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Development and Experimental Research on the Electromagnetic Induction Lithium Coolant Transfer Pump of a High-Power Space-Based NPP High-Temperature Cooling System

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Abstract

In the project of a modular submegawatt space-based thermionic NPP for the interorbital tug Gerkules, niobium alloy is used as the main structural material and isotopically pure lithium-7 is used as a coolant. To transfer lithium coolant, a series of electromagnetic induction pumps (EMP) have been designed, manufactured, and tested. The main requirement for EMPs is to ensure lithium transfer at high operating temperatures up to 900°C. This required high-temperature structural, magnetic, conductive, and electrical insulating materials. The design and technological features of the developed EMP are given. The tests were carried out in a pressure chamber as part of the lithium-niobium circuit simulating the NPP cooling system unit. The dependences of the EMP head-flow characteristics on the current strength and frequency, the temperature of transferred lithium, and other parameters are presented. The scatter of the same EMPs does not exceed 6%.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, Korolev, Moscow oblast, 141070, Russia

    V. V. Sinyavsky

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  1. V. V. Sinyavsky
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Correspondence to V. V. Sinyavsky.

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Original Russian Text © V.V. Sinyavsky, 2018, published in Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Energetika.

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Sinyavsky, V.V. Development and Experimental Research on the Electromagnetic Induction Lithium Coolant Transfer Pump of a High-Power Space-Based NPP High-Temperature Cooling System. Therm. Eng. 65, 972–979 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0040601518130128

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