Current distribution and nonuniformity effects in MHD disk generators

Current distribution and nonuniformity effects in combustion driven MHD disk generators were studied. The importance of these phenomena to baseload power generation was investigated. The peg wall construction allowed current and voltage distributions to be measured. The channel was operated with plasma temperatures up to 2750 K and magnetic field strengths up to 5.5 Tesla. The magnitudes of the currents and voltages were reduced by significant loss mechanisms, primarily electrode losses and current leakage through the wall caused by potassium seed penetration of the castable ceramic between the pegs. A simple circuit model accounting for these losses was developed to be compared with analytical calculations. Under normal uniform electrical loading the distributions measured in the channel were uniform as expected. Nonuniform electrical loading was used to produce and measure effects on the current distribution that occur only in the presence of high magnetic fields as required for MHD power generation.