Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology

ISSN: 0022-3131 (Print) 1881-1248 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnst20

Hydrogen-Oxygen MHD Generator Applied to

Pulsed Power Required in Nuclear Fusion Research

Motoo ISHIKAWA & Juro UMOTO

To cite this article: Motoo ISHIKAWA & Juro UMOTO (1989) Hydrogen-Oxygen MHD Generator
Applied to Pulsed Power Required in Nuclear Fusion Research, Journal of Nuclear Science and
Technology, 26:12, 1081-1093, DOI: 10.1080/18811248.1989.9734432

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/18811248.1989.9734432

Published online: 15 Mar 2012.

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 Journal of NUCLEAR SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY, 26[12], pp. 1081-1093 (December 1989). 1081

Hydrogen-Oxygen MHD Generator Applied

to Pulsed Power Required in
Nuclear Fusion Research
Motoo ISHIKAWA and Juro UMOTO

Department of Electrical Engineering, Kyoto University*

Received july 22, 1989

Designs of large test facilities of nuclear fusion research succeeding the current large
Tokamaks such as TFTR, JET and JT -60 show that huge pulsed power is required to operate
the new test facilities; 700 MW for 10 s to excite poloidal coils. The present paper proposes
three steps of application of MHD power generation to fusion to provide such large pulsed
power. The first step is to design and construct a small scale MHD generator which excites
the Demo poloidal superconducting magnet (SCM) coil being under construction in ]AERI. The
operating current is 30 kA with the stored energy of 40 M]. As the working gas of MHD
generator, Hz-0 2 combustion product is selected, seeded with 5% K. The second and third
steps are to construct an intermediate MHD channel of 100 MWe and a large channel of 800 MWe.
Much improved designs are obtained in the present study, compared with the previous designs.
For the large 800 MW generator, the maximum magnetic field becomes 3.5 T with the load
current of about 100 kA, while the stored energy in the MHD magnet is estimated to be less
than 0.5 GJ which is much smaller than 5-8 GJ of planned poloidal coils. The small MHD
channel designed for the Demo poloidal coil is 4 m long with the peak field of 1.8 T. The
cryogenic magnet can be self-excited within 20 s. The Demo poloidal coil is charged in about 4 s.
KEYWORDS: llfHD generators, hydrogen-oxygen, fusion research, Tokamak devices,
pulsed power, poloidal coils, magnetic energy, controllability, Faraday channel,
numerical design

