Francis J. Wyant

High energy arcing fault fires in switchgear equipment : a literature review.

In power generating plants, switchgear provide a means to isolate and de-energize specific electrical components and buses in order to clear downstream faults, perform routine maintenance, and replace necessary electrical equipment. These protective devices may be categorized by the insulating medium, such as air or oil, and are typically specified by voltage classes, i.e. low, medium, and high voltage. Given their high energy content, catastrophic failure of switchgear by means of a high energy arcing fault (HEAF) may occur. An incident such as this may lead to an explosion and fire within the switchgear, directly impact adjacent components, and possibly render dependent electrical equipment inoperable. Historically, HEAF events have been poorly documented and discussed in little detail. Recent incidents involving switchgear components at nuclear power plants, however, were scrupulously investigated. The phenomena itself is only understood on a very elementary level from preliminary experiments and theories; though many have argued that these early experiments were inaccurate due to primitive instrumentation or poorly justified methodologies and thus require re-evaluation. Within the past two decades, however, there has been a resurgence of research that analyzes previous work and modern technology. Developing a greater understanding of the HEAF phenomena, in particular the affects on switchgear equipment and other associated switching components, would allow power generating industries to minimize and possibly prevent future occurrences, thereby reducing costs associated with repair and downtime. This report presents the findings of a literature review focused on arc fault studies for electrical switching equipment. The specific objective of this review was to assess the availability of the types of information needed to support development of improved treatment methods in fire Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) for nuclear power plant applications.

Experiments illustrating the importance of automated reasoning in spacecraft reactor control

The importance of automated reasoning to the control of spacecraft nuclear reactors is discussed. Presented are results from experiments that demonstrate the role of planning, prediction, and assessment in the realization of autonomous control. These experiments were performed under closed-loop conditions on the Annular Core Research Reactor that is operated by the Sandia National Laboratories. Automated diagnostics is identified as an area that requires much further research.

START-3: Operational evaluations of the ISUS engine ground demonstration thermionic power system

START-3 was a test program conducted in order to demonstrate and characterize the operational performance of the prototype Integrated Solar Upper Stage (ISUS) thermionic power system. The test device consisted of a graphite thermal storage unit, multilayer foil insulation, and sixteen thermionic converters electrically connected in a series array. Several thermal input conditions were achieved during the test, which resulted in measuring converter performance at average converter hot shoe temperatures in the range of 1600 K to 2000 K. Results indicate that the thermionic converters did not perform as well as expected in the array configuration. Follow-on testing of the individual sixteen converters is currently being performed.

Results from the microminiature thermionic converter demonstration testing program

Research is in progress to develop microminiature thermionic converters (MTCs) with high energy conversion efficiencies and variable operating temperatures using semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) fabrication methods. The use of IC techniques allows the fabrication of MTCs with cathode to anode spacing of several microns or less and with anode and cathode materials that will have work functions ranging from 1 eV to 3 eV. The small cathode to anode spacing and variable electrode work functions should allow the conversion of heat energy to relatively large current densities (up to tens of Amps/cm2) at relatively high conversion efficiencies (15–25%).

Evaluation of the ISUS power management and distribution system under operational conditions

An operational evaluation of the Integrated Solar Upper Stage (ISUS) power management and distribution (PMAD) system was conducted as part of the Engine Ground Demonstration thermionic power system test program-- START-3. START-3 testing took place at the Baikal Test Stand, located in the University of New Mexicos Energy Conversion Research Laboratory at the New Mexico Engineering Research Institute in Albuquerque, NM. One objective of this test was to evaluate the operational performance of the lSUS PMAD system developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center. Tests of the PMAD with the ISUS diode string demonstrated that the PMAD could regulate the output of an array of thermionic converters within the design requirements and couId be modified to optimize performance for diode strings of fewer than 16 diodes.