At 0.85bar partial pressure of steam there would definitely be enough. Heat pipes in general, and particulalrly those utilising steam have incredible rates of heat transfer.
On 26 October 2011 18:12, David Roberson <[email protected]> wrote: > At the time this measurement was performed, the water had not been boiling > and air is occupying the space above it. This would cause a high humidity, > but I am not sure that much condensation would occur. Do you still think > that the condensation would be adequate to keep the probe reading > accurately? > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Robert Lynn <[email protected]> > To: vortex-l <[email protected]> > Sent: Wed, Oct 26, 2011 12:43 pm > Subject: Re: [Vo]:ECAT Temperature Probe Not Touching Fins or Flow Rate > High > > It can be determined that the probe measuring T2 is not in thermal >> contact with the heat sink attached to the core modules. This >> observation is clearly revealed by the following logic. At Mats Lewan’s >> October >> test time of 13:38 we first see output in the secondary loop of the heat >> exchanger. This is indicated by the rise in Tout (23.7 C to 26.3 C) as >> compared to the previous values. It is well known that output cannot be >> obtained at the heat exchanger unless the water within the ECAT is boiling. >> This requires a temperature of greater than 100 C. Also, we have >> established that some form of check valve is in series with the output water >> flow which further increases the required temperature. The pressure >> would not be sufficient to open the valve ahead of this point in time. >> The data from Mats’ report shows that the T2 reading at 13:38 is 94.8 C. >> We predict that this is not accurate and is displaying a value that is too >> low. My suspicion is that the reading is being influenced by the >> conduction of a measurable amount of heat energy along the probe to the >> outside case of the ECAT which has not been heated significantly as of that >> point in time. Also, we can be assured that the probe is not in contact >> with the heat sink fins since they are the source of the heat for the water. >> The temperature of this heat sink must be greater than the temperature of >> the water in order for heat to flow from it. >> > The environment inside the reactor veseel would have a partial pressure of > steam of about 0.85bar at 95°C, this steam will act to very rapidly heat > anything within the reactor vessel to exactly the same temperatures (acting > as a heat pipe) through the action of condensation, though it would be > possible for dry surfaces to be hotter (superheating absorbs a releatively > tiny amount of energy per degree of temperature change comapred to > vaporisation). I therefore think your hypothesis of overflow is much more > likely than that the thermocouple is under-reading. > > However another possiblity is that there is a significant opening from the > reactor. While it is a reasonable surmise that there is a pressure relief > valve given the way the reactor was emptied in the video from Sept demo, we > still don't know don't know for sure, and it seems rather curious that the > temp/pressure seems to get up to 2 bar gauge in the Sept test and 1.35bar in > the Oct 6th test. It may instead simply be a small orifice. If steam does > flow from the vessel to the heat exchanger (be it an orifice or a slightly > leaky or non-ideal relief valve) then condensation would lead to a large > flow of heat energy as the condensing steam casues a partial vacuum and is > continually replaced. > >
