阅读说明：本技术 基于机械泵和毛细泵互补作用的碱金属热电转换器 (Alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of mechanical pump and capillary pump ) 是由 韩怀志 汪楷 张婕 赵佳璐 于 2018-08-13 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供了一种基于机械泵和毛细泵互补作用的碱金属热电转换器，包括由冷端、热端和柱状外壳围成的封闭腔体、设置在封闭腔体内的毛细泵、电磁泵和BASE管，冷端和热端分别设置在柱状外壳顶部和底部，冷端包括固定连接的冷端外壳和冷端底座，冷端外壳内部设有穹顶，在穹顶表面均匀设有若干毛细泵引流槽，冷端外壳的外部的周侧及顶部都均匀设有若干散热翅片，冷端底座的中部设有电磁泵集水槽，热端包括中空腔体和热端上封盖。本发明联合机械泵和毛细泵，并且采用NaK合金作为循环工质，给碱金属热电转换器的循环工质提供足够的循环动力，两者配合使用能够有效避免断流、烧干等传热失效的发生，提高了热电转换效率以及运行的可靠性。(The invention provides an alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump, which comprises a closed cavity defined by a cold end, a hot end and a cylindrical shell, a capillary pump, an electromagnetic pump and a BASE pipe arranged in the closed cavity, wherein the cold end and the hot end are respectively arranged at the top and the bottom of the cylindrical shell, the cold end comprises a cold end shell and a cold end BASE which are fixedly connected, a dome is arranged in the cold end shell, a plurality of capillary pump drainage grooves are uniformly arranged on the surface of the dome, a plurality of radiating fins are uniformly arranged on the peripheral side and the top of the outer part of the cold end shell, an electromagnetic pump water collecting groove is arranged in the middle of the cold end BASE, and the hot end comprises a hollow cavity. The invention combines the mechanical pump and the capillary pump, and adopts NaK alloy as the circulating working medium to provide enough circulating power for the circulating working medium of the alkali metal thermoelectric converter, and the combination of the two can effectively avoid the occurrence of heat transfer failures such as cutoff, dry burning and the like, and improve the thermoelectric conversion efficiency and the operation reliability.)

1. An alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump, characterized in that: the electromagnetic pump comprises a closed cavity defined by a cold end (1), a hot end (2) and a cylindrical shell (3), a capillary pump (4), an electromagnetic pump (5) and a BASE tube (6) which are arranged in the closed cavity, wherein the cold end (1) is arranged at the top of the cylindrical shell (3), the hot end (2) is arranged at the bottom of the cylindrical shell (3), the cold end (1) comprises a cold end shell (101) and a cold end BASE (102) which are fixedly connected, a dome (7) is arranged in the cold end shell (101), a plurality of capillary pump drainage grooves (8) are uniformly arranged on the surface of the dome (7), a plurality of radiating fins (9) are uniformly arranged on the peripheral side and the top of the outside of the cold end shell (101), an electromagnetic pump water collecting groove (10) is arranged in the middle of the cold end BASE (102), and the dome (7) is buckled at the upper end of the electromagnetic pump water collecting groove (10), and the liquid flowing out from the groove tail ends of a plurality of capillary pump drainage grooves (8) flows to the region enclosed by the outer surface of the electromagnetic pump water collecting groove (10) and the inner surface of the cold end base (102), the hot end (2) comprises a hollow cavity (201) and a hot end upper sealing cover (202), a circulating working medium sodium-potassium alloy and an evaporator are arranged in the hollow cavity (201), the electromagnetic pump (5) is arranged at the center of the closed cavity, the upper end of the electromagnetic pump (5) penetrates through the cold end base (102) to be communicated with the electromagnetic pump water collecting groove (10), the lower end of the electromagnetic pump (5) penetrates through the hot end upper sealing cover (202) to be communicated with the hollow cavity (201), the capillary pump (4) comprises a plurality of capillary cores which are arranged along the circumference of the inner wall of the cylindrical shell (3), and the two ends of the capillary pumps respectively penetrate through the cold end base (102) and the hot end upper sealing cover (202), the BASE tube (6) is arranged between the electromagnetic pump (4) and the capillary pump (5), the upper end and the lower end of the BASE tube (6) respectively penetrate through the cold end BASE (102) and the hot end upper sealing cover (202), the closed cavity is divided into two parts with different pressures and temperatures by the BASE tube (6) and the hot end upper sealing cover (202), the inner side and the outer side surfaces of the BASE tube (6) are respectively coated with a porous metal membrane electrode, the inner side is an anode, the outer side is attached with a cathode, and an external load (11) is arranged between the cathode and the anode.

