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Two‐dimensional numerical simulation of commercial scale nonequilibrium MHD power generator coupled with radio‐frequency electromagnetic field
Author(s) -
Fujino Takayasu,
Kominami Susumu,
Ishikawa Motoo,
Okuno Yoshihiro
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
ieej transactions on electrical and electronic engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.254
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1931-4981
pISSN - 1931-4973
DOI - 10.1002/tee.20332
Subject(s) - magnetohydrodynamic generator , radio frequency , magnetohydrodynamics , joule heating , plasma , electromagnetic field , physics , computational physics , generator (circuit theory) , magnetic field , mechanics , electrical engineering , power (physics) , engineering , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics
R–z two‐dimensional numerical simulations have been carried out to explore the possibility and usefulness of a support technique of the plasma production using an external radio‐frequency (rf) electromagnetic field for a commercial‐scale, large nonequilibrium disk‐shaped MHD generator with a thermal input of 1000 MW. Numerical results have demonstrated that the rf application is useful for improving the plasma state and the generator performance even for the commercial‐scale MHD generator having the large plasma volume between rf coils. For low seed fraction (SF) condition, the additional rf Joule heating enhances the ionization of seed material in the upstream region of the MHD channel. As a result, the generator performance can be improved. On the other hand, applying the rf electromagnetic field has little effect on the plasma state and the generator performance under a relatively high SF condition, where large self‐excited Joule heating is obtained. Furthermore, applying the rf electromagnetic field enables to obtain the same level of enthalpy extraction ratio (EE) with higher electrical efficiency for low SF condition. Consequently, the maximum value of the isentropic efficiency (IE) of the MHD generator can be substantially improved by applying the rf electromagnetic field. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.