Thermal-Hydraulic Test Facilities

Overview

KASOLA is a versatile experimental facility in construction to investigate flow phenomena in liquid sodium for nuclear and non-nuclear applications.

SOLTEC facilities are part of HAC, the HEMCP AMTEC Center, which is imbedded in Helmholtz Energy Material Characterization Platform (HEMCP). The SOLTEC facilities are in different stage of development, for example SOLTEC-2 is at the end of the set-into-operation phase, while SOLTEC-3 is currently in manufacturing.

For experimental investigation of turbulent flow in pipes and ducts by means of laser-based and invasive flow measurement techniques (Laser Doppler Anemometry, Particle Image Velocimetry, Laser-Induced Fluorescence, hot-wire anemometry) as well as thermocouples, infrared cameras, high-speed cameras and pressure measurement sensors, the AEROLAS gas loop is operated at INR.

ATEFA - AMTEC Test Facility – has been used for investigations and development of AMTEC converter.

DITEFA - DIvertor TEst FAcility - is a small multipurpose liquid metal test facility for thermo-hydraulic investigations related to solar, fusion and nuclear energy.

The SOLTEC family is composed of three independent loops operating sodium up to 1000 K under safe conditions. SOLTEC 1+2 are for material characterizations, SOLTEC 3 is designed for 1200 K to allow for AMTEC long term experiments. All loops are housed so that they can be used safely in any laboratory. 

HyPStA is a technical assembly in two high cube containers. It is a heat lab and aims at efficiency enhancement of a transcritical CO₂ heat pump by coupling to an adsorption unit and storage integration.