. Water by means of the pump circulates through an electric copper and the investigated radiator. The heat output of the latter is defined as the difference between the supplied electrical power (boiler power plus pump) and heat loss. The purpose of the work is to develop and study the operation of the installation for determining the heat transfer of heating radiators, which had a simpler design and could ensure proper measurement accuracy. We have proposed a scheme and design of the installation for determining the heat transfer of electric heating radiators, which differs in that it does not include a circulating pump. Water in the system circulates under the action of gravity due to changes in the density of the coolant during heating and cooling. This greatly simplifies the circuit by eliminating not only the pump but also the valve and the air outlet valve. The heater chamber is made of a steel pipe with a diameter of 88 mm. A steel cover is attached to the lower flange, through which a 1-1.5 kW heater is introduced into the chamber. Two 1/2 ″ sections of pipe are welded to the body of the heater chamber, through which the radiator is connected by means of rubber couplings. The cylindrical surface of the chamber on top of the layer of internal insulation is covered with a shielding heater, the temperature of which is maintained equal to the surface temperature of the heater chamber in the middle part. A layer of external thermal insulation is installed on top of the shielding heater. To determine heat loss, the radiator is disconnected from the heater chamber, plugs are installed and insulated. In stationary mode, the dependence of the heater power on the temperature of the heater chamber is measured, which determines the power of heat losses. The simplification of the installation has led not only to its reduction in price, but also to an increase in accuracy due to the reduction of heat losses and the simplicity of their definition.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Giurca

Abstract The article presents aspects related to the calculation of heat loss through the pipes of the interior central heating system. The purpose of the article is to detail the local heat losses in case of central heating systems. Based on the conclusions of the article, we propose the modification of the calculation methodology related to the building energy audit.


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