THERMO-ACOUSTIC NUCLEAR POWER DISTRIBUTION MEASUREMENT ASSEMBLY

A nuclear power distribution measurement assembly that is sized to fit within an instrumentation thimble of a nuclear fuel assembly, that employs a spaced tandem arrangement of thermo-acoustic engines, each of which has a heat source side that is insulated from the reactor coolant traversing the nuc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors FLAMMANG, Robert W, SUMEGO, David M, HEIBEL, Michael D
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
French
German
Published 24.05.2017
Subjects
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
NUCLEAR PHYSICS
NUCLEAR REACTORS
PHYSICS
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Summary:A nuclear power distribution measurement assembly that is sized to fit within an instrumentation thimble of a nuclear fuel assembly, that employs a spaced tandem arrangement of thermo-acoustic engines, each of which has a heat source side that is insulated from the reactor coolant traversing the nuclear core in which the fuel assembly is to be placed and a cold side housing a resonator chamber with enhanced thermal conductance to the coolant. The resonator chamber of each of the thermo-acoustic engines is of a different length to generate a different frequency whose amplitude is proportional to the neutron activity at the axial and radial position of the thermo-acoustic engine. The frequency identifies the measurement assembly's position. Acoustic telemetry is employed to monitor the acoustic waves generated by the individual thermo-acoustic engines to provide a remote reading of the axial and radial power distribution of a reactor core.
Bibliography:Application Number: EP20140897503