Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

Equivalent Circuit Model for Predicting the Performance Characteristics of Direct Current-Electromagnetic Pumps

Abstract

Ragai Altamimi and Mohamed S. El-Genk*

Direct Current-Electro Magnetic Pumps (DC-EMPs) are passive with no moving parts for circulating liquid metals in industrial applications, nuclear reactors, and experimental test loops. The Equivalent Circuit Model (ECM) is easy to apply and has been widely used to evaluate the performance of DC-EMPs. It over predicts the pumping pressure and the pump characteristics due to the incorporated assumptions. teffective magnetic flux density. This work quantifies the effects of these assumptions on the ECM predictions for a mercury DC-EMP. Analyzed experimental measurements for this pump show the fringe resistance and the magnetic flux density are not constant but depend on those of the liquid flow rate and the input electrical current. Results show that the 2D Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) software accurately predicts the obtained values of the fringe resistance and the magnetic field flux density from the reported measurements at zero flow for use in ECM. With these values and the measured wall electrical contact resistance, the ECM over predicts the measured characteristics of the mercury pump by only ~7%. Neglecting the wall electrical contact resistance causes the ECM to over predict the pumping pressure for the mercury DC-EMP at an input electrical 6,740 A by 0.2-1.4%, depending on the flow rate. Nonetheless, accounting for the dependences of the fringe resistance and the magnetic flux density on the input electrical current and the liquid flow rate is important to accurately predicting the performance of DC-EMP, which is not possible using the ECM.