Description:
In the field of renewable energies that are currently investigated in the frame of the “Energiewende”, one promising technology is the Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter (AMTEC), which directly converts thermal energy into DC electricity. At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) the investigation of the AMTEC technology is currently under way, both numerically as well as experimentally.
The technology has a large number of advantages, such as high efficiency and is considered one of the most promising CO2 free technology for power generation to be applied in different fields, such as energy or space propulsion.
The scope of the study is the layout and design of a high temperature return line for such converters according to the available theory. The return line employs wicks or metal foams that use capillary forces to absorb the working fluid and transfer it to the inlet hot region of the converter. For the same task the design of a mini electromagnetic pump for sodium liquid is to be made. Based on the calculations performed two designs of the return line are to be proposed, one for the device that uses capillary forces and the other one for the mini pump.
Procedure:
- Introduction: sodium thermoelectrical converter, wicks, pumps
- Literature review: micro pumps/wick
- Assessment of feasible concepts
- Possible layout and design of a return line using capillary forces
- Layout and design of the micro pump
- Comparison of the variants
- Documentation
Qualification: Course of studies: Maschinenbau, Energietechnik, Informatik
Period: ca. 3 Monate (BA), ca. 6 Monate (MA)
Start date: as of now
Supervisor: Dr. Alexandru Onea (alexandru.onea@kit.edu), Tel: 0721 60 82 2949
Evaluator: Dr. Wolfgang Hering (wolfgang.hering@kit.edu) Tel. 0721 60 82 2556
