REMOTE SENSING DIAGNOSTICS FOR MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS

RESEARCH ON REMOTE SENSING DIAGNOSTICS WITH CAPABILITIES DESIGNED FOR THE UNIQUE MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC (MHD) ENVIRONMENT IS PLANNED. THE LARGE DIFFERENTIAL AND COMMON MODE VOLTAGES FOUND ON MHD FLOW TRAINS REQUIRE ISOLATION FROM OPERATING AND CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR HARDWARE AND PERSONNEL PROTECTION. FURTHERMORE, THE PROBLEMS OF MAGNETIC FIELD INTERFERENCE NEAR AND LIMITED ACCESS TO AN MHD GENERATOR POSE PROBLEMS FOR CONVENTIONAL INSTRUMENTATION USEDIN THE UTILITY INDUSTRY. THE REMOTE SENSING DIAGNOSTICS DEVELOPED IN THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WOULD PROVIDE GREATER AND MORE RELIABLE ELECTRICAL ISOLATION THAN ISAVAILABLE WITH CURRENT POWER PLANT TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS TRANSFORMER BASED ISOLATION AMPLIFIERS. PHASE I RESEARCH WILL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT A REMOTE SENSING VOLTAGE PROBE. THIS PROBE WILL UNDERGO EXTENSIVE BENCH TOP TESTING TO CHARACTERIZE ITS BASIC CAPABILITIES AND SENSITIVITY TO FRINGE STRENGTH MAGNETIC FIELDS. THE BENCH SCALE TESTING WILL BE FOLLOWED BY IN-SITU TESTINGON AN OPERATIONAL MHD FLOW TRAIN IN WHICH A SINGLE MEASUREMENT, COMBUSTOR VOLTAGE TO GROUND, WILL BE USED TO GAUGE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE REMOTE VOLTAGE PROBE IN AN MHD ENVIRONMENT. DC AND AC PROBE PERFORMANCE WILL BE DETERMINED FROM DATA GATHERED DURING STEADY STATE AND TRANSIENT OPERATION OF THE FLOW TRAIN. IN PHASE II AN ARRAY OF ISOLATED REMOTE SENSING DIAGNOSTICS INCLUDING CURRENT, TEMPERATURE, AND PRESSURE WILL BE DEVELOPED ALONG WITH MANUFACTURINGTECHNOLOGY NECESSARY TO ALLOW COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE SENSORS.