Numerical Study on the Performance in a Pulsed Heat Source High Temperature Inert Gas Plasma MHD Electrical Power Generator

Abstract

Performance of a pulsed heat source high temperature inert gas plasma MHD electrical power generator, which can be one of the candidates of space-based laser-to-electrical power converter, is examined by a time dependent two dimensional numerical simulation. In the present MHD generator (namely a pulsed laser driven MHD electrical power generator), the inert gas is heated to about 10 4 K pulsed-likely by utilizing a pulsed laser beam within short time (～1 µs), and the energy of high temperature inert gas is converted to the electricity with the medium of inert gas plasma. As a laser absorption process, a simple model of the energy transfer interaction between incident laser beam and the working gas (inverse bremsstrahlung process) is taken into account. Numerical simulation results show the generator performance and the plasma-fluid dynamical behavior during the laser input, and during the power generation under the typical condition in the pulsed laser driven MHD generator. Although there still exist many phenomena to be clarified and many problems to be overcome in order to realize the system, the present MHD generator is surely worth examining in more detail.