2. The alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of the mechanical pump and the capillary pump as set forth in claim 1, wherein: the surface of the hot end is pasted with a temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature change of the hot end, the temperature sensor is electrically connected with a controller, and the controller controls the opening of the electromagnetic pump (5).

3. The alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of the mechanical pump and the capillary pump as set forth in claim 2, wherein: the capillary core is in a round tube shape and is sintered by powder metallurgy or pressed by a metal wire or a metal net.

4. An alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump as claimed in claim 3, wherein: the BASE pipes (6) are arranged in three numbers and are distributed according to the circumference.

5. The alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of the mechanical pump and the capillary pump as set forth in claim 4, wherein: the electromagnetic pump water collecting tank (10) is bowl-shaped.

6. The alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of the mechanical pump and the capillary pump as set forth in claim 5, wherein: the evaporator is externally provided with a heat conduction column, and the heat conduction column is made of high heat conduction metal or metal alloy.

7. Alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of mechanical and capillary pumps according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: the evaporator is a porous medium.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of energy conversion devices, and particularly relates to an alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump.

Background

The conventional alkali metal thermoelectric converter (AMTEC) is oneA closed container filled with a small amount of alkali metal, consisting of β' -Al with a thickness of about 1 mm₂O₃The solid electrolyte (BASE) and electromagnetic pump are divided into two parts with different pressures, and on the high-pressure side, the working medium is heated by heat source, and the alkali metal ions are driven to permeate β' -Al by chemical potential gradient determined by pressure difference₂O₃When the load is connected, electrons reach the porous electrode from the high-voltage side through an external circuit and are combined with ions into atoms. Like heat pipe heat exchangers, it has been proposed to replace electromagnetic pumps with capillary pumps. However, the performance of the capillary pump is mainly influenced by the geometrical parameters of the porous medium, the solid framework material, the temperatures of the hot end and the cold end, and the like. Once the capillary pump fails, sufficient circulating power cannot be provided for AMTEC working fluid sodium, so that AMTEC cannot stably operate. The whole efficiency of the AMTEC device is directly influenced by the good and bad performance of the capillary pump, the capillary pump is likely to be broken and burnt dry under the condition that the running condition is changed, and the capillary pump fails, in addition, the working medium sodium is solid at normal temperature, and the temperature reaches 97.81 ℃, so that the working medium sodium is changed from the solid state to the liquid state, certain requirements are provided for the cold end environment of the alkali metal heat exchanger, and the working environment requirement is higher.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the invention aims to provide an alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump, the mechanical pump and the capillary pump are combined, NaK alloy is adopted as a circulating working medium, sufficient circulating power is provided for the circulating working medium of the AMTEC, the AMTEC and the NaK alloy are matched for use, the occurrence of heat transfer failures such as cutoff, dry burning and the like can be effectively avoided, and the thermoelectric conversion efficiency and the operation reliability are improved.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

an alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump comprises a closed cavity defined by a cold end, a hot end and a cylindrical shell, the capillary pump, an electromagnetic pump and a BASE tube which are arranged in the closed cavity, wherein the cold end is arranged at the top of the cylindrical shell, the hot end is arranged at the bottom of the cylindrical shell, the cold end comprises a cold end shell and a cold end BASE which are fixedly connected, a dome is arranged in the cold end shell, a plurality of capillary pump drainage grooves are uniformly arranged on the surface of the dome, a plurality of radiating fins are uniformly arranged on the peripheral side and the top of the outer part of the cold end shell, an electromagnetic pump water collection groove is arranged in the middle of the cold end BASE, the dome is buckled at the upper end of the electromagnetic pump water collection groove, and liquid flowing out of the groove ends of the capillary pump drainage grooves is uniformly distributed to a region defined by the outer surface of the electromagnetic pump water collection, the hot end comprises a hollow cavity and a hot end upper sealing cover, a circulating working medium sodium-potassium alloy and an evaporator are arranged in the hollow cavity, the electromagnetic pump is arranged at the center of the closed cavity, the upper end of the electromagnetic pump penetrates through the cold end BASE to be communicated with the electromagnetic pump water collecting tank, the lower end of the electromagnetic pump penetrates through the hot end upper sealing cover to be communicated with the hollow cavity, the capillary pump comprises a plurality of capillary cores, the capillary cores are arranged along the circumference of the inner wall of the columnar shell, two ends of the capillary cores respectively penetrate through the cold end BASE and the hot end upper sealing cover, the BASE pipe is arranged between the electromagnetic pump and the capillary pump, the upper end and the lower end of the BASE pipe respectively penetrate through the cold end BASE and the hot end upper sealing cover, the BASE pipe and the hot end upper sealing cover divide the closed cavity into two parts with different pressures and temperatures, and a porous metal membrane electrode is coated on the inner side surface and the outer side surface of the, the inner side is an anode, the outer side is attached with a cathode, and an external load is arranged between the cathode and the anode.

