Thermal-electrical coupling characteristic analysis of the heat pipe cooled reactor with static thermoelectric conversion

Highlights: • A multi-physics coupling analysis platform is established for the static heat pipe reactor NUSTER-100. • The thermal-electrical coupling characteristics of the static heat pipe reactor are investigated under different operation conditions. • The unloading condition will cause the core temperature to rise significantly. Heat pipe cooled reactor with static conversion is gaining more and more attention because of its unique advantages such as mobility, high reliability, simple structure, long lifetime, and high-power density. A 100 kW heat pipe reactor with the three-segment type thermoelectric generators namely NUSTER-100 is designed by Xian Jiaotong University. Based on the finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics, a multi-physics coupling analysis platform is established for the static heat pipe reactor NUSTER-100. The heat transfer models of the heat pipe and thermoelectric models of the three-segment type TEGs are supplemented in the simulation model. The thermal-electrical coupling characteristics of the static heat pipe reactor are investigated under different operation conditions. For the steady state condition, the temperature difference of the heat pipe between evaporator and condenser stabilizes at around 110 K, the main temperature gradient about 850 K appears between the two side of TEGs. The total output power of the NUSTER system is 123 kW and the system thermoelectric conversion efficiency is 12.3%. For the three rows unloading condition, the maximum temperature increases to 1483 K which is 133 K higher than that on the steady state condition. The output electrical power of the reactor system is 114.5 kW and the system thermoelectric conversion still could reach 11.5%. For the whole reactor unloading condition, the reactor core temperature increases by 393 K compared with the steady state and the maximum temperature is 1743 K which is lower than the core melting temperature. The operating temperatures of the heat pipes are still within the normal operating temperature range of the sodium heat pipe. The heat transfer capacity of the heat pipe is still sufficient to ensure that the core temperature is kept within the safe limits. In summary, the unloading condition will cause the core temperature to rise significantly. Therefore, the system safety characteristics under accident transient conditions need to be focused coupling with the unloading condition in the further research.