Rod thermometer device for detecting a temperature, use for the electrical simulation of nuclear fuel rods

Abstract

The invention relates to rod thermometer device for detecting a temperature, including a plurality of temperature-sensitive elements and a protective sheath having an axis X in which the sensitive elements are partially inserted. The sheath is made of a metal constituting one of the two metals of a thermocouple, and the sensitive elements of a plurality of wires made of a metal other than that of the sheath and constituting the other one of the two metals of a thermocouple, one of the ends of each one of the wires being welded inside the sheath forming a junction for measuring a given thermocouple, the welded ends of the wires being distributed along a plurality of axial and azimuth positions relative to the axis X inside the sheath, each one of the wires extending out of the sheath by at least one of the ends thereof.

Claims

1. A device for detecting temperature, forming a rod thermometer, comprising: a plurality of elements sensitive to temperature; and a protective cladding of longitudinal axis X in which the sensitive elements are partially housed, characterized in that the protective cladding is made of a metal constituting one of the two metals of a thermocouple, and in that the sensitive elements consist in a plurality of wires made of a metal different from that of the cladding and constituting the other of the two metals of a thermocouple, one of the ends of each of the wires being welded to the interior of the cladding so as to form a measurement junction of a given thermocouple, the welded ends of the wires being distributed in a plurality of axial and azimuthal positions relative to the axis X in the interior of the cladding, each of the wires exiting from the cladding via at least one of its ends.

2. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metal of the cladding is a type-K material.

3. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metal of the wires is a type-K material.

4. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cladding is either made of chromel or of a nickel/chromium alloy, and the wires are made of alumel.

5. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wires are entirely covered with an electrical insulator except for their junction ends.

6. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the wires made of alumel are covered with an alumina deposit.

7. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein a thickness of the protective cladding is smaller than or equal to 0.1 mm.

8. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein an outside diameter of the wires is smaller than or equal to 0.1 mm.

9. The rod thermometer as claimed in claim 1, comprising at least one adapter-tube made from the same metal as the cladding and of larger outside diameter than that of the cladding, the adapter tube being brazed around the cladding at the end where the metal wires exit.

10. A process for manufacturing the rod thermometer as claimed in claim 1, comprising the following steps: cutting longitudinally along two opposite generatrices a tube made of a metal constituting one of the two metals of a thermocouple, so as to form two half tubes; welding one end of each of the plurality of wires made of a metal constituting one of the two metals of a thermocouple to the interior of at least one half tube, the ends of the welded wires being distributed in a plurality of axial and azimuthal positions; and joining the two half tubes to make the metal tube forming the protective cladding by welding along each generatrix while leaving the plurality of metal wires to exit via at least one of its ends.

11. The manufacturing process as claimed in claim 10, wherein the welding of one of the ends of the wires to one half tube is achieved by arc welding.

12. The manufacturing process as claimed in claim 10, wherein the welding joining the two half tubes is spot welding.

13. A method for installing the temperature detecting device according to claim 1 in a device for simulating electrically a nuclear fuel rod comprising at least one tube made of an electrically conductive material, referred to as the heated tube, that is intended to heat a liquid, in order to detect the occurrence of a boiling crisis in the liquid, in which: the cladding forming the common metal of the thermocouples is arranged in the interior of the electrical simulating device and at a distance from the heated tube, the space between the cladding and the heated tube is filled with a pressurized insulating gas and the space filled with pressurized insulating gas is sealed.

14. The installing method as claimed in claim 13, in which the arrangement at distance is achieved by means of spacers made of an electrically insulating material that are fastened to the exterior of the cladding housing the welded wires and fitted so that there is clearance with the interior of the heated tube, in zones devoid of wires.

15. The installing method as claimed in claim 13, in which, before the arrangement, the interior of the heated tube and/or the exterior of the cladding is treated so as to provide it/them with a thermal emissivity at least equal to 0.8.

16. The installing method as claimed in claim 15, in which the treatment consists either of controlled oxidation of the tube or of coating with a material having a high thermal emissivity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(1) Other features and advantages of the invention will become more clearly apparent on reading the detailed description of example embodiments of the invention given by way of nonlimiting illustration and with reference to the appended figures, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of a device for electrically simulating a nuclear fuel rod of the direct heating type, in which a rod thermometer according to the invention is installed;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of a device for electrically simulating a nuclear fuel rod of the indirect heating type, in which a rod thermometer according to the invention is installed; and

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing in detail the rod thermometer according to the invention such as it is when installed in the direct heating electrical simulating device shown in FIG. 1.

