3D Printed Brackets Secure Fuel for Nuclear Power | The Cool Parts Show #45
Vložit
- čas přidán 5. 07. 2024
- A nuclear reactor is essentially a large-scale heat exchanger, a point Ryan Dehoff of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility notes in this latest episode of The Cool Parts Show. That means additive manufacturing offers considerable promise to improve energy efficiency by making complex forms that optimize heat transfer. But nuclear power is a conservative industry focused on safety and reliability - additive manufacturing has to prove itself first. A set of 3D printed stainless steel brackets currently in use at the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant is part of the test. Manufactured by the MDF in partnership with nuclear equipment supplier Framatome, the brackets help secure a nuclear fuel assembly. Learn more about the way ahead for AM and nuclear power in the episode below.
This episode brought to you by Carpenter Additive. www.carpenteradditive.com/
LEARN MORE ABOUT:
- Framatome: www.framatome.com/
- The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory: www.additivemanufacturing.med...
- Additive manufacturing for heat exchangers: www.additivemanufacturing.med...
- Laser powder bed fusion: www.additivemanufacturing.med...
* * *
Subscribe to THE BUILDUP, Additive Manufacturing Media's newsletter on 3D printing for industrial production: gbm.media/JoinTheBuildup - Věda a technologie
Wow! A cool show you have, never saw you previously, glad to subscribe now)
Thanks guys. Fascinating to see how excruciating it is to work with nuclear reactors.
Thank you for the good presentation
how do they handle embrittlement especially since 3d printed parts are close to net weight and never truly 100% dense even after HIP treatment, also would like to know more of their digital qualification process is
Do these 'brackets' ever come into actual contact with any radio-active material?
So if the bracket is designed for a "vibration event" such as an earthquake, what will they be looking for six years from now if the Browns Ferry plant (hopefully) hasn't experienced an earthquake? It looks like NUPIC has been discussing 3D printed parts since at least June of '17, and the FAA certified its first parts in '15... even for the nuclear industry this seems slow. The heat exchangers seem like the real opportunity, but I haven't ever seen anything about 3D printed zirconium (though I haven't been looking, and no, it's not like zirconia used for dental prints). As always, thanks for the interesting and unique videos.
Right, what if there is no earthquake? Really the investigation has to do with “unknown unknowns.” I.e., is there anything about the microstructure resulting from metal AM that might react adversely to anything about the environment of long-term operation in a nuclear power plant? By all theoretical understanding, the answer is No. But being conservative means trying it to see.
After watching this video, I still don't know what the mechanical demands of that bracket are.
Nor do we. The plant wouldn’t want to publicize information this specific. And those mechanical requirements probably are fairly easily meetable by a steel bracket of any manufacture. See the response to the question from Aimlessweasel - this evaluation for now is about something more than mechanical optimization.
FIRST COMMENT!
Seems cool but not very cost effective
Yeah, they were saying it's proof of concept so they kept everything the same. Still, I'm not sure I quite understand what aspect of 3D printing they are trying to validate. There's literally nothing novel about it, and it's the unforseen load cases and potential deflection based changes when going to an "optimized" printed design that present the most risk. Looking at the fuel bundle, there's really not much impact you could have a lightweighting or cost optimizing this bracket. The intermediate fluid mixers or spacer grids for the actual rods (@3:20) look like the real application opportunity, along with the top and bottom nozzles. Those may need to be zirconium though; curious if anyone can confirm.
Do not yet know about zirconium; will watch for that. But yes - the promise here goes beyond brackets like this. Validating AM parts do nothing unexpected after years of use in nuclear power plants opens the way to heat exchange systems, the larger area of promise.
I am going to throw a bottle in the sea here out of desperation.
I am just a car enthusiast in his garage who is dreaming of building his own electric supercar.
Anyone out there who can help me 3D print a full chassis ?
Thank you in advance.
SAY NO TO NUCLEAR POWER!