A heat pipe stack core heat transfer system

Abstract

The invention belongs to the technical field of heat pipe cooling reactors, and in particular relates to a heat transfer solution for a heat pipe reactor core, comprising a liquid heat conducting material filled in a core container (6), a plurality of fuel rods ( 1) and several heat pipes (2). The invention can effectively solve the problem in the prior art that once a gap occurs between the fuel rod (1) and the heat pipe (2), the heat transfer performance will be significantly reduced, and there is no failure of a single heat pipe (2) to cause adjacent fuel rods (1) ) The temperature rises significantly and even endangers the core safety, and the solution provided by the present invention is not limited by the core power, and is expected to be applicable to the full power range from one hundred watts to megawatts.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of heat pipe cooling reactors, and particularly relates to a heat transfer solution for a heat pipe reactor core. Background technique [0002] Heat pipe cooling reactor (referred to as heat pipe reactor) is a new type of reactor that uses multiple heat pipes to take out the heat of the reactor. Compared with common loop reactors (such as pressurized water reactors), heat pipe reactors have many advantages such as passive, non-single-point failure, no need for pressure-bearing loops, simple system, and high reliability. In May 2018, the United States announced the success of KRUSTY, the ground-based prototype reactor of its kilowatt-scale heat pipe reactor Kilopower, the world's first heat pipe reactor with a development cycle of only three years. The rapid and successful development of KRUSTY has made the heat pipe reactor a research hotspot for new types of reactors. [0003] The basic principle of the h...

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Problems solved by technology

[0010] (1) For the fuel rod-heat pipe module schemes such as HPS, SAFE-30, SAFE-100a, SAIRS, HP-STMCs, etc., in the long-term high-temperature operating environment, due to the inhomogeneity of power and temperature, the fuel and heat pipe In addition, the fuel also has the problem of radiation swelling. These factors may cause the connection between the fuel rod and the heat pipe to be damaged and a gap will appear, which will greatly reduce the heat transfer performance between the fuel rod and the heat pipe. And lead to a significant rise in fuel operating temperature and even endanger the safety of the reactor

[0011] (2) For the schemes of fuel rod-heat pipe modules such as HPS, SAFE-30, SAFE-100a, SAIRS, and HP-STMCs, a single module contains only one heat pipe. If the heat transfer conditions between the modules are poor, it will directly lead to a significant increase in the operating temperature of the fuel rods in the module, endangering the safety of the reactor.

[0012] (3) For Kilopower's scheme, the fuel-heat pipe connection method of this scheme is only suitable for heat pipe stacks with low power and fewer required heat pipes. For heat pipe stacks with slightly larger power, this method cannot be applied

Even if the thermal contact is good at the beginning of operation, in the long-term high-temperature operation environment, due to the unevenness of power and temperature, there may be a large stress between the fuel rods, heat pipes and metal substrates. In addition, considering the fuel radiation According to swelling, etc., the connection between the fuel and the metal substrate, or between the metal substrate and the heat pipe may be damaged and a gap will appear, which will greatly reduce the heat transfer performance between the fuel and the heat pipe, resulting in a significant increase in the operating temperature of the fuel and even endangering the reactor. safety

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