(5) It will be noted here that electrical simulating devices of the direct heating type (FIGS. 1 and 3) and of the indirect heating type, as described and claimed in patent application FR 1 154 336, (FIG. 2) must allow the occurrence of a boiling crisis, defined as a substantial change in wall temperature for a small variation in thermo-hydraulic control parameters, to be detected.

(6) It will also be noted that in all of FIGS. 1 to 3, the references Lt, Ln and Lc and l respectively designate:

(7) Lt: overall length of the electrical simulating device;

(8) Ln: length of the device submerged in the liquid;

(9) Lc: heated length of the device; and

(10) l: overall length of the rod thermometer.

(11) It should be noted that in the design of direct heating electrical simulating devices (FIGS. 1 and 3) provision is made for an electrical connection to be submerged in the liquid to be heated (Liq), whereas an indirect heating electrical simulating device (FIG. 2) is designed so that there is no submerged electrical connection, this being advantageous because there is then no need to provide for sophisticated electrical insulation from the exterior environment.

(12) It will also be noted that to carry out boiling crisis tests, an electrical simulating device in which a rod thermometer according to the invention is installed is arranged within a assembly (not shown) of a plurality of identical devices with spacer grids inside a tank (not shown) containing the liquid to be heated, the two electrical connections protruding from the tank while being insulated therefrom by suitable means, and the tubular resistor is supplied with DC current. For pressurized water reactors, the liquid to be heated is water. For other applications, the liquid to be heated may be different. Typically for sodium-cooled fast breeder reactors (Na-FBR), the liquid to be heated is sodium.

(13) For these boiling crisis tests the following parameters are fixed for each electrical simulating device: heated length Lc, typically from 1 to 4.3 meters; the axial heat flux density profile per rod, typically from 0.2 to 3.5 MW/m.sup.2; exterior cladding outside diameter typically from 8.5 to 10.7 mm; and total electrical supply, typically 250 V with a maximum local gradient equal to 100 V/m.

(14) Likewise, for these tests, the following parameters are fixed for the assembly together of a plurality of electrical simulating devices: the type and the positions of the spacer grids, defining the type and the pitch of the cells of an assembly; and the number of devices per assembly, which must be small, typically from 19 to 37.

(15) The internal operating conditions of the electrical simulating device as follows: internal operating temperature in the steady-state: 450° C.; internal operating temperature during a boiling crisis: 800° C.; and internal neutral-gas pressure: 180 bars.

(16) For the sake of clarity, analogous elements of direct and indirect heating devices have been given the same references.

(17) FIG. 1 shows an electrical simulating device that is conventionally referred to as a direct heating device. The device 1 consists of a resistor 2 taking the form of a tube that also serves as an external cladding. In other words, the tubular cladding 2 also plays the role of an electrical resistor, i.e. the part supplied with current in order to heat the liquid in which the device is submerged. The interior 20 of the tubular resistor/cladding 2 is filled with pressurized nitrogen. Two electrical connections 30, 31 are each inserted into one of the ends of the resistor/cladding 2. One of the connections 30 is that which supplies the current: it is drilled through its center in order to house the rod thermometer 4 according to the invention of longitudinal axis X, which extends longitudinally along the axis of the device in the interior of the heated cladding 2 through the space occupied by the pressurized insulating gas 20, as will be detailed below.

(18) In this end, the seal tightness of the heated cladding 2 to the pressurized nitrogen in the interior 20 thereof is ensured both by the connection 30 itself and by an end plug 5 made of an electrically insulating material. The other 31 of the connections is that through which the current leaves: it is unapertured and therefore also serves as a sealing plug.

(19) FIG. 2 shows an indirect heating electrical simulating device 1 such as described and claimed in patent application FR 1 154 336. It essentially consists of: a tubular resistor 2 of the same type as that of the direct heating device 1 shown in FIG. 1, in order to obtain a high heat flux density having an axial profile dependent only on the variation in the thickness of the resistor, and a uniform, i.e. azimuthally invariant, transverse profile; the radial dimensions of the tubular resistor are smaller in order to electrically insulate it using an added electrically insulating but thermally conductive intermediate element 6 that preferably has a very high thermal conduction coefficient; an external cladding 7 of a thermally conductive material that encases the tubular resistor 2/intermediate element 6 assembly, the outside diameter of said cladding being the fixed diameter indicated above (8.5 to 10.7 mm), i.e. that of the claddings of nuclear fuel rods intended for PWR reactors; and a rod thermometer 4 according to the invention installed in the interior of the resistor 2 in the space occupied by the pressurized insulating gas 20.

