ORNL-1816 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site

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a s
b
information the air flow rate and the thermal re-
were obtained as functions
of the air pressure drop across the exchanger (the
steam-side resistance was negligible compared
with the air-side resistance). Combination of
these data wi ed coefficients for the
fused salt, after allowance for difference in oper-
ating temperatures, yielded performance curves for
the exchanger under anticipated in-pile operating
conditions, The data and a description of the
experiment are reported elsewhere.’ The method
of conversion of the results of the experiment to
in-pile conditions and the performance curves for
the exchanger have been reported.2 A curve of
the heat removal rate as a function of pressure
drop of the in-pile loop heat exchanger is given
N FLUIDS WITH
HEAT SOURCES
I Engineering Division
The free-convection research, which had been
’P. I. Perry, A. D. Rossin, and F. D. Miraldi, Mo-
mentum und Heat Transfer Studies o an In-Ptle Loop
Heat Exchanger, KT-174 (to be issued f .
*M. W. Rosenthal, Performance of ANP In-Pile Loop
Heat Exchanger, ORNL CF-54-9-83 (Sept. 10, 1954).
PERIOD ENDING DECEMBER 10,7954
however, more limited objectives than beiore. In
the beginning of the ORNL-ANP effort, there was
no information on free convection in fluids with
volume heat sources. Since the temperature struc-
ture in the fuel pins of the first fused salt aircraft
reactor experiment could not be readily predicted
because of a lack of knowledge about the free-
convection heat transfer in such a system, a
free-convection research program was initiated.
The principal objective was to determine both
theoretically and experimentally the teriperature
and velocity structure in a free-convection flat-
plate system and, from these data, to discover
basic postulates that would permit analytical pre-
diction of different systems which might be of
interest in future fuel element designs. This
project was well under way when the change to
the present circulating-fuel reactor design was
made. At that time the effort was greatly reduced,
and later this research was temporarily abandoned
in favor of more pressing problems. A series of
memorandums summarizing the theoretical work
which had been accomplished were prepared.
AI so, some prel imi nary experimental velocity
measurements in a flat-plate apparatus were ob-
tained.
In the intervening years there has been a con-
tinued interest in the temperature structure in
fluids with volume heat sources that art: losing
heat by free convection in applications such as
dump tanks for liquid fuel reactors, radiation
damage capsules, and pins containing Iiqluid fuel.
The repeated queries on this subject prompted
the decision to reactivate the research, but on a
less ambitious basis than before. Hence, (3 report3
y which provides a wider
distribution to the theoretical analyses which were
distributed locally as me s in 1951 and
coefficient) for a modified version of the flat-plate
svstem in which it will not be nece:jsary to