Transient thermoelectric characteristics of the principle prototype for the heat pipe cooled nuclear Silent themoelectirc reactor (NUSTER)

This paper proposes an optimized design for the Heat Pipe ThermoElectric Generator (HPTEG) principle prototype based on the design of the NUSTER system. The numerical analysis platform has been established and verified. It is used to analyze the steady-state and transient (start-up and shutdown conditions) thermoelectric properties of the refined HPTEG prototype. The steady-state calculation shows that when the input power of the HPTEG prototype is 5500 W, the maximum temperature is about 987 K, and the thermoelectric conversion efficiency is about 10.64%. The startup calculation show that the heat pipe startup is completed at about 14400 s. The shutdown calculation shows that at 6% shutdown power, the system tends to be stable after about 20000 s, and the maximum temperature is about 716 K. This study provides data support for the subsequent design modification of the future HPTEG principle prototype and provides ideas for the 3D transient calculations of the solid-state heat pipe reactors.