(20) Furthermore, the tubular resistor 2 is supplied with DC current via the connection 30. For applications other than the qualification of nuclear fuel, the electrical supply may be a single-phase AC supply.

(21) In the embodiment in FIG. 2 the electrically insulating and thermally conductive intermediate element is a column of ceramic pellets 6 drilled through their center, stacked one on top of the other and inserted around the tubular resistor 2 over its entire length and around a portion of the electrical connections 30, 31.

(22) In the electrical simulating devices 1 described above, given the fixed internal operating conditions and parameters, during a boiling crisis in which the exchange coefficient drops to a very low value, the temperature of the heated element wall 2 in FIG. 1 and of the external cladding wall 7 in FIG. 2 increases by 1750 K/s with an uncertainty of 300 K.

(23) The electrical power supply of the heated element 2 must be cut with a characteristic fall time shorter than 170 ms, thereby, on account of the properties of the power supply control unit, leaving about 100 ms for the characteristic detection time.

(24) Up to now, in the prior art, the temperature detecting devices used to detect boiling crises in electrical simulating devices consisted of thermocouples, for example eight K-type thermocouples made of inconel 600, each arranged making contact with the heated element 2 in FIG. 1 or the exterior cladding 7 in FIG. 2 in various axial and azimuthal positions in locations specified with a tolerance of +/−2 mm. In a direct heating device 1 analogous to that shown in FIG. 1, the thermocouples were welded directly to the heated cladding 2. In an indirect heating device 1 analogous to that described in patent application FR 1 154 336 and shown in FIG. 2, provision was made to insert the thermocouples into grooves produced in the exterior of the external cladding 7.

(25) The locations specified for the arrangement with direct contact of the thermocouples according to the prior art corresponded to zones in which a boiling crisis was expected to occur.

(26) With such a detection method according to the prior art, the number of temperature detection points was thus limited, typically to about ten per device 1, essentially because of the relatively high cost in terms of investment and in terms of the man-hours required for installation.

(27) Furthermore, once the tests had been carried out, on the one hand the actual thermocouples, and on the other hand the heated element 2 in FIG. 1 or the external cladding 7 in FIG. 2, were rendered unusable.

(28) To alleviate these drawbacks, the inventors of the present invention had the idea of producing a rod thermometer 4 such as shown in FIG. 3.

(29) The rod 4 according to the invention comprises a protective cladding 40 made of a metal constituting one of the two metals of a thermocouple.

(30) A plurality of wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 made of a metal different from that of the cladding and constituting the other of the two metals of a thermocouple is housed in the interior of the protective cladding 40.

(31) One of the ends of each of the wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 is welded to the interior of the cladding so as to form a measurement junction of a given thermocouple, the welded ends of the wires being distributed in a plurality of axial and azimuthal positions relative to the axis X in the interior of the cladding, each of the wires exiting from the cladding via at least one of its ends.

(32) Thus, one end of one wire 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 is welded in each axial and azimuthal position that must be monitored for the purposes of detecting a boiling crisis.

(33) Preferably, the metal of the protective cladding 40 and that of the wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 form K-type thermocouples.

(34) The metal wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 are preferably covered with an electrically insulating coating in order to insulate them from each other and from the protective cladding 40 (apart from the junctions)

(35) As shown in FIG. 3, the protective cladding is preferably made up of two portions 40, 41, the larger-diameter top portion being brazed around the bottom portion. The top portion 41 thus forms an adapter and makes it easier to fit the connection 30.

(36) To produce the rod thermometer 4 according to the invention, it is advantageously possible to proceed in the following way: cutting longitudinally along two opposite generatrices a tube 40 made of a metal constituting one of the two metals of a thermocouple, so as to form two half tubes; welding one end of each of the plurality of wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 made of a metal constituting one of the two metals of a thermocouple to the interior of at least one half tube, the ends of the welded wires being distributed in a plurality of axial and azimuthal positions (FIG. 3); and joining the two half tubes to make the metal tube forming the protective cladding by welding along each generatrix while leaving the plurality of metal wires to exit via at least one of its ends. The welding of one of the ends of the wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 to at least one half tube is achieved by arc welding and the reconstituting welding is spot welding.