several tens to over 100 kA. In addition, the

I. INTRODUCTION
In nuclear fusion research, large Tokamaks
such as TFTR, JET and JT -60 have been
constructed and interesting results have been
reported, while next facilities are planned and
designed. Then, it has been found that huge
pulsed power is required to operate the large
test facilities; for example, 700 MW for 10 s
to excite superconducting poloidal coil mag-
nets(!>. It is very difficult for the current
technologies used for exciting existing poloidal
coils to be applied to such a large pulsed
power supply and it is, thus, clear that some
new schemes of pulsed power have to be de-
veloped. Naturally MHD power generation is
a suitable candidate. Relatively small MHD
generators can produce the large current re-
quired for exciting coils which ranges from
-15-
characteristic time of supersonic MHD gener-
ator is about 20 ms, resulting in very good
controllability. The stored energy in the
poloidal coil of the next facilities is estimated
to be 5 to 8 GJ, whereas the designed MHD
magnet stores less than 0.5 GJ which will be
discussed. This evaluation justifies the effort
to apply pulsed MHD generators to fusion
research. We propose three steps of applica-
tion of MHD power generation to the fusion
research. The first step is to design and
construct a small scale MHD generator which
excites the Demo poloidal SCM coil being
under construction in Japan Atomic Energy
Research Institute (JAERI)C'>. The operating
current is 20 to 30 kA with the stored energy
of 30 to 40 MJ. The preliminary design for
* Yoshida Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606.
 1082
this application has been reported< 2 J<SJ. The
second application is to construct the MHD
generator as an alternative power source of
the current Tokamaks. The stored energy of
the poloidal coils is about 600 MJ, while the
exciting current is 60 to 90 kA. The third
step is to supply the power to the poloidal
coils of the next Tokamaks. The stored
energy is 5 to 8 GJ with the exciting current
of over 100 kA.
Three kinds of fuel can be used for the
present application. The first one is the usual
clean fuel such as oil or natural gas. The
second is the solid fuel developed in USSR
and USA<'J-<GJ. The third is liquid hydrogen
and oxygen<7l-< 9 J. There seems no severe
problem among them. In the present study,
H2-02 combustion product se~ded with 5 ';YG K
is selected as the working gas, since the
exhaust gas from the MHD system proposed
can be treated within buildings. The magnet
cooled with liquid nitrogen° 0 J<IIJ is selected
for the small MHD system, whereas the SCM
will be used for the two larger MHD gener-
ators which provide about 100 and 700 MW to
the existing and next facilities.
Chapter II describes briefly the mathema-
tical model and numerical schemes. The steady
one-dimensional equations are solved with
Runge-Kutta-Gill method for the designs. Then,
the time-dependent one-dimensional gasdy-
namical equations are solved with the 1969
MacCormack scheme. The usual assumption
of infinite segmentation of electrodes is applied
to electrodynamics. In Chap. ill, 4, 6 and 8m
long Faraday channels are preliminarily de-
signed. Chapter N describes exciting per-
formance of self- excited 4 m channel.
ll. MATHEMATICAL MODEL AND
NUMERICAL SCHEME
Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of
the Faraday type channel on the x-y plane
together with the coordinate system.
1. Gasdynamics Equations
The basic equations used for the gasdynami-
cal part are steady one-dimensional equations
for desing studies and time-dependent equa-
tions for studying exciting performance.
-16-
]. Nucl. Sci. Techno!.,
Anodes
Cathodes
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of Faraday type
MHD generator and coordinate system
The time-dependent equations are0 2H 13 l:
Mass continuity equation ;
o(pA)/ot+o(puA)/ox =0. (1)
Momentum equation;
o(puA)/ot+o(pu 2 A)/ox+ Aop fox
-A]yB+ !=0. ( 2)
Energy equation ;
o{p(e+u 2 /2)A} /ot+o(puh 0 A)/ox
-UxEx+]yEy)A+q=O. (3)
State equation ;
P=pRT. (4)
In these equations, x is the coordinate along
the channel axis, y the coordinate perpen-
dicular both to channel axis and to magnetic
