Innovative 1000K Sodium Loop For Qualification Of New Materials For Applications In CSP Field

The present paper describes the 1000K sodium loop developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for creep fatigue and corrosion/erosion investigations of new materials for applications in the concentrating solar power plants. The construction of the high temperature loops is motivated also by the lack of experimental data for steels in flowing sodium at temperatures above -650'C, as revealed by the literature review. The study discusses the loop operation procedures and the safety measures considered. Some of the experimental results obtained so far are presented, namely the loop operations at maximal specified temperature, at maximal specified flow rate, the calibration of the sodium flowmeter and the dynamic flow conditions in the loop. The new materials proposed at KIT for the receiver are briefly presented.

Automated summary

This paper describes the development of a 1000K sodium loop at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for investigating the creep fatigue and corrosion/erosion of new materials in concentrating solar power plants. The construction of the high temperature loop is motivated by the lack of experimental data for steels in flowing sodium above -650°C. The study discusses the loop operation procedures, safety measures, and presents some experimental results and new materials proposed for the receiver.