Fusion Reactor Blanket SiC Housing Integrated Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current nuclear fusion reactor blankets face challenges in achieving high tritium breeding performance while maintaining structural integrity and simplicity, often requiring complex designs and materials that are not efficient in heat recovery and tritium production.
Innovation Solution
A nuclear fusion reactor blanket design featuring a first wall, a front side flow path, a supply path for coolant, an internal tank with inflow holes, and a discharge path, utilizing a silicon carbide composite material for the housing and tungsten thin film, with liquid lithium lead as both coolant and breeding material, allowing for efficient heat recovery and tritium production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If complex designs and materials are used to achieve high tritium breeding performance, then tritium production efficiency is improved, but structural complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the housing structure and cooling function into a unified design where the housing itself forms the cooling water flow paths. The front wall, rear wall, and side walls are integrated with internal flow passages that guide cooling water from supply ports through tritium breeding material-containing portions to discharge ports, eliminating the need for separate cooling channels and reducing structural complexity while maintaining effective heat removal and tritium breeding performance
Solution Approach 2:
The housing structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural containment, houses tritium breeding material, and acts as the cooling water circulation system. The flow paths are formed within the housing walls themselves, making the housing a multi-functional component that achieves both mechanical support and thermal management while enabling high tritium breeding performance
2Loss of energy
If conventional cooling systems are used, then heat recovery is achieved, but coolant leakage risk and maintenance requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling function is merged directly into the housing structure with flow paths formed within the housing walls themselves. Cooling water is supplied through supply ports in the front or rear walls, flows through channels integrated into the housing structure that are in thermal contact with tritium breeding material, and is discharged through discharge ports, creating a sealed, leak-resistant system that recovers heat efficiently while minimizing coolant leakage risk
Solution Approach 2:
The housing walls are designed with integrated flow passages that utilize the wall structure itself as the cooling channel. This thin-walled integrated design reduces the number of joints and connections where leakage could occur, while the continuous flow path through the housing walls ensures efficient heat recovery from the tritium breeding material
3Strength
If heavy materials are used for structural integrity, then mechanical strength is improved, but neutron permeation and radioisotope activation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs reduced activation ferritic steel as the housing material, which is a composite material specifically designed to reduce neutron activation and radioisotope production compared to conventional stainless steels. This material maintains the necessary mechanical strength and structural integrity while minimizing harmful neutron permeation and radioisotope generation, directly addressing the contradiction between strength and harmful radiation effects
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design achieves high tritium breeding performance, reduces the risk of coolant leakage, and simplifies the reactor structure, enhancing safety and reducing maintenance costs by using lightweight, thermally stable materials like SiCf/SiC and minimizing neutron permeation and radioisotope activation.
Implementation Method 1
generated heat is recovered
Implementation Method 2
A flow path through which cooling water flows is formed inside the housing, and generated heat is recovered
Implementation Method 3
a blanket is attached to an inner surface of the vacuum vessel in order to perform tritium production by capturing neutrons produced by the nuclear fusion reaction
Data Source
AI summary
A nuclear fusion reactor blanket includes: a first wall; a front side flow path disposed behind the first wall and extending along the first wall; a supply path that supplies a coolant to the front side flow path from an outside of the blanket; an internal tank disposed behind the front side flow path; a front side wall that has a plurality of inflow holes communicating between the front side flow path and the internal tank; a discharge path that discharges the coolant from the internal tank to the outside of the blanket.