Investigation of Plugging of Narrow Sodium Channels by Sodium and Carbon Dioxide Interaction

The supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycle system is known to be a promising power conversion system for improving the efficiency and preventing the sodium water reaction (SWR) of the current SFR concept using a Rankine steam cycle. PCHEs are known to have potential for reducing the volume occupied by the sodium-to-CO₂ exchangers as well as the heat exchanger mass relative to traditional shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Here, we report a study on a plugging test by the interaction of sodium and CO₂ to investigate design parameters of sodium channels in the realistic operating conditions. We investigated a plugging test by an interaction of sodium and CO₂ with different cross sectional areas of the sodium channels. It was found that the flow rate of sodium decreased earlier and faster with a narrower cross sectional area compared to a wider one. Our experimental results are expected to be used for determining the sodium channel areas of PCHEs