An idea of employing a superconducting cylindrical linear induction pump for the nuclear power system

Abstract

Molten salt reactors have the potential to be employed as the power system for space exploration machines due to their advantage in the scale and power density. One essential technology associated with the reactor is the pump which circulating molten salts. Since the electric resistivity of molten salts is three orders of magnitude higher than ordinary metals, more compact magnetic fields are required to drive the molten salts to prevent their stagnation in the pipe. To solve this problem, a type of induction pump made of superconducting coils has been designed and analyzed in this article. Considering the large temperature difference between liquid molten salts and the operating temperature of superconducting coils, the pump stator has been specially designed to ensure the heat transfer efficiency in the system. Meanwhile, studies of induced current density of the molten salts have been carried out. Furthermore, driving force of the molten salt have been analyzed as well. Results show that the pumping system has feasible thermal insulation properties, perfect electromagnetic properties and better propulsion abilities, which illustrate its potential in the application field of molten salt reactors. In addition, analysis of the Multi-physics phenomena in this article lead to a better understanding of magneto–hydrodynamics and instabilities in the pump.