Preliminary Studies Of Liquid Metal Lipb Experimental Loop

LiPb Experimental loop is indispensable to study the compatibility of liquid metal LiPb with structural materials, the fluent characteristics of liquid LiPb, MHD (Magnetohydrodynamic) effect of LiPb and so on. Great attention had been paid to it in the word. Researches on LiPb experimental loop were carried out in Europe, America and Japan since 1980s. However, the loops were all shutdown for their life limit. In China, there is no research on LiPb loop and experiments before.China has joined in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) program. Conceptual design of liquid LiPb blankets of DLL, SSL and DWT has been finished by FDS team of Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Research on CLAM (China Low activation Martensitic) steel for fusion application is being carried out by the FDS team. Therefore, researches on LiPb experimental loop and construction of LiPb loop are severely needed in order to carry out experimental study on the compatibility between LiPb and fusion reactor structural materials, fluent characteristics of LiPb and MHD effect and so on, which is essential to researches of Chinese liquid LiPb blanket and CLAM.In this thesis, related technologies on manufacturing of LiPb experimental loop are explored based on the investigation on many past experimental loops in the world. Preliminary work has been done on design and manufacturing of the of LiPb experimental loop as following.Detailed introduction on LiPb thermal physics characteristics, chemical characteristics and compatibility between LiPb and the structural materials is given. Basic components and their characteristics of LiPb loop, sort of LiPb loop, technics procedure and principles of design are studied. The study mainly focuses on functions, characteristics, design and manufacturing of fundamental LiPb loop and equipments in common use (i.e. expasion tank, rejection tank, pump, heat exchanger, flow meter, pluging indicator, cold trap, electric heater, filter, liquid metal valves etc.).Technology on construction of experimental loop was explored and a small thermal convection LiPb loop was designed and built. Although the LiPb loop is relatively small, theoretical research on LiPb loop are proved. Additionally, manufacturing techniques of LiPb experimental loop are obtained. These areprecious experiences for the construction of large and advanced LiPb experimental loop.