Thermo-Magnetic Systems:
Annular Linear Induction Pumps
Electromagnetic pumps are a key enabling technology towards the development of advanced molten-salt and liquid-metal reactors which can lead to low-waste, emission-free nuclear power plants such as small modular reactors (SMR) and micro-reactors.
We are developing electromagnetic pumps for molten-salt reactors as well as a family of products and services related to its design and fabrication.
Software and Computational Tools
We are developing software and computational tools for the design, analysis and fabrication of liquid metal and molten salts thermo-magnetic systems with emphasis in annular linear induction pumps for nuclear, space and industrial applications as well as for the study of magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) phenomena that will enable the construction of optimized devices and components as well as new computational libraries and solvers.
ALIP originally designed and constructed for the NASA FSP technology program
Design for the NASA 40 KWe fission surface power technology project with an increased in efficiency of over 200%
Internal structure of a 2 pole ALIP based on the historical design for the TREAT facility (no active cooling)
Sponsored by
Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear energy, under awards number DE-SC0013992 (2015-2016) and DE-SC0019835 (2019) - Advanced Nuclear Technologies
CASE STUDY: The Transient Reactor Test Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory
The Transient Reactor Test Facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) was specifically built to conduct transient reactor tests where the test material is subjected to neutron pulses that can simulate conditions ranging from mild upsets to severe reactor accidents. The Transient Reactor Test Facility, commonly referred to as TREAT, is an air- and metal- cooled, thermal spectrum test facility designed to evaluate reactor fuels and structural materials.
In a collaborative effort with the Idaho National Laboratory, we will design the Sodium annular linear induction pumps for the TREAT facility, we will build a prototype to validate our computational methods & the TREAT electromagnetic pumps design and we will bid to manufacture the annular linear induction pumps needed by the TREAT facility using the optimized design developed using our computational methods and validated with a prototype.
Sponsored by
Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Award Number DE-SC0013992 (Advanced Nuclear Technologies)
TREAT historically tested fuel specimens for various reactor designs, but none more than four fast breeder reactors cooled by liquid sodium. The historic irradiation vehicles used for these tests were the highly successful MK series sodium loops. One of the pivotal technologies that enabled these loops, and in turn TREAT testing of sodium cooled fuel systems, was the Annular Linear Induction Pump (ALIP). These electromagnetic pumps were ideal due to their compact form factor, high reliability due to lack of moving parts, and simple pipe like pressure boundary. Although the general geometric and performance characteristics for MK series ALIP’s are available in historic engineering documents, recovery and improvement of their design is difficult since historic electrical circuit models of their performance required empirically derived correction factors. Furthermore, reverse engineering is hampered by that fact that most of these ALIP’s were disposed as radiologic waste. For these reasons, modern tools which enable the design of ALIP’s are highly valuable to future transient experiments on liquid metal cooled fuel designs. To date, MAIDANA RESEARCH has been collaborating diligently with the INL team under the phase 1 SBIR entitled “Computational Tools for the Design of Liquid Metal Thermomagnetic Systems”.
Nicolas Woolstenhulme
Design and Engineering Lead for TREAT Experiment Vehicles