Performance Characteristics of an Electromagnetic Pump David H
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Ames Laboratory Technical Reports Ames Laboratory 8-1960 Performance characteristics of an electromagnetic pump David H. Thompson Iowa State University Ray W. Fisher Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ameslab_isreports Part of the Analytical Chemistry Commons Recommended Citation Thompson, David H. and Fisher, Ray W., "Performance characteristics of an electromagnetic pump" (1960). Ames Laboratory Technical Reports. 26. http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ameslab_isreports/26 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Ames Laboratory Technical Reports by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Performance characteristics of an electromagnetic pump Abstract The linear induction pump (76 laminations, 0.125-inch duct thickness, 0.319-inch air gap) can produce a maximum no-flow pressure of 0.734 psi and can pump 0.450 gpm against a 0.2 psi head. With an air gap of 0.443 inch and a pump section having a 0.250-inch duct thickness, the maximum no-flow pressure decreases to 0.551 psi, but the improved hydraulic efficiency of the larger duct permits circulation of 0.9 gpm against a 0.2 psi head. The improvement in magnetic field strength from 78 gauss/amp at 0.443 inch air gap to 103 gauss/amp at 0.310 inch air gap indicates the need for minimizing the pump air gap while maintaining a duct thickness consistent with good hydraulic efficiency. Disciplines Analytical Chemistry | Chemistry This report is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ameslab_isreports/26 PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ELECTROMAGNETI C PUl\1P by Thompson and Ray W. Fisher / IS-188 Chemistry-General (UC-4) TID 4500, August 1, 1959 UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION Research and Development Report PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ELECTROMAGNETIC PU:r.1P by David H. Thompson and Ray W, Fisher August 1960 Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University of Science and Technology F. H. Spedding, Director Contract W-7405 eng-82 UNCLASSIFIED ii IS-188 This report is distributed accord ing to the category Chemistry General (UC-4) as listed in TID-4500, August 1, 1959. Legal Notice This report was prepared as an account of Government sponsored work. Neither the United States, nor the Commission, nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission: A. Makes any warranty of representation, express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained in this report, or that the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in any report may not infringe privately owned rights; or B. Assumes any liabilities with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of any information, apparatus,' method, or process disclosed in this report. As used in the above, "person acting on behalf of the Commission" includes any employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor, to the extent that such employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor prepares, dis seminates, or provides access to, any information pursuant to his employment or contract with the Commission, or his employment with such contractor. Printed in USA. Price $ 1.25a Available from the Office of Technical Services u. S. Department of Commerce Washington 25, D. c. iii IS-188 PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ELECTROMAGNETIC PUMP* 'I:e.vid .H. Thompson and Ray w. Fisher ABSTRACT The linear induction pump (76 laminations, 0.125-inch duct thick ness, 0.319-inch air gap) can produce a maximum no-flow pressure of 0.734 psi and can pump 0.450 gpm against a 0.2 psi head. With an air gap of 0.443 inch and a pump section having a 0.250-inch duct thickness, the maximum no-flow pressure decreases to 0.551 psi, but the improved hydrau lic efficiency of the larger duct permits circulation of 0.9 gpm against a 0.2 psi head. The improvement in magnetic field strength from 78 gauss/amp at 0.443 inch air gap to 103 gauss/amp at 0.310 inch air gap indicates the need for minimizing the pump air gap while maintaining a duct thickness consistent with good hydraulic efficiency. · With the same pump and pump section geometry, the use of chrome plated copper side bars doubled the pressure developed by the pump with- t. out side bars. Copper side bars wetted by the mercury produced a 20-fold improvement in developed pressure and increased the .pumping efficiency from 0.010% to d.l8%. The pump per..f.