Engineering Design of Contact-Type Liquid Level Sensor for Measuring Thickness Variation of Liquid Lithium Jet in IFMIF/EVEDA Lithium Test Loop

AbstractIn the Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) on the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), hydraulic stability of a liquid Li jet simulating the IFMIF Li target is planned to be validated in the EVEDA Li Test Loop (ELTL). This paper presents the engineering design of a contact-type liquid level sensor for use in ELTL. The sensor is going to be utilized to measure variation of jet thickness in the validation test on hydraulic stability of the Li jet, which is one of the major key tests to be performed in ELTL. A fundamental requirement for the engineering specification of the sensor is to ensure the position accuracy of the measurement probe against the pressure load of approximately 0.1 MPa between the inside and the outside of the test chamber. The calculation result on structural strength of the sensor with a Nastran code showed that the maximum displacement was 0.65 mm and that the sensor has adequate strength against the pressure load. The calcu...