Advanced Manufacturing and Demonstration of Molten Salt Pump

HTS International will develop a small molten salt pump that will support the future side stream processing as well as existing or future molten salt experimental flow loops for fueled salts. The team will develop, test, and produce small fuel salt pumps outlined under the conditions in the 39i workscope. Phase I activities will include the design and proof of concept testing using surrogate fluids while leveraging advanced manufacturing needed to reduce the cost & time needed to produce these pumps. The eventual pumps will be tested for full scale within Phase II for implementation in fuel salt streams as well as for experimental flow loops. The primary design and production will be done by the leading organization while the testing will occur at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) with surrogate fluids during Phase I as well as chloride molten salts during Phase II. American Maglev Technologies, Inc. (AMT) will provide support in electromagnetic design, as required for the proposed magnetic solutions discussed in this proposal. Modeling and Simulation activities will occur throughout Phase I to support design activities and jointly supported by the team. In this research effort, HTS will explore two candidate design approaches to molten salt pumps: a novel maglev centrifugal pump and a novel reciprocating pump approach. A down-select will occur at the end of Phase I, in coordination with Program needs. The innovative goal of both approaches is to improve the capability to pump non-conductive, high temperature molten salts through a holistic reimaging of the design, materials, and manufacture.