Characteristics of Resistive Electrode in MHD Generator Duct and a Minimizing Technique for Internal Power Loss

Abstract

Two-dimensional current distribution in two regions—resistive electrode and plasma—are studied to optimize the shape of the resistive electrode in the MHD generator. Numerical computations are made for an example of potassium-seeded argon in non-equilibrium. As a first step, the performance is analyzed on an electrode of rectangular shape, and calculations performed more quantitatively than in the previous work by Maxwell et al. reveal that better uniformity is obtained for the current distribution along the electrode surface by increasing the thickness and resistivity of the electrode. The uniformity is found to improve also when the load current is increased.

To diminish the power loss produced in the resistive layer, the electrode shape is optimized by eliminating from the rectangular resistive electrode the portion that produces the power loss. The electrode thus optimized in shape has an effective internal resistance that is independent of the value of the resistivity of the resistive layer. Consequently, in the optimized electrode, the power loss is independent of the uniformity of current distribution along the electrode surface, whereas it depends on the uniformity when a rectangular-shaped electrode is used.

KEYWORDS:

• resistive electrodes
• shapes
• minimizing power loss
• current
• distribution
• potassium-seeded argon
• two-dimensional analysis