Research on Heat Transfer Characteristics of the Thermometric Sphere in HTR-10

During the operation of the High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR), the hot-spot temperature in the reactor core must be lower than the maximum permissible temperature of the fuel elements and the materials of construction, so that the reactor kept safe. However, no fixed temperature-measuring devices can be set in a pebble-bed core. A special spherical temperature-measuring device is adopted to make sure it brings as small impact to the reactor operation as possible. There are several metal wires with different melting points inside. The graphite thermometric balls will be put onto the top of HTR-10 reactor core, and they record and reflect the highest temperature in different positions in the core when flowing in the pebble bed. Before the reactor core temperature-measuring experiment of HTR-10, we must study the heat transfer characteristics of the graphite thermometric sphere to find out the relationship of the melting conditions and the temperature in the reactor core. A 3-D model of the graphite thermometric ball is established, and CFD method is adopted to research and figure out the thermal equilibrium time and temperature difference between the metal wires in the ball and the hot fluid outside the balls. Multiple situations are simulated, and the heat transfer process of the thermometric sphere is comprehensively studied. The heat convection is certified the most important aspect. Thermal equilibrium can be achieved within 19 minutes, far shorter than the period while the spheres flowing through the core. The simulation results can also applied to derive the thermal fluid temperature backward.