Thermoacoustic device for nuclear fuel monitoring and heat transfer enhancement

The Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear disaster of 2011 exposed the need for self-powered sensors that could transmit the status of the fuel rods within the reactor and in spent fuel ponds that was not dependent upon availability of external electrical power for either sensing or telemetry. One possible solution is the use of a thermoacoustic standing wave engine, incorporated within a fuel rod, which is heated by the nuclear fuel. The engine’s resonance frequency is correlated to the fuel rod temperature and will be transmitted by sound radiation through the reactor's or storage pond’s surrounding water. In addition to acting as a passive temperature sensor, the thermoacoustic device will serve to enhance heat transfer from the fuel to the surrounding heat transfer fluid. When activated, the acoustically-driven streaming flow of the gas within the fuel rod will circulate gas away from the nuclear fuel and convectively enhance heat transfer to the surrounding coolant. We will present results for a thermoacoustic ...