EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF INSULATING VANE AND INTERACTION PARAMETER ON CURRENT AND VOLTAGE IN A LIQUID-METAL MHD GENERATOR

A room temperature air mercury LMMHD system has been set up to study t he end effects in the presence of an insulating vane in a single phase LMMHD generator. Currents and voltages have been measured for various load factors (0.3-1.0) with different flow rates of mercury, vane loc ations and different magnetic field interaction parameter values. The deviation between the predicted values of load voltage and current, ba sed on the constant velocity model, and the experimental results has b een explained in terms of flow modifications arising because of bounda ry layers and due to the simultaneous presence of axial current and ax ial gradient of the azimuthal magnetic field at the end regions of the generator.