<?!ffiance with the wetted copper side ~ This report is based on an M. s. thesis by David H. Thompson submitted August, 1960, to Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. This work was done under contract with the Atomic Energy Commission. iv IS-188 bars was nearly 40% of that predicted for an ideal induction pump. This indicates the utmost importance of f l uid wetting for good pump performance and efficiency. The relatively good conductivity of tantalum, a ·major factor inthe poor pump efficiency, can be used to improve the performance character istics of the pump. Although they are less effective than copper as side bars, tantalum side bars will improve the performance characteristics of the pump when operating at high temperatures with high resistivity liquid metals. In order to retain the performance improvements obtained with side bars, sufficient flow area must be provided to prevent hydraulic lo~ses from nullifying the _ s~de bar effect. Increase of the pump duct width is beneficial to improved pump per formance. The increase in pump duct width is accompanied b,y an increase in power factor and a decrease in phase current. In addi tion, the in creased flow area decreases the hydraulic losses and decreases the eddy current density in the direction of fluid floW. The decrease in edqy current density improves pressure generation b,y the pump, particularly at high voltage, and the ·added fluid in the pump duct is, in effect, a liquid side bar. The magnetic field strength of the pump does not produce an apparent saturation of the stator laminations. However, because of the large slot widths in the stator, the mean value of the field strength.is reduced to :: just 0.6 of the maximum values reached. The phenomenon of fluid wetting of the pump duct wall and the use or side bars provide powerful tools for improving the linear induction pump performance characteristics. Full advantage or the improved per formance can be obtained if the hydraulic losses are minimized by using v IS.;188 a pump section with large duct width, which also improves the power fac• tor and decreases the phase current requirements of the pump. vi H>-18tl TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 3 III. REVIEW OF THEORY 7 IV. OBJECT OF THE INVESTIGATION 12 v. DESCRIPTION OF EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES 13 VI. OUTLINE OF EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS 18 A. Basic Performance Characteristics 18 B. Stator Modification 22 c. Side Bars 23 D. Duct Modification 32 E. Magnetic Field Strength 36 VIIo SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION 43 VIII. LITERATURE CITED 45 IX. APPENDIX 47 1 I. INTRODUCTION Reference designs of several major reactor concepts (1) based on current values of reactor parameters indicate that net plant efficien cies of 300 Mw(e) power reactor plants constructed today would lie be tl'Teen 24% and 31%. Total power costs of these power reactor plants (2) would vary between 9.56 mills per kwhr and 14.72 mills per kwhr. The Eddystone No. 1 Unit of the Philadelphia Electric Company represents the most advanced coal-fired plant under construction in the United States. This super-critical 325 Mw(e) plant is anticipated to operate at a net plant efficiency of 42.6% with total power cost of approximate~ 6 mills per kwhr. Power reactor efficiencies comparable to the coal-fired plant effi ciency can be achieved at reactor outlet temperatures above 500 c. Liq• uid metals provide one means of attaining such temperatures without re quiring high system pressures. However, until the advent of nuclear power generation, liquid metals technology was primarily limited to the knowledge gained from the use of mercury boilers for power generation and from the use of sodium as an internal combustion engine exhaust valve coolant. Test loops have been used to obtain much basic information about liquid metals. Corrosion and erosion of container materials, tempera ture-dependent mass transfer and heat transfer are among the many phe nomena that can be investigated with test loops. In addition to the in vestigation df liquid metals behavior, the reliability and dependability of pumping and fluid metering equipment and other system components m~ 2 be determinede Thus, as a means of furthering liquid metals technology, the test loop serves a multiplicity of purposes. the object of this report is to determine the performance charac teristics of a small linear induction electromagnet,ic pump suitable for high tempel'ature liquid metal teat loop operation and to investigate methods b,y which the performance of the pump m~ be improveda .3 II. REVTh'W OF LITERATURE The interaction of current and a magnetic field in a liquid con duc.tor was utilized by Northrup ( .3) in 1907 to produce a hydrostatic pressure of 9 inches·of water by using 6oO amperes of current in mercu ry. At that time he postulated that this phenomenon could be utilized as a large capacity ammeter and was likely to result in new and useful applications.