Aluminum–Hydrogen MHD Electric-Energy Generators

摘要

The development of physicotechnical principles and technological fundamentals of large-scale electricpower production are extremely important for modern industry. One of the most promising methods is the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) method of the transformation of the thermal energy of a high-temperature gaseous working substance. This method was developed in the course of intense complex studies conducted in leading industrial states from the 1960s through the 1980s. In the USSR, one of the most successful directions was the program of research and development of MHD generators for basis power engineering, which were based on combustion products of fossil fuels [1, 2]. The program also included accompanying systems of possible electric-power plants operating in cycles now often called cycles of steam-gas facilities in which gas turbines are used instead of MHD generators. The studies were performed mainly at the Institute of High Temperatures, USSR Academy of Sciences, where a series of experimental complex electricpower MHD facilities (U-02, U-25, U25B) was constructed. These facilities have demonstrated experimentally the operation of MHD generators at a peak power of about 20 MW. In the nominal regime, the generators exhibited a power of about 10 MW for 1 hour in the stationary regime up to 10 days. This made it possible to begin constructing an industrial MHD electricpower plant with an expected power of 500 MW. The program for constructing short-pulse MHD generators using combustion products of adapted rocket solid fuels was also successful [3].