Numerical Study of Reciprocating Liquid Metal MHD Generator for Wave Energy Conversion System

摘要

3D numerical simulation of a Liquid Metal Magnetohydrodynamic(LMMHD) generator with convergent and divergent sections for WaveEnergy Conversion (WEC) system was carried out. Flow,electromagnetic fields and performance characteristics wereinvestigated. The simulated results show that uneven distributions offlow velocity in convergent and divergent sections induce complicatededdy currents, which increase energy loss and thus influenceperformance of LMMHD generator. An experimental LMMHD systemwas constructed and the measured power output of about 3kW wasobtained. Comparison between simulated and experimental resultsconfirm the validity of the numerical simulated model.