Furthermore, a temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature change of the hot end is attached to the surface of the hot end, the temperature sensor is electrically connected with a controller, and the controller controls the electromagnetic pump to be started.

Further, the capillary core is in a round tube shape and is sintered by powder metallurgy or pressed by metal wires or metal meshes.

Furthermore, the BASE tubes are arranged in three numbers and are distributed according to the circumference.

Furthermore, the electromagnetic pump water collecting tank is bowl-shaped.

Furthermore, a heat conduction column is arranged outside the evaporator, and the heat conduction column is made of high heat conduction metal or metal alloy.

Further, the evaporator is a porous medium.

Compared with the prior art, the alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of the mechanical pump and the capillary pump has the following advantages:

the alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of the mechanical pump and the capillary pump,

1. the capillary pump is matched with the electromagnetic pump for use, so that the electric power required by the operation of the mechanical pump is saved, the insufficient driving force of the capillary pump under the independent action is solved, and the thermoelectric conversion efficiency and the operation reliability are improved compared with the traditional AMTEC;

2. the working medium adopts sodium-potassium alloy to replace pure Na or pure K, the sodium-potassium alloy is liquid at normal temperature, the requirement on a cold end is reduced, and the working environment is improved, so that the power is increased;

3. under the capillary action of the capillary pump, working liquid in the capillary pump drainage grooves at the dome is drained to the capillary core, the working liquid is not condensed at the dome, after the capillary pump fails, the working liquid in the capillary pump drainage grooves at the dome can be condensed, the condensed working liquid uniformly drips into the electromagnetic pump water collecting tank, a prerequisite is provided for the work of the electromagnetic pump, the complementary work of the capillary pump and the mechanical pump is guaranteed due to the arrangement of a special structure at the cold end, in addition, the capillary pump drainage grooves at the dome are formed, the flow distribution of the working liquid is more uniform, and the system circulation is more smooth.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the invention without limitation. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on the complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump with a cylindrical housing removed;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump with a cylindrical housing and a capillary pump removed;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a cold end housing construction;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a cold end base structure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a backside structure of a cold-side base;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a hot end structure.

Description of reference numerals:

1-cold end, 101-cold end shell, 102-cold end BASE, 2-hot end, 201-hollow cavity, 202-hot end upper sealing cover, 3-columnar shell, 4-capillary pump, 5-electromagnetic pump, 6-BASE tube, 7-dome, 8-capillary pump drainage groove, 9-radiating fin, 10-electromagnetic pump water collecting groove and 11-external load.

Detailed Description

It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments of the present invention may be combined with each other without conflict.

The invention will be described in detail with reference to the following embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

As shown in fig. 1-7, the alkali metal thermoelectric converter based on complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump includes a closed cavity surrounded by a cold end 1, a hot end 2 and a cylindrical shell 3, a capillary pump 4, an electromagnetic pump 5 and a BASE pipe 6 arranged in the closed cavity, the cold end 1 is arranged at the top of the cylindrical shell 3, the hot end 2 is arranged at the bottom of the cylindrical shell 3, the cold end 1 includes a cold end shell 101 and a cold end BASE 102 which are fixedly connected, a dome 7 is arranged in the cold end shell 101, a plurality of capillary pump drainage grooves 8 are uniformly arranged on the surface of the dome 7, a plurality of radiating fins 9 are uniformly arranged on the peripheral side and the top of the outside of the cold end shell 101, an electromagnetic pump water collection groove 10 is arranged in the middle of the cold end BASE 102, the dome 7 is fastened at the upper end of the electromagnetic pump water collection groove 10, and liquid flowing out from the groove ends of the plurality of the capillary pump drainage grooves 8 flows to the outer surface of the electromagnetic pump water collection groove 10 and the inside The surface of the area is enclosed, the hot end 2 comprises a hollow cavity 201 and a hot end upper cover 202, a circulating working medium sodium-potassium alloy and an evaporator are arranged in the hollow cavity 201, the electromagnetic pump 5 is arranged at the center of the closed cavity, the upper end of the electromagnetic pump 5 penetrates through the cold end BASE 102 to be communicated with the electromagnetic pump water collecting tank 10, the lower end of the electromagnetic pump 5 penetrates through the hot end upper cover 202 to be communicated with the hollow cavity 201, the capillary pump 4 comprises a plurality of capillary cores, the plurality of capillary cores are arranged along the circumference of the inner wall of the columnar shell 3, two ends of the capillary cores respectively penetrate through the cold end BASE 102 and the hot end upper cover 202, the BASE pipe 6 is arranged between the electromagnetic pump 4 and the capillary pump 5, the upper end and the lower end of the BASE pipe 6 respectively penetrate through the cold end BASE 102 and the hot end upper cover 202, the BASE pipe 6 and the hot end upper cover 202 divide the closed cavity into two parts with different pressures and temperatures, the inside and outside surfaces of the BASE tube 6 are coated with a porous metal membrane electrode, the inside is an anode, the outside is attached with a cathode, and an external load 11 is arranged between the cathode and the anode.