(37) Provision may be made to braze or weld a seal-tight end fitting to the bottom portion of the reconstituted metal tube 40.

(38) In order to fit the rod thermometer in the interior either of the external heated cladding 2 (direct heating device 1 in FIG. 1) or of the internal resistor 2 (indirect heating device 1 in FIG. 2), the protective cladding 40 forming the common metal of the thermocouples is arranged in the interior of and at a distance from this heated tube 2, the space between the cladding and the heated tube is filled with a pressurized insulating gas 20 and the space filled with pressurized insulating gas 20 is sealed by means of one or more electrically insulating elements 5. To create the seal level with an electrically insulating element 5, such element possibly being a ceramic shim, a metal/ceramic/metal brace may advantageously be produced on the one hand with the adapter-tube 41 and on the other hand with the tube 2. Moreover, in order to ensure the rod thermometer 4 is held mechanically in the tube 2, it is possible to form a mechanical metal/metal joint between the adapter-tube 41 and the tube 2 under the electrically insulating shim 5.

(39) To avoid the risk of short-circuits, the protective cladding 40 is equipped with spacers or shims 8 made of an electrically insulating material, such as a ceramic, in zones outside of the measurement junctions. These shims 8 fastened to the exterior of the protective cladding 40 are dimensioned in order to be fitted so that there is play with the interior of the heated tube 2. The play between the shims 8 and the interior of the tube corresponds to a fitting tolerance increased by an allowance for thermal expansion.

(40) To improve the response time of the measurement instrumentation, the emissivity of the internal face of the heated tube 2 may be increased so as to be higher than a value of 0.8. Likewise, the emissivity of the external face of the protective cladding may be increased to a value higher than 0.8.

(41) In the top portion 41 of the rod thermometer according to the invention a seal 9 may be formed between the metal wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and the cladding 41 that also allows said wires to be held in position.

(42) By way of example, the dimensions and materials of complete devices 1 and of the rod thermometer 4 according to the invention are given below.

(43) Dimensions:

(44) complete device 1: Submerged length Ln: 1.2 to 4.5 m; Total length Lt: 1.5 to 4.8 m; external cladding 2 or 7: Outside diameter: 8.5 to 10.7 mm; Thickness: ˜1 mm with a value of 0.5 mm for a peak power flux equal to 3.5 MW/m.sup.2; resistor 2: Heated length Lc: 1 to 4.3 m; Outside diameter smaller by about 0.5 mm to the inside diameter of the external cladding 7; Inside diameter dependent on the electrical resistance in question; ceramic pellets 6: Thickness: about 2 mm; shims 8: Outside diameter 4.9 mm; Inside diameter: 4 mm; Height: 10 mm; rod thermometer 4 according to the invention: Overall length l: 1 to 3 m; Outside diameter: 4 mm; protective cladding 40: Thickness: 0.1 mm; metal wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 . . . Diameter: 0.1 mm.
Materials: external cladding 7: Inconel 600 or 316 L stainless steel; resistor 2: Inconel 600 or 70/30 cupronickel; stacked pellets 6 made of boron nitride or aluminum nitride and ceramic coating 22 made of zirconia; electrical connections 30, 31: copper, nickel or molybdenum; sealing element 5: ceramic shim brazed on the one hand to the tube 2 and on the other hand to the adapter-tube 41; electrically insulating sealing elements 9: resin or silicone; shims 8: alumina or zirconia; rod thermometer 4 according to the invention: protective cladding 40: chromel or Inconel® 600; wires 4.1, 4.2, 4.3: alumel covered with alumina.

(45) With the dimensions and materials indicated for the rod thermometer 4 according to the invention, the thermal inertia of the latter is a relatively low, thereby leading to a relatively short response time. Typically, for an increase in the temperature of the cladding 2 of 1000° C./s, a set detection threshold higher than 10° C. is reached by the rod thermometer 4 in less than 100 ms for a cladding temperature 2 below 750° C.

(46) Although described exclusively with regard to a device for electrically simulating a nuclear fuel rod for carrying out boiling crisis tests, the device according to the invention described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 may also be used more generally in detection of the temperature of a wall for which a high measurement density is required in the axial and azimuthal directions.