• 한국기계가공학회지
• /
• 제18권3호
• /
• pp.7-13
• /
• 2019

Recently, an automobile market used to natural gas has emerged as fast-growing as the several countries, who holds abundant natural fuel resources, has promoted to supply the national agency for an automobile car. LNG fuel vessel is more efficient in another way as the energy density is high, but it requires a high technology and investment to maintain extreme low temperature. CNG fuel vessel are relatively low-cost alternative to LNG, but poorly economical in terms of energy density as well as showing safety issues associated with compressed pressure. The development of adsorbed natural gas (ANG) has emerged as one of potential solutions. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the weight of vessel by applying light-weighed a composite carbon fiber in order to response to the regulation of $CO_2$ emission. Herein, this study make the prototype ANG vessel not only based on the optimal design and analysis of material characteristic but also based on the shape design, and it suggest a new type for the composite carbon fiber vessel which verified functional test. Moreover, the detail shape design is analyzed by a finite element analysis, and its verifies the ANG vessel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제51권1호
• /
• pp.284-292
• /
• 2019

For the continuous operation of a nuclear reactor, burnt fuel needs to be replaced with fresh fuel, where appropriate (ex-vessel) fuel handling is required. Particularly for the Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) refueling, its process has unique challenges due to liquid sodium coolant. The ex-vessel spent fuel transportation should concern several design features such as the radiation shielding, decay-heat removal, and inert space separated from air. This paper proposes a new design optimization methodology of cask shielding to transport the spent fuel assembly in a prototype SFR for the first time. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm had been applied to design trade-offs between shielding and cask weight. The cask is designed as a double-cylinder structure to block an inert sodium region from the air-cooling space. The PSO process yielded the optimum shielding thickness of 26 cm, considering the weight as well. To confirm the shielding performance, the radiation dose of spent fuel removed at its peak burnup and after 1-year cooling was calculated. Two different fuel positions located during transportation were also investigated to consider a functional disorder in a cask drive system. This study concludes the current cask design in normal operations is satisfactory in accordance with regulatory rules.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제55권12호
• /
• pp.4477-4490
• /
• 2023

Fuel locking mechanisms (FLMs) are essential in upward-flow research reactors to prevent accidental fuel separation from the core during reactor operation. This study presents a novel design concept for a remotely controlled plate-type nuclear fuel locking mechanism. By employing electromagnetic field analysis, we optimized the design of the electromagnet for fuel unlocking, allowing the FLM to adapt to various research reactor core designs, minimizing installation space, and reducing maintenance efforts. Computational flow analysis quantified the drag acting on the fuel assembly caused by coolant upflow. Subsequently, we performed finite element analysis and evaluated the structural integrity of the FLM based on the ASME boiler and pressure vessel (B&PV) code, considering design loads such as dead weight and flow drag. Our findings confirm that the new FLM design provides sufficient margins to withstand the specified loads. We fabricated a prototype comprising the driving part, a simplified moving part, and a dummy fuel assembly. Through basic operational tests on the assembled components, we verified that the manufactured products meet the performance requirements. This remote-controlled micro locking mechanism holds promise in enhancing the safety and efficiency of plate-type nuclear fuel operation in upflow research reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권11호
• /
• pp.4125-4133
• /
• 2022

KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) developed the conceptual design of PGSFR (Prototype Gen-IV Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor) and Burner Reactor. Since the reactor characteristics of the PGSFR and Burner Reactor are different, the shape, size and the arrangement of the main components in the reactors must be different. Therefore, the conceptual design for the fuel handling and transfer systems needs to be performed coinciding with the structure of the reactor. Especially, because a redan structure dividing hot and cold pool is installed in the reactor vessel, the conceptual design of the fuel handling and transfer system largely changes depending on the location of the redan structure. Various elements of the conceptual design and an integral arrangement for the fuel handling and transfer system were arranged according to the characteristics, sizes and shapes of the reactors. In this paper, the conceptual designs of the fuel handling and transfer system for PGSFR and Burner Reactor are described. Especially, an A-frame method is selected as the fuel handling and transfer system for the Burner Reactor, considering the layout of the internal structure. The tilt angle, diameter and length of A-frame is determined and the strength evaluation of the A-frame is performed.

• 한국가스학회지
• /
• 제18권5호
• /
• pp.6-11
• /
• 2014

차량용 LNG 연료 용기의 내진동 단열 지지구조 최적화 설계 개발을 위하여 종래의 해외특허구조 설계를 기본으로 한 특성요인도 분석으로 용기의 내조 및 외조 지지부 구조설계의 주요 설계 인자를 도출하였다. 도출된 설계인자 중에서 우선적으로 지지 봉재의 직경과 단열 격판 연결부 곡률을 대상으로 하여 최적화를 수행하였다. 차량용 LNG 연료 용기 설계안에 대한 평가를 위해 설계안을 MSC/MARC 상용유한 요소해석 패키지를 활용하여 유한요소 모델링하여 진동모드해석과 열전달 및 열응력해석을 수행하였다. 최적화 설계 결과를 통하여 도출된 설계안은 고유진동해석을 통한 1차 모드 고유진동수(1st Mode Natural Frequency), 열전달해석을 통한 초저온 용기 내조 외조간 지지부를 통한 총전열량 및 열응력해석을 통한 최대 Von-Mises 응력이 모두 설계 목표치를 만족하였으며, 개발된 설계안에 따라 차량용 LNG 연료 용기의 제작하여 3차원 진동 시험과 단열성능 시험을 통해 설계를 검증하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제44권7호
• /
• pp.735-744
• /
• 2012

In order to quantify the flow distribution characteristics of APR+ reactor, a test was performed on a test facility, ACOP ($\underline{A}$PR+ $\underline{C}$ore Flow & $\underline{P}$ressure Test Facility), having a length scale of 1/5 referring to the prototype plant. The major parameters are core inlet flow and outlet pressure distribution and sectional pressure drops along the major flow path inside reactor vessel. To preserve the flow characteristics of prototype plant, the test facility was designed based on a preservation of major flow path geometry. An Euler number is considered as primary dimensionless parameter, which is conserved with a 1/40.9 of Reynolds number scaling ratio. ACOP simplifies each fuel assembly into a hydraulic simulator having the same axial flow resistance and lateral cross flow characteristics. In order to supply boundary condition to estimate thermal margins of the reactor, the distribution of inlet core flow and core exit pressure were measured in each of 257 fuel assembly simulators. In total, 584 points of static pressure and differential pressures were measured with a limited number of differential pressure transmitters by developing a sequential operation system of valves. In the current study, reactor flow characteristics under the balanced four-cold leg flow conditions at each of the cold legs were quantified, which is a part of the test matrix composing the APR+ flow distribution test program. The final identification of the reactor flow distribution was obtained by ensemble averaging 15 independent test data. The details of the design of the test facility, experiment, and data analysis are included in the current paper.