Daichi Sugimoto

High-efficiency operation of chemical oxygen-iodine laser using nitrogen as buffer gas

High-efficiency operation of supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) with an advanced jet-type singlet oxygen generator using nitrogen as buffer gas was demonstrated. Laser output was remarkably increased when buffer gas was cooled with liquid nitrogen. The effects of buffer gas temperature on the characteristics of the oxygen-iodine laser medium was discussed. A net chemical efficiency of 23.4% was obtained at 405 W when the chlorine molar flow rate was 19 mmol/s.

Output Power Enhancement of a Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser by Predissociated Iodine Injection.

Output power enhancement of a chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) by an injection of predissociated iodine was studied. Iodine molecules were dissociated into atoms by the microwave discharge prior to injection. It was determined that predissociation caused a negative effect on the output power enhancement when this technique was applied to a conventional supersonic COIL. Model calculations revealed that the existence of atomic iodine at the plenum caused the dissipation of stored energy. It was demonstrated that decreasing the mixing point pressure was crucial to obtain output power enhancement by the predissociation technique. For this purpose, a low-pressure transonic mixing scheme with a grid nozzle array was developed. A 9% enhancement of output power was demonstrated.

Modeling of crossflow jet-type singlet oxygen generator

A quasi-two-dimensional model has been developed to predict the performance of a crossflow jet singlet oxygen generator. The model takes into account HO2− depletion, gas temperature variation due to the pooling deactivation of O2(Δ1), and the stretch effect of gas/liquid interaction area due to the jet-induced pressure loss. The modeling results compare favorably with the test data measured over a wide range of geometries and operation conditions. The overall agreements between measured and calculated values in terms of root-mean-square errors for utilization, yield, and gas temperature are 0.030, 0.035, and 16.23K, respectively.

Performance of high-power lasers for rock excavation

Rock excavation experiment with a 10kW-class CO2 laser was demonstrated as a basic study for field application of high power lasers. Sample rocks used in this experiment as a workpiece were tuff breccia and granite. Effect of assist gases on the excavation rate was surveyed. Oxygen, nitrogen, and air were examined and found not to be useful. It was because the gas flow could not blow the molten rocks off, but only helps to cool in case the hole races certain depth. Excavation rate on both rocks for a various output powers was measured to determine thermal constants inherent to each rock. It was found that the excavation rate resulted in slower, as the hole becomes deeper, because of the deterioration in evacuation efficiency of the molten rock. Thermal parameters of the both rocks were derived from the experimental results. Using simplified thermal balance model, it was estimated that a 50 kW-class mobile laser system has a potential to outperform the conventional mechanical excavation technique.

Analysis of cross-flow jet-type singlet oxygen generator

A cross-flow jet-type singlet oxygen generator has been developed, tested and analyzed in order to characterize the dependence of output performance on major input parameters. A thermal-balance model, which can predict O/sub 2/(/sup 1//spl Delta/) yield, gas temperature, and gas residence time, is proposed, and the resultant theoretical results are compared to the experimental data. Combined with computational fluid dynamics-based gas residence-time analysis, the model provides good agreement with the measured value of the O/sub 2/(/sup 1//spl Delta/) yield and the gas temperature. The surface chemistry model was applied to the measured Cl/sub 2/ utilization data, and was found to be inconsistent in the regime of high Cl/sub 2/ loading on the basic hydrogen peroxide jet, indicating that depletion of HO/sub 2//sup -/ is taking place.

Development of a prototype COIL for decommissioning and dismantlement

A study of chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) for the use of decommissioning and dismantlement of nuclear facilities is conducted. A scaled-down model was developed as a prototype. Laser duct and optical cavity were designed so that it can be operated in both supersonic mode and high-pressure subsonic mode for the comparative study. A 1.34kW output with chemical efficiency of 24.6% was obtained in the supersonic mode. In the high-pressure subsonic mode, output power was 1 .12kW with chemical efficiency of 20.6%. A subsonic operation at 12Torr was demonstrated for the first time. A preliminary experiment of thick steel cutting was demonstrated by the developed system. The obtained data was in good agreement with published data.

High-pressure pulsed COIL assisted with an instantaneous production of atomic iodine

A new strategy for pulse oscillation of chemical oxygenNiodine laser based on a combination of a porous pipe SOG with an instantaneous atomic iodine generation, has been developed to seek the potential of COIL as an amplifier of the nuclear fusion driver. This new scheme allows one to produce a large aperture high pressure laser medium, which is favorable to the laser amplifier, while maintaining a minimum degradation of stored energy by water vapor. The experimental apparatus consists of the porous pipe SOG, an iodine donor (CH3I) injector, a flash lamp for the iodine dissociation, and an optical resonator. Operational characteristics of the apparatus including dependence of output energy on an iodine concentration was studied. As the result, the maximum output energy of 800mJ was obtained. It was also found that the CH3I was dissociated through unidentified chemical reaction associated with the O2(1AE).

Excavation of methane hydrate using COIL

Methane hydrate is a energy resource distributed even in the resource-less countries such as Japan and India. The energy is necessary to extract the methane from the methane hydrate and COIL is the unique solution for the extraction tool, because fuels of COIL can be produced from the natural energy without the fossil energy resources. The experimental results of laser light-methane hydrate interaction, multi kW laser light transmission through 1 km optical fiber, and the estimation of the extracted methane by radiation of the multi hundreds kW COIL output on the methane hydrate layer, will be reported.

Technical progress in industrial COIL

Chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) has a great potential for applications such as decommissioning and dismantlement (D&D) of nuclear reactor, rock destruction and removal and extraction of a natural resource (Methane hydrate) because of the unique characteristics such as power scalability, high optical beam quality and optical fiber beam. Five-kilowatt Chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) test facility has been developed. The chemical efficiency of 27% has been demonstrated with a moderate beam quality for optical fiber coupling. Our research program contains conventional/ejector-COIL scheme, Jet-SOG/Mist-SOG optimization, fiber delivery and long-term operation.

Comparison Study of Subsonic and Transonic Mixing in a Multi-Kw Grid-Nozzle Supersonic Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser

The present study compares the laser medium properties for subsonic and transonic iodine injection schemes of a multi-kW grid-nozzle supersonic chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL). Two supersonic nozzles of similar geometry having subsonic or transonic iodine injectors were investigated in the present study. Small signal gain (SSG) and internal cavity temperature (ICT) were experimentally measured as a function of the iodine flow rate and coordinate in the direction of the gas flow. Dissociated fraction of iodine F and the number N of O2(1Δ) molecules consumed for the dissociation of one iodine molecule were estimated by an analytical method, utilizing SSG and ICT as input parameters. Both gain and temperature were measured by diode laser spectroscopy. Pressure broadening of the spectroscopic line of iodine atom was taken into account when calculating the gas temperature in the cavity.