Analysis of effective thermal conductivity of pebble bed by artificial neural network and its computational and experimental verification

While dealing with a solid-type ceramic breeding blanket for a fusion reactor, it is critical to determine the basic and thermal properties of the functional material in the form of a pebble bed. In the form of pebbles, lithium ceramics serve as the tritium breeder material in the fusion blanket. Effective thermal conductivity (keff) is one of the important thermal properties for the design and useful parameter to determine the performance of the blanket component. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are a popular machine learning technique for tuning between input and output parameters. These networks can learn from examples (data set) and apply them when a homogeneous event arises, making them able to work through genuine-time events. Hence, it can save a lot of time and money for doing repetitive experiments and high-end simulations. This will aid in the creation of a huge database on the pebble bed's keff, which will be useful in the design and development of fusion blankets. The findings of simulations and experiments are compared to those predicted by the ANN model for the pebble bed's thermal conductivity.At IPR, a test setup for experiments has been developed using the steady-state and axial heat flow approach. keff of Li2TiO3 has been measured for the pebbles of diameter of 0.8–1.2 mm having packing fraction of ∼62% and using helium environment at different temperatures ranging from 100 °C to 600 °C at constant atmospheric pressure. keff has been compared with pebble bed of stainless steel pebbles of different diameters (1, 2, 3, 1&3, & 2&3 mm) as well. DDPM-DEM model has been used to generate the pebble bed and ANSYS-CFD simulations using FLUENT have been performed to validate the results. The projected values using ANN are within 5% of the results obtained from simulations and experiments. The details of the DDPM-DEM and ANN models, FLUENT simulations, and experimental results will be discussed in this paper

Development of Precise Low Value Capacitance Measurement System for Cryogenics Two Phase Flow Application

In cryogenic two phase flow, it is always challenging to measure the quality and void fraction. In this regard, an effort has been made to indigenously develop an electronic circuit to measure the void fraction by measuring the capacitance of the order of picofarads accurately depending upon the dielectric constant of nitrogen in vapor and liquid phase. The state-of-art electronics card has been developed and tested successfully for its performance and validation. Using this card, an experiment has been conducted using liquid nitrogen cryo transfer line to study the two phase void fraction. In this paper, the design basis and working principle of the designed electronics card along with the performance results are discussed. A/D conversion and DAQ system has been implemented to display the direct measurement data in a computer

Cryogenic acceptance tests of SST-1 superconducting coils

Toroidal field (TF) and poloidal field (PF) coils of steady-state superconducting tokamak (SST-1) have been fully refurbished to ensure cryostable and low-dc-resistance interpancake and intercoil joints, helium leak tightness of the winding pack, and \u3e 10 MΩ winding pack to ground insulation resistance under cold conditions. As per SST-1 mission mandate, all TF coils and PF3 Top had been cold tested at full operational parameters. A dedicated large coil test facility was integrated for these tests. Specially adapted solutions such as magnet preparation cum transport stand, demountable busbar supports, demountable sensor mountings, reusable joints for busbar connections inside cryostat, etc., were developed. These measures led to timely and successful completion of cold tests and integration of the magnet system on to the SST-1 machine shell. The functionality of various diagnostics of the magnet system was also established during these tests. Details of coil refurbishment, test facility, test campaigns, and some important test results are reported in this paper