High Performance Heat Pipe Cooling of Electron Cyclotron Heating Mirrors P12-2426

189 High Performance Heat Pipe Cooling of Electron Cyclotron Heating Mirrors P12-2426--Thermacore, Inc., 780 Eden Road, Lancaster, PA 17601-4275; (717) 569-6551 Mr. James E. Lindemuth, Principal Investigator Mr. Donald M. Ernst, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER82501 Amount: $74,971 For electron cyclotron heating systems, two launcher mirrors, one fixed and one steering, are used to focus the microwave beam generated by a gyroton and to heat the plasma in the DIII-D Tokamak fusion reactor. Presently, the uncooled mirrors limit the plasma heating pulse to 2 seconds. The objective of this project will be to develop high performance, heat pipe-cooled launcher mirrors. In case of a leak, a fluid that will not contaminate the reactor will be used for active cooling of the heat pipe condensers. The heat pipe-cooled mirrors should allow the duration of the plasma heating pulse to increase from 2 seconds to 10 seconds while maintaining current mirror temperatures. In Phase I, a heat pipe-cooled launcher mirror concept will be generated, and a proof-of-concept heat pipe-cooled mirror will be designed, fabricated, and tested. The objective of Phase II will be to update the Phase I proof-of-concept design. The prototype heat pipe-cooled launcher mirrors will be designed, fabricated, and tested in the DIII-D environment. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Many applications can potentially benefit from the technology developed in this program. The heat pipe-cooled mirror concept can be extended for use in heat pipe-cooled plates for ground-based computers and commercial avionics boards. Porous media cooling can be used for laser diodes, plasma facing components, avionics, and waste heat recovery. These heat pipes can be used to cool high heat flux devices such as a computer chips, radio frequency coils, and plasma-facing components. In addition to the DII-D reactor, the heat pipe-cooled mirror concept may also be applicable to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.