field B, z the one along the magnetic field
and t the time; A is the duct cross section,
f the friction, ho the total enthalpy, p the
pressure, q the heat loss, R the gas constant
and T the gas temperature; Ex, Ey are, re-
spectively, the x- and y-component of the
electric field and fx, ]y the x- and y-compo-
nent of the electric current density; p the
density and e the internal energy.
The friction and the heat loss are estimated
according to the boundary layer theory<"J:
f=2Dpu 2 c1 c1
c1 = {2.87 +1.58log(x*1k.)} - 2· 5
x*=1+x, D=A 0 • 5
q=2DpCpcfcl(T.-T w)+qr
Qr=4Da sC r(T"- T:V)
as=5.66x1o-•, (5)
where c1 is the friction factor, c1 the loss
 Vol. 26, No. 12 (Dec. 1989)
factor representing the increase of the loss
due to MHD effect, C P the constant pressure
specific heat of the gas, C r the constant
related to radiation loss, D the hydraulic diam-
eter, k, the equivalent sand roughness repre-
senting the roughness level of wall, Qr the
heat loss due to the radiation, T, the stagna-
tion temperature, T w the wall temperature
and q B the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. The
constant C r related to the radiation loss is
estimated according to the calculation results
done by Ahluwalia et at. <15 >
2. Electrodynamical Equations
The basic equations are the Maxwell equa-
tions and the generalized Ohm's law. The
magnetic Reynolds number is much smaller
than unity so that the applied magnetic field
is given independently of other quantities.
The assumption of infinite segmentation of
electrodes is used with the quasi-one-dimen-
sional approximation
fx+fifv=qE:r:
-fi]x+ ]y=q{Ey-uB(1-AV)}
]x=-E:r:/Rz
E 11 =KuB(1-AV), ( 6)
where K is the loading factor, q the electrical
conductivity, fi the Hall parameter and AV
the ratio of the electrode voltage drop. The
current leakage is calculated by a simplified
model; i.e. a leakage resistance per unit
length R z is given along the channel. In the
calculations, the effect of nonuniformity of
plasma or gas flow is taken into account with
the G-factor (G). The loading factor is set
to be 0.8 in all designs.
3. Numerical Procedure
The channels are designed with the steady
equations. These one-dimensional equations
are solved with Runge-Kutta-Gill method.
Then, the time-dependent one-dimensional gas-
dynamical equations ( 1 ) to ( 6) are solved with
the 1969 MacCormack two step explicit meth-
od''2>''8H'•>. The source terms of Eqs. ( 1) to
( 3) such as ] 11 are always updated. The
channel length is divided evenly with the mesh
of 2.5 X 10-z m in the x direction. The mesh
size is decided after some preliminary com-
-17-
1083
putations.
4. Thermodynamical Properties
Hydrogen is fired with pure oxygen. The
seeding material is KOH, while the chemical
equivalent ratio is set to be unity since the
downstream components become simple. The
seeding ratio is 5 '%. The thermodynamical
properties are calculated with chemical equi-
librium equations<m. Approximation functions
of properties such as q are derived with the
method of least squares. Independent vari-
ables are p- 2, p-i, p 0 , p', p 2 and T- 1 , T 0 , T 2 ,
T 8. The electrical conductivity and the elec-
tron number density are approximated as
logarithmic forms.
m. PRELIMINARY DESINGS
OF 4, 6 AND 8 m
FARADAY CHANNELS
1. Small MHD Channel of 4 m Length
for Demo Poloidal Coil
The values used for all channel designs in
the present paper are
T w=2,000 K, Cz=l.5,
k,=l.Ox1o-s m, Rz=lOO 0/m. (7)
The criterion of power output is decided
to be 20 MW and then the combustion pres-
sure and the mass flow rate are determined
to satisfy the criterion of power output. Once
the combustion pressure is determined, the
combustion temperature follows. The com-
bustion condition is thus decided as
Combustion pressure : 5.1 atm.
Combustion temperature: 3,250 K. ( 8)
The heat and pressure losses in the com-
bustor and nozzle are assumed to be 6.28 and
2.55%, respectively. The duct shape is de-
cided to be the regular square and the total
channel length becomes L=4.0 m. The con-
ditions at the entrance of the MHD channel
are given as
mo=13.0 kg/s,
p,=4.97 atm, P=0.6atm,
T,=3,197 K, T=2,900K,
u=2,600 m/s, M=2.06, ( 9)
with the parameter of LIV=O.l5 and G=1.4,
1084 ]. Nucl. Sci. Techno/.,