And a temperature sensor (not shown) for monitoring the temperature change of the hot end is attached to the surface of the hot end, the temperature sensor (not shown) is electrically connected with a controller (not shown), and the controller (not shown) controls the electromagnetic pump 5 to be started.

The capillary core is in a round tube shape and is sintered by powder metallurgy or pressed by a metal wire or a metal net.

The BASE pipes 6 are arranged in three and distributed circumferentially.

The electromagnetic pump water collecting tank 10 is bowl-shaped.

The evaporator (not shown) is externally provided with a heat conduction column (not shown), and the material of the heat conduction column is high heat conduction metal or metal alloy.

The evaporator (not shown) is a porous media.

An alkali metal thermoelectric converter device (AMTEC) with complementary action of a mechanical pump and a capillary pump is a power generation device for directly realizing thermoelectric conversion, the AMTEC adopts sodium-potassium alloy as a working medium, liquid sodium-potassium alloy is heated and evaporated on the surface of an evaporator to form steam, the working medium steam flows into a BASE pipe 6 through a high-pressure cavity of a hot end 2, since the BASE tube 6 has very high ion conductivity, but poor electron conductivity, so that sodium and potassium ions can diffuse through the BASE tube but not electrons, this process is almost adiabatic diffusion, since the low-pressure (outer) side and the high-pressure (inner) side of the BASE tube are covered with the porous electrodes, electrons migrate from the inner surface of the BASE tube to the outer surface through the external load 11 connecting the inner and outer surfaces of the BASE tube, and are neutralized again with sodium ions and potassium ions into sodium atoms and potassium atoms, and the flow of electrons through the external load 11 forms an electric current. The neutralized sodium atoms and potassium atoms are separated in a heat absorption mode outside the BASE tube 6 and flow to the cold end 1, when the sodium vapor flows to the dome 7 at the cold end shell 101 of the cold end 1, the sodium vapor is condensed to liquid sodium and liquid potassium on the surface, the latent heat of condensation is released and is discharged to the atmosphere or space, when the capillary pump 4 works normally, the condensed liquid sodium and liquid potassium flow to the area, which is surrounded by the outer surface of the electromagnetic pump water collecting groove 10 and the inner surface of the cold end BASE 102, along the plurality of capillary pump drainage grooves 8 at the dome 7, the liquid flows from the cold end to the hot end under the capillary force of the capillary core, and a thermodynamic cycle process is completed.

At capillary pump 4 inefficacy, when unable to use, 2 temperature of hot junction can change, temperature sensor detects behind the signal with signal transmission to controller, controller control electromagnetic pump 5 prepares work, the liquid sodium and the liquid potassium that condense this moment will gather in capillary pump drainage groove 8 under the effect of not having capillary suction, when gathering to the certain extent, because self action of gravity, liquid sodium and liquid potassium drip to electromagnetic pump water catch bowl 10 in, electromagnetic pump 5 begins the function this moment, liquid working medium is under electromagnetic pump 5's effect, liquid working medium flows to the hot junction from the cold junction, this thermodynamic cycle process of also accomplishing.

The alkali metal thermoelectric converter combines the capillary core and the electromagnetic pump, so that the defects of the capillary core and the electromagnetic pump are weakened to the greatest extent, and the purposes of energy conservation and emission reduction are achieved on the basis of ensuring the service life.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and should not be taken as limiting the invention, so that any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like, which are within the spirit and principle of the present invention, should be included in the scope of the present invention.