Development of Magnetostrictive Transducer Prototype for Blockage Detection on Molten Salt Pipes

Héctor Andrés-Mayor, Miguel J. Prieto, Pedro J. Villegas, Fernado Nuño, Juan A. Martín-Ramos and Alberto M. Pernía
Additional contact information
Héctor Andrés-Mayor: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijón, Asturias, Spain
Miguel J. Prieto: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijón, Asturias, Spain
Pedro J. Villegas: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijón, Asturias, Spain
Fernado Nuño: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijón, Asturias, Spain
Juan A. Martín-Ramos: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijón, Asturias, Spain
Alberto M. Pernía: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijón, Asturias, Spain

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: In solar thermal power plants molten salt is often used to store and transport the energy that is collected during the day. The external pipe temperature is measured to activate an electric heating system if the temperature approaches the melting point. However, salt solidification cannot be completely excluded from the plant management. Once occurred, the location of a salt blockage is very complex due to the high temperature of the pipe. Therefore, when this problem arises, power plants have to stop production with the consequences in time and cost that this entails. Electro-magnetic acoustic transducers can be used as non-destructive testing systems for this application. A method for salt blockage detection is proposed that is applicable in straight sections of pipes by employing torsional guided waves that are generated with magnetostrictive transducers. The present paper deals with the transducer conception and the design of the power supply to activate it. Two alternatives are proposed and compared to determine the improvement in the amplitude/noise ratio. Finally, the experimental results show the performance of the equipment in a small prototype, thus validating the technique presented.

Keywords: guided waves; torsional waves; magnetostriction; electromagnetic acoustic transducer; electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT); nondestructive testing; nondestructive testing (NDT); solar power plant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/3/587/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/3/587/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:3:p:587-:d:135248

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().