In nuclear fusion reactors, the heat removal from high-heat-flux components such as the divertor has always been a challenge as the heat flux is anticipated to easily overcome 10 MW/m2, as it is the case for the divertor tiles in the W7-X stellarator. In this paper a new cooling solution, relying on a Triply Periodic Minimal Surface lattice, is proposed and investigated. The analysis first focuses on the identification of the optimal lattice with a dedicated investigation on a reduced computational domain. The analysis with the best candidate is moved to a 30 cm × 10 cm divertor tile, to prove the compliance with the operating constraints. The tile with the gyroid lattice with unit cell size of 10 x 10 × 5 mm3 is shown to be capable to withstand a heat flux of 10 MW/m2, distributed over a heated length of 10 cm, when 1.25 kg/s of subcooled water are used for cooling, resulting in a pressure drop <0.6 MPa and tolerating a very limited fluid boiling just around the inlet/outlet manifolds. Eventually, the benefits of this configuration, when compared to others, in terms of enhancement of the performance and structure lightning, are discussed.
Design of a 10 MW/m2-heat-flux removal system for a W7-X divertor tile using triply periodic minimal surfaces
Cammi A.;Marocco L.;
2024-01-01
Abstract
In nuclear fusion reactors, the heat removal from high-heat-flux components such as the divertor has always been a challenge as the heat flux is anticipated to easily overcome 10 MW/m2, as it is the case for the divertor tiles in the W7-X stellarator. In this paper a new cooling solution, relying on a Triply Periodic Minimal Surface lattice, is proposed and investigated. The analysis first focuses on the identification of the optimal lattice with a dedicated investigation on a reduced computational domain. The analysis with the best candidate is moved to a 30 cm × 10 cm divertor tile, to prove the compliance with the operating constraints. The tile with the gyroid lattice with unit cell size of 10 x 10 × 5 mm3 is shown to be capable to withstand a heat flux of 10 MW/m2, distributed over a heated length of 10 cm, when 1.25 kg/s of subcooled water are used for cooling, resulting in a pressure drop <0.6 MPa and tolerating a very limited fluid boiling just around the inlet/outlet manifolds. Eventually, the benefits of this configuration, when compared to others, in terms of enhancement of the performance and structure lightning, are discussed.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
