Experimental evaluation of permanent magnet probe flowmeter measuring high temperature liquid sodium flow in the ITSL

The Instrument Test Sodium Loop (ITSL) installed at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is a medium-size experimental facility dedicated to obtaining relevant experimental data of liquid sodium flow characteristics under various thermal hydraulic conditions and sodium purification. The ITSL has been utilized to perform thermal flow measurement of the liquid sodium and to calibrate a Permanent Magnet Probe Flowmeter (PMPF). The primary objective of this study is to obtain liquid sodium flow rate given a wide temperature range using the PMPF. Non-stationary method was adopted for the calibration of the probe given the liquid sodium temperature range of 150–415 °C. A relationship between the measured voltage signal and flow rate was obtained successfully. It is observed that the calibration experiments result in excellent linear relationships between measured voltage and volumetric flow rate at various temperature conditions. Also a computational analysis using FlowMaster, is employed to facilitate the calibration process by predicting the liquid sodium flow rate. Finally the effect of the fluid temperature on thermal flow measurements is discussed in light of the obtained experimental data.