Self-driven thermoelectric cooling contraption for liquid metals under the static magnetic field

Abstract

The presence of large temperature gradients in liquid metals during heat transfer can also induce thermoelectric effects, which can lead to pumping or stirring of liquid metals under the action of magnetic fields. The thermoelectric effect of liquid metals has potential application background in both nuclear fusion and metal metallurgy. In this paper, an experimental study of flow driven by the Seebeck effect, in which the temperature-dependent voltage difference at an interface between dissimilar metals, in the presence of a magnetic field, can be used to create a Lorentz force. It is proposed that this method could be used for cooling electronics, fusion reactors, and solar technologies. The working fluid is eutectic gallium–indium–tin, and flow measurements are made with ultrasound. The flow velocity tends to increase and then decrease as the magnetic field increases. Two scaling relations are developed to predict the velocity, one for weak magnetic fields and one for strong magnetic fields. Those predictions are combined to estimate the maximum velocity. Temperature gradients and wall conductance ratio have a significant effect on the Seebeck effect self-driven flow. It is found that the self-driven flow velocity caused by the Seebeck effect is positively correlated with the number of channels in the multi-channel experiments. This design idea of self-generated flow and heat transfer of liquid metal in the magnetic field will provide the possibility of pumpless self-driven liquid lithium flow in nuclear fusion reactors and provide new ideas for cooling of electronic products and related energy-saving and emission reduction applications.