me356: Reactor parameters [part 1]

It has window and is capable of measuring Alpha, Beta and Gamma radiation types separately/together by changing different shielding.

Calibration test is coming soon!

I have all needed parts, yet I have to build the reactor now.

I have succesfully tested my electronics now which include:
- Transformer
- Triac Board (will be better than thyristor) - SSR solution does not worked as expected.
- Reactor Controller with sensors
- Data logger and Streaming machine

Calibration tests will show if there could be any problem, but I hope it will work very well.
Streaming machine will stream online including realtime reactor data. So everybody can see exact measurements without any delay.

Reactor Controller has own firmware that supports many modes, can be updated remotely, stopped, restarted, modified without touching it. It has PID regulation - already tuned.
Same with Streaming machine. It will work separately, but will be connected online.

Firmware is prepared even for SSMs.

Yes, except that I have bought cheaper model. Logging feature is still there but you can't read the data in realtime. So I will be reading the data by camera and periodically from the log via USB.

Interestingly this counter is turned on all the time, it can't be turned off. And it should last for 10+ years with this one battery charge.
Basically it measure radiation "endlessly".

Can somebody share tips for wrapping kanthal wire on the ceramic tube?

It should be done very precisely to avoid local overheating.
I have tried some methods, but it seems that wounding on the screw-thread is working fine.
For 16mm tube it seems that M16 screw with fine pitch (1.5mm) could be good.
So to get 10 ohms 20AWG Kanthal A1 wire 64 wraps is needed. This will take 96mm of the 100mm tube - perfect fit.

Thank you! I will try.

Well, I think it could work.

Firstly I have used lathe machine that wrapped the wire on 14mm metal tube.
Then after placing the coil on 16mm ceramic tube I have used copper wire with proper diameter and wrapped it by hand to place kanthal wire very precisely.
Lastly I removed copper wire carefully and the result is quite good.

Now it is time for sealing kanthal wire with alumina cement.

And sealing process now. It will be sealed to the reactor tube then.

Sealant: Alumina cement (Al2O3) 99,7% grade with max. 1500°C temperature resistance.

Thanks. Yes, next time I will post photos in higher resolution.

Sealing is done.

Hopefully tommorow will be calibration test!
Test will be performed with 3 thermocouples to compare temperature difference and heat transfer.

Thank you.

There will be live data with interactive plots available for all and hopefully camera as well. So everybody can see exact details and progress.
I am considering live stream, but YouTube is streaming with approx. 1 minute delay while our live data are plotted online with approx. 20ms delay only.

For sure I will be using camera stream internally but we will see. In the worst case I will provide screenshots periodically.

Indeed.

Today I have did calibration tests with the reactor without fuel. Also PID regulation was tuned bit more as the reactor heater is behaving differently.
I will need more tests to verify that all will be OK and precise altough it seems that the fueled test can begin in the following days!

Thank you very much.

I am able to test it later too.
I want to replicate Parkhomov work first, thus I will use identical setup as much as possible.

Indeed, safety in the first place. I think that loading the fuel is the most dangerous part of this experiment.

I have placed my reactor to the separate building where it can't cause any damage.
Everything is controlled approx. 50m away from my laboratory.

At the moment I am tuning PID even more.
Setpoint is 700°C and should be reached within one hour.