LIQUID-METAL MHD - CYCLE STUDIES AND GENERATOR EXPERIMENTS.

The two-phase liquid-metal MHD (LMMHD) concept coupled to a coal-fired fluidized-bed combustor of the Energy Conversion Alternatives Study, is described, and the results obtained to date in the ECAS study are summarized. Emphasis is placed on subsequent ANL results not included in the ECAS Phase I study. The main component unique to this LMMHD concept, and thus the focus of the experimental program, is the two-phase LMMHD generator. A new diverging-channel generator with gas injection along the insulating walls is built and placed in operation in late 1974. The expected significant improvement in performance of this generator over the previous generator was not obtained. Experiments to investigate this lack of improvement demonstrate that the gas injection was not operating as expected. The gas injection ports were removed, and substantial improvements is obtained in generator performance.