Simulation of Fast Response Thermocouple for the Nuclear Reactor Core

K. Dusarlapudi[1], B. K. Nashine[2], D. Bai[3], and C. S. Babu[1]
[1]KL University, Vaddeswaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
[2]E.D&S.S, IGCAR Kalpakkam, India
[3]VIT, Vellore, India
Published in 2011

Thermocouples have been used for measurement of temperature ever since the discovery of Seebeck effect. Though the voltage output of a thermocouple is a function of the temperature difference between hot and cold junctions, the response time and the magnitude of voltage depends on the geometry and material of the thermocouple also.

This report deals with the study of the mineral-insulted-stainless steel-thermocouples of different dimensions and materials and to obtain their response time experimentally, a numerical modeling approach has been followed in this report. Various designs of thermocouples have been analyzed and their response time has been calculated using a finite element based software COMSOL. Based on this analysis a design of the thermocouple having a fast response has been selected.