where M is the Mach number, m 0 the mass
flow rate, p, the stagnation pressure and T.
the stagnation temperature. The distribution
of the magnetic flux density B is shown in
Fig. 2, where the peak value is 1.84 T. In
the previous 5 m long channel design< 3 l, the
combustion pressure was selected to be 10
atm with the mass flow rate of 25.0 kg/s. It
seemed that the combustion pressure was too
high and the velocity in the MHD channel
was too low. The present channel becomes
much smaller than the previous 5 m channel.

0.5

0.4

0.3 ~
0.3
~ 0!
......
~
::!=
-..:
0.2 0.2

0. I 0.1 0.6

0.0 0. 0 +----r-.-----.--,---..--.-"T"'"---r-.---; 0. 0
o.oo 0.80 1.60 2.40 3.20 4.00
l = 4 M
Fig. 2 Distribution of magnetic flux density, cross section and width of 4 m channel

Figure 2 shows distributions of the mag- •10 3

8.0 3.3
netic flux density (B), the duct cross section
(A) and the width (W) along the MHD chan-
nel. The duct height is 0.354 and 0.476 m at 6.4 3. I
the entrance and the exit, respectively. The
ratio of duct cross sections Aout! A;n is 1.81. lit 4.8 3.0
>c
It should be noticed that the MHD channel is ~
;;: ~
pretty small. The power out is 21.4 MW, the
3.2 2.8
power density 29.6 MW /m 3 , the heat loss 7.9
MW, the output voltage 965 V, the load cur-
rent 21.3 kA and the stored magnetic energy 1.6 2.6

within the channel 4.84 MJ. In the case of

HPDE (High Performance Demonstration Experi- 0.0
0.00 0.80 l.dO 2.40 J.20
2.5
4.00
ment, located in Arnold Engineering Center, Ten- L " 4 M
nessee, USA) magnet operated at 3 T, the Fig. 3 Distribution or stagnation pressure
stored magnetic energy in the channel is and temperature of 4 m channel
about 20.5 MJ, whereas the stored energy in pressure, the temperature, the velocity and the
the magnet is about 61.9 Mj< 9 >. The stored Mach number. The current density (]y), the
energy in the magnet of the small channel electric fields (Er, Ey), the electrical conduc-
is, thus, assumed to be 16 Mj. tivity (u) and the Hall parameter (/3) are
Figure 3 shows distributions of the stag- depicted in Fig. 5. It is noted that the Hall
nation pressure and the temperature. The parameter is less than unity even at the exit,
ratio of stagnation pressures Psin/Paout is 4.52. indicating that the diagonal configuration
The stagnation pressure is 1.10 atm at the shows poor performance. Thus the operation
exit. Figure 4 shows distributions of the must be in the Faraday mode.
-18-
Vol. 26, No. 12 (Dec. 1989) 1085

x 1o3 X I0
3

3.0 2.0 3.5 2.5

2.6 3.0 2.0

2.6
e 1.2 2.5 1.5
-
~

~
(I)

!-..
~
1'1.
"e
~

;:l
::;:

2.4 0.6 2.0 1.0

2.2 I. 5 0.5

2.0 0. 0 - I. 0 0.0
o.oo I. 20 2. 40 3.60 4.60 6.00
L = 6 M

Fig. 4 Distribution of pressure, temperature, velocity and Mach number of 4 m channel

X I03 XI 03 X I 0~
1.0 30.0 -1.0 5.0 -2.5

O.B 26.0 -0.8 4.0 -2.0

0.6 s 22. o -0.6 s 3.0

e
-1.5 ~
N
e
<Q. "
~ "
;:..
~

"
;:..
"
~
0 b'i ~

...,"'
0.4 lB. 0 -0.4 2.0 l.<l"' -I. 0

0.2 14.0 -0.2 1.0 -0.5

0.0 10.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

o.oo o.ao I. 60 2. 40 3.20 4.00
L = 4 M

Fig. 5 Distribution of current density, electric field, conductivity and Hall parameter

2." Intermediate MHD Channel of 6 m the entrance of MHD channel are given as
Length for Existing Tokamak
mo=33.0 kg/s
The:criterion of power output is decided
to be 100 MW and then the combustion con- P.=19.36 atm, P=l.14 atm
dition1is determined as T,=3,370 K, T=2,900K
Combustion pressure 19.8 atm u=3,000 m/s, M=2.41, (11)
Combustion temperature: 3,390 K. (10) with parameters of JV=0.12 and G=1.3.

