Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMO
Maintenance of the DEMO breeding blanket includes the removal and replacement of plasma-facing components. To access the breeding blanket, multiple coolant pipes need to be removed to allow access to the tokamak. As an option to reduce downtime and increase maintenance speed, the pipe-connection con...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Nuclear Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4362/4/1/8 |
| _version_ | 1827749271428923392 |
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| author | Viktor Milushev Azman Azka Martin Mittwollen |
| author_facet | Viktor Milushev Azman Azka Martin Mittwollen |
| author_sort | Viktor Milushev |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Maintenance of the DEMO breeding blanket includes the removal and replacement of plasma-facing components. To access the breeding blanket, multiple coolant pipes need to be removed to allow access to the tokamak. As an option to reduce downtime and increase maintenance speed, the pipe-connection concept is developed to allow the removal of multiple pipes at the same time using a remotely operated mechanical connection. The remotely operated multi-pipe Mechanical Pipe Connection (MPC) needs to fulfil multiple requirements, such as high operating temperature and high external forces while at the same time maintaining an acceptable level of sealing between the high-pressure fluid and vacuum surroundings. In addition to the external conditions, the pipes of multiple sizes and fluids are connected in a manifold configuration. Although this will reduce the overall time required to operate the mechanical pipe connection when compared to multiple single-pipe connections, this will introduce additional forces and stresses due the interaction between pipe flow (e.g., simultaneous high- and low-temperature fluid pipes on the same manifold) through the manifold flange. The requirements and the boundary conditions of the multi-pipe MPC are taken into consideration during the design process of MPC. The design process is carried out to find the optimum form and size to allow the mechanical function of the pipe connection during the maintenance phase while withstanding the extreme operating conditions that the MPC will face the during operational phase. The resulting design will then be analyzed using numerical methods to assess the capability of the MPC designs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:20:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c0b1fb517f584dd399d597f589d003df |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-4362 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:20:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Nuclear Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-c0b1fb517f584dd399d597f589d003df2023-11-17T11:59:05ZengMDPI AGJournal of Nuclear Engineering2673-43622023-01-014111112610.3390/jne4010008Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMOViktor Milushev0Azman Azka1Martin Mittwollen2Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, GermanyKarlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, GermanyKarlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, GermanyMaintenance of the DEMO breeding blanket includes the removal and replacement of plasma-facing components. To access the breeding blanket, multiple coolant pipes need to be removed to allow access to the tokamak. As an option to reduce downtime and increase maintenance speed, the pipe-connection concept is developed to allow the removal of multiple pipes at the same time using a remotely operated mechanical connection. The remotely operated multi-pipe Mechanical Pipe Connection (MPC) needs to fulfil multiple requirements, such as high operating temperature and high external forces while at the same time maintaining an acceptable level of sealing between the high-pressure fluid and vacuum surroundings. In addition to the external conditions, the pipes of multiple sizes and fluids are connected in a manifold configuration. Although this will reduce the overall time required to operate the mechanical pipe connection when compared to multiple single-pipe connections, this will introduce additional forces and stresses due the interaction between pipe flow (e.g., simultaneous high- and low-temperature fluid pipes on the same manifold) through the manifold flange. The requirements and the boundary conditions of the multi-pipe MPC are taken into consideration during the design process of MPC. The design process is carried out to find the optimum form and size to allow the mechanical function of the pipe connection during the maintenance phase while withstanding the extreme operating conditions that the MPC will face the during operational phase. The resulting design will then be analyzed using numerical methods to assess the capability of the MPC designs.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4362/4/1/8DEMOmechanical pipe connectionmaintenancenumerical analysis |
| spellingShingle | Viktor Milushev Azman Azka Martin Mittwollen Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMO Journal of Nuclear Engineering DEMO mechanical pipe connection maintenance numerical analysis |
| title | Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMO |
| title_full | Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMO |
| title_fullStr | Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMO |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMO |
| title_short | Development of Mechanical Pipe-Connection Design for DEMO |
| title_sort | development of mechanical pipe connection design for demo |
| topic | DEMO mechanical pipe connection maintenance numerical analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4362/4/1/8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT viktormilushev developmentofmechanicalpipeconnectiondesignfordemo AT azmanazka developmentofmechanicalpipeconnectiondesignfordemo AT martinmittwollen developmentofmechanicalpipeconnectiondesignfordemo |