Gear Test Assembly - Testing Gears and Bearings in Liquid Sodium

摘要

The Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL) is an intermediate-scale liquid metal experimental facility that provides purified reactor-grade (R-grade) sodium to various experimental test vessels. The need for METL was identified during a component and infrastructure technology gap analysis for advanced reactors that was performed for the DOE-NE Advanced Reactor Concept (ARC) program in 2009. In METL, components that are required to operate in an advanced fast reactor can be tested in a prototypical sodium environment. Experiments conducted in METL significantly assist in the development and maturation of systems and components for advanced reactors. The METL facility consists of multiple test segments including: a purification and diagnostic loop (cold trap was designed after EBR-Ⅱ), two 18" diameter test vessels with 150 L capacities capable of operating in static or dynamic flow at 538°C, two 28" diameter test vessels with 644 L capacities capable of operating in static or dynamic flow at 650°C, a 3,180 L dump tank with 21 instrumentation ports, and the infrastructure to expand capacity in the future.