The heat and pressure losses in the combustor
and nozzle are assumed to be 6.74 and 2.25%,
respectively. The total channel length is
decided to be L=6.0 m. The conditions at
-19-
Figure 6 shows distributions of the mag-
netic flux density, the duct cross section and
the width. The maximum magnetic flux den-
sity is 3.04 T. The duct height is 0.375 and
1086 ]. Nucl. Sci. Techno/.,

0.739 m at the entrance and the exit, respec-
tively. The ratio of duct cross sections
Aout! A;n is 3.88. The power output is 103.7
MW, the power density 48.8MW/m 3 , the heat
loss 14.7 MW, the output voltage 2.52 kV, the
load current 40.8 kA and the stored magnetic
energy within the channel is 20.32 MJ. Com-
pared with the HPDE magnet, the stored
energy in this MHD magnet is calculated to
be 61 MJ. Then the stored energy can be
estimated less than 100 MJ.

I. 0 I. 0 . . , . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , 4.0

0.8 0.8 B 3.2

0.6 0.6 2.4

"'---
S! ---e
~
1:::
~ :.. CCI
0.4 0.4 1.6

0.2 0.2 0.8

0.0 0. 0 +--r-r---r---;.--,---r-.--r-r--i 0. 0
0.00 1.20 2.~0 3.60 ~.60 6.00
L =6 M
Fig. 6 Distribution of magnetic flux density, cross section and width of 6 m channel

Figure 7 shows distributions of the stag- fields, the electrical conductivity and the Hall
nation pressure and temperature. The ratio parameter are depicted in Fig. 9. The Hall
of stagnation pressures Psin/ Psout is 17.3. The parameter is less than unity also in the present
stagnation pressure is 1.12 atm at the exit. channel. The Faraday configuration is, thus,
I 10 3
selected.
20.0 3.5 3. Large MHD Channel of 8 rn
Length for Large Tokamak
16.0
The criterion of power output for the large
3.3
MHD channel is decided to be 800 MW and
then the combustion condition is determined as
& 12.0 3. I
a § Combustion pressure : 30.3 atm
~
~

A: Combustion temperature: 3,450 K. (12)

8.0 2.9
The heat and pressure losses in the combustor
4.0 2.7 and nozzle are assumed to be 6.84 and 2.25%,
respectively. The total channel length is de-
cided to be L=8.0 m. The conditions at the
0.0 2.5
0.00 1.20 2.40 J.60 4.80 6.00 entrance of MHD channel are given as
L =6 M
Fig. 7 Distribution of stagnation pressure
mo=220.0 kg/s
and temperature of 6 m channel p,=29.62 atm, P=L70atm
Figure 8 shows distributions of the pressure, T,=3,420K, T=2,900K
the temperature, the velocity and the Mach u=3,000 m/s, M=2.42, (13)
number. The current density, the electric with parameters of L1V=O.l and G=l.2.

-20-
Vol. 26, No. 12 (Dec. 1989) 1087

x 1o3 XI o3
3.0 2.0 3.0 2.5

2.8 1.6 2.6 2.0

~
2.6 ~

....,e
I. 2 2.2
.,
~ 1.5
~
f-., ~
a 'e
~

;:1
::.:
2.4 ~'~- 0.8 1.8 1.0

2.2 0.4 1.4 0.5

2.0 0.0 1.0 0.0

0.00 0.80 I. 60 2. 40 3.20 4.00
L = 4 M

Fig. 8 Distribution of pressure, temperature, velocity and Mach number of 6 m channel

x 1o3 X I0 4 XI0 4
I. 0 25.0. -2.0 1.0 -3.0

0.8 20.0 -1.6 0.8 -2.4

0.6 ~ 15.0 -I. 2 E' 0.6 ~

E
-1.8 ~
N
e ~ E
"'l.
'
til ~

t.S
'
;:...
'.
~
0. 4
0
10.0 -0.8 0.4tJ' -1.2 ....

0.2 5.0 -0.4 0.2 -0.6

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

0.00 I. 20 2. 40 3.60 4.80 6.00
L = 6 M

Fig. 9 Distribution of current density, electric field, conductivity and Hall parameter

Figure 10 shows distributions of the mag-
netic flux density, the duct cross section and
the width. The maximum magnetic flux den-
sity is 3.5 T. The duct height is 0.786 and
1.98 m at the entrance and the exit, respec-
tively. The ratio of duct cross sections
Aout! Ain is 6.34. The power output is 803.2
MW, the power density 47.1 MW /m 3 , the heat
loss 46.9 MW, the output voltage 7.55 kV, the
load current 110.4 kA and the stored magnetic
energy within the channel37.44 M]. Compared
with the HPDE magnet, the stored energy in
-21-
the large MHD magnet is calculated to be
113M]. Then the stored energy can be esti-
mated less than 0.5 G].
Figure 11 shows distributions of the stag-
nation pressure and temperature. The ratio
of stagnation pressures Psin/P,out is 25.84. The
stagnation pressure is 1.15 atm at the exit.
Figure 12 shows distributions of the pressure,
the temperature, the velocity and the Mach
number. The current density, the electric
fields, the electrical conductivity and the Hall
parameter are depicted in Fig. 13. The maxi-
1088 ]. Nucl. Sci. Technol.,

5.0 2.0

4.0 1.6 4.0

3.0 1.2
...~E ~
3.0
E
...... f:'
......
"'<( :!t
CQ
2.0 0.8 2.0

1.0 0.4 1.0

0.0 0. 0 -t--.-.---.--,-.,.---,-.---.--,---1 0. 0
0.00 1.60 3.20 4.80 6.40 B.OO
L = 8 M

Fig. 10 Distribution of magnetic flux density, cross section and width of 8 m channel

x 10 3 including hydrogen-oxygen combustor remains

30.0
24.0
~ IB.O
~ ~
~ ,:
li 12.0
6.0
Fig. 11 Distribution of stagnation pressure
and temperature of 8 m channel
mum Hall parameter is about 1.16, also result-
ing in the Faraday configuration. The present
design is much improved, compared with the
previous design <s>.
4. Brief Summary of MHD Generator
Development and Discussion of
Present Design Results
The combustor is critically important in
MHD generation. The coal combustor is still
under development but the hydrogen-oxygen
combustor has already been well developed as
rocket engines, indicating there seems no
problem, although the MHD system operation
3.5 to be demonstrated.
In terms of generator performance, pulse
3.3 MHD generators developed in USSR have de-
monstrated the power output of 60 MW and
the power density of 500 MW /m 3 <4 >, whereas
3. I
the H2-02 generator developed in NASA, USA
has shown the power density of 100 MW /m 8 <9>.
2.9 The power density of designed H2-0 2 gener-
ators is less than 50 MW /m 8 , which is much
2.7 smaller than the demonstrated power density.
In terms of channel duration, the 1,300 h
operation of A VCO Mark VII channel, USA
has shown that predicted life time is 5,000 to
8,000 h in the case of coal combustion, whereas
the 430 h operation of ETL Mark VH channel,
Japan has predicted the life time of 4,000""'
5,000 h in the case of oil combustion< 18 >.
A large SCM for MHD generator has
already developed by DOE, USA: 5 m, 6 T
and 100 MJ<' 9 >. A review of development of
SCM<' 9 > suggests that there seems no critical
problem to construct a large SCM for 8 m
long MHD generator.
Figures 5, 9 and 13 show that the maximum
current density in the designed MHD channels
is about 3 A/cm 2, which is three times larger
than the value predicted for commercial MHD
generator, but the maximum electric field in
the flow direction is about 14 V/em, which is
-22-
Vol. 26, No. 12 (Dec. 1989) 1089

XI o3 XI 03
3.0 2.0 3.5 3.0

2.6 I. 6 3.0 2.4

2.6 I. 2 2.5 ~ I.B

{I)

§ ....0" ....... ::t:

1-
2. 0
"
;:s 1.2
2. 4 Q. 0. B

2.2 0.4 I. 5 0.6

2.0 0.0 I. 0 0.0

0.00 I. 60 3.20 4.80 6.40 e.oo
L = 8 M
Fig. 12 Distribution of pressure, temperature, velocity and Mach number of 8 m channel

X I03 X IOC XI o•
I. 5 20.0 - , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . , -3.0 1.0 -3.0

1.2 16.0 -2.4 O.B -2.4

0.9 12.0 -I. B ~ 0.6 ~

- I. 8 .;;-"
<=l.
'"
~
~
...., ~"
...., '"
...:
....,
0 t,j' ...;
0.6 8.0 -1.2 0. 4 r.J' -1.2

0.3 4.0 -0.6 0.2 -0.6

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

0.00 I. 60 3.20 4.60 6. 40 e.oo
L = 8 M
Fig. 13 Distribution of current density, electric field, conductivity and Hall parameter

less than half of the value for the commer- If the stainless steel cap thickness is
cial channel, indicating that probability of assumed to be 5 mm and jy is 3 A/cm 2 , the
inter-electrode breakdown is very small. As duration of anode becomes about 300 h with
well known, the inter-electrode breakdown is the duration of cathode of about 500 h, indi-
a major obstacle preventing the high perfor- cating that 18,000 one-minute operations can
mance of MHD generators, showing that be carried out without repair.
Hz-Oz MHD generator can become compact.
IV. EXCITING PERFORMANCE
The ETL duration test results yielded the
following electrode loss estimation° 8l: OF SELF-EXCITED 4 m
FARADAY CHANNEL
d=5.6xl0- 3 jyt for cathode of Cu-W
1. Time-dependent Analysis
d =3.3 X 10- 3 ]yt for anode of SS-304, (14)
of Self-excitation
where d is the loss depth of electrode in mm, The small MHD generator system is de-
jy in A/cm 2 and t the operation time in h. signed to be self-excited. The exciting current
-23-
1090
of the MHD magnet is estimated to be 4 kA
in the case of B=1.84 T, compared with 6 kA
required for the HPDE magnet operated at
3 T. The self inductance (Lc) is evaluated to
be 2.0 H and the resistance (Rc) of the coil to
be 0.02 Q at 160 K. The initial current is set
to be 200 A and then the initial magnetic
field is 0.092 T which is 5% of the final value.
When the usual battery of 48 V is used for
the initial excitation, it takes about 10 s.
During this period the preparatory combustion
is expected, which can relax the thermal
shock and heat up the electrode to 2,000 K.
XI0 3 XIOl
3.0 5. 0
2. 4.
...... 1.8
;:...
3.0
.......
;;;: ....3
1.2 2.0
0.6
0.0
Fig. 14 Variation of exciting current for self-excited MHD magnet (Time scale of 104 )
Figure 1fi(a) shows the variation of pres-
sure distribution, showing little change. The
MHD interaction is still very small, compared
with the designed condition. Figure 15(b)
depicts the variation of magnetic field distri-
bution of the MHD magnet, and Fig. 15(c)
shows the variation of current density. In
the entrance region little current flows, since
the electromotive force is too small to deliver
the current into the magnet.
2. Excitation of Demo Poloidal Coil
The small MHD generator system excites
the Demo poloidal coil after the load current
reaches the final exciting current of the MHD
magnet. The self inductance of the poloidal
coil is 75.4 mH, while the equivalent resistance
]. Nucl. Sci. Techno[.,
In the real situation the time scale is (Lei R .)
=100 s. Capability of the current computer
available to us is limited and then in the
computation the self inductance is decreased
to be 2.0x1o-• H to reduce the computation
time.
Figure 14 shows the variation of exciting
current (I) of the MHD magnet, the open
voltage of MHD generator ( V yo) and the ter-
minal voltage of MHD generator (Vy). It
takes about 2.0 ms to reach the final stage in
the computation, indicating that about 20 s
are required for the real situation.
XIOJ
~--------------, 3. 0
of the poloidal coil is estimated to be 5.0x
10- 3 Q, including the resistance of bus of SCM
coil and of consolidation circuit. In the real
situation the time scale is 25.5 s. In the com-
putation the self inductance is reduced to be
75.4 X w-s H to decrease the computation time.
Figure 16 shows the variation of exciting
current of poloidal coil, the open and terminal
voltages of MHD generator. It takes about
4 ms to reach the final stage in the computa-
tion, indicating that about 4 s is required in
the real situation. Figure 17(a) depicts the
variation of pressure distribution, showing a
local transient, Fig. 17(b) shows the vari-
ation of Mach number distribution. The flow
is decelerated to the shock when the MHD
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Vol. 26, No. 12 (Dec. 1989) 1091

0.8

• 0.6
"· 0

';";: o. 4
0.2

0.0~--~~--~--~--~ 0
0.0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2
l liM
(a) Pressure distribution

2.0

I. 6 0.8
NS

...... I. 2
t;
...... 0.6 ~
~
.
0.8 "' 0. 4 7
o. 4 0.2

~~~~~~0.0
0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 0.8
:::::::;.---,...--~---+
1.6 2.~ 3.2
c. 0
4.0
= 4M = 4M
(b) Magnetic flux density (c) Current density
Fig. 15(a)-(c) Variation of pressure distribution, magnetic flux density
and current density in self-excited MHD channel

xto 3 X I04 XI o3
3_Q 4.0 3.0

2.4 3.2 2_4

1.8 2.4 I 1.8 ,.....

~ -.:
:;,..
....... ~

::.."' ....
~
cs.
:;,..
1.2 1.6 1.2

0.6 0.8 o_o

0.0 0.0 0.0

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00
TIMECMSJ
Fig. 16 Variation of exciting current and voltages for
Demo poloidal coil magnet (Time scale of 10')

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1092
(b) Magnetic flux density
Fig. 17(a)-(c) Variation of pressure distribution, Mach number distribution
and current density during exciting Demo poloidal coil
generator provides the exciting current. Fig-
ure 17(c) shows the variation of current den-
sity distribution. The current in the front
region maintains the magnetic field for the
MHD generator and the remaining region
supplies the current into the poloidal magnet.
V. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Designs of Hz-Oz MHD generators have
been carried out, which will be applied to the
pulsed power source required for the Tokamak
fusion experiments. The following results are
obtained:
(1) The large 800 MWe channel is designed
to be the Faraday configuration. The maxi-
mum magnetic field is 3.5 T and the load
current is about 100 kA, while the stored
energy in the MHD magnet is estimated
Jess than 0.5 GJ which is much smaller
-26-
]. Nucl. Sci. Techno!.,
(c) Current density
than 5"'8 GJ of planned polo ida! coils.
(2) The small MHD channel designed for
the Demo poloidal coil becomes the Fara-
day type with 4 m length and the peak
field of 1.8 T. The cryogenic magnet
cooled by liquid nitrogen is selected, which
can be self-excited within 20 s. The Demo
poloidal coil is charged in about 4 s with
the exciting current of 30 kA.
(3) The present designs are much improved,
compared with the previous designs.
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(3) IsHIKAWA, M., et al.: AIAA Thermophysics
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(4) VELIKHOV, A. E. P.: Proc. 9th Int. Conf. on
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(5) MAXWELL, C. D., DEMETRIADJ;:s, S. T.: Proc.
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(6) ScHMIDT, H.]., et al.: AIAA 25th Aerospace
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