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January

The Magnetohydrodynamic Power Generator-Basic Principles, State of the Art, and Areas of Application*
A. R.

KANTROWITZt,

T. R.

BROGANt,

R.

J. ROSAt,

AND

J. F. LOUISt

Summary-The paper opens with a review and discussion of the ventional rotating generator with the hot conductinlg basic principles of MHD power generation. It is seen that the MHD gas serving as the armature. generator operates in a manner similar to that of a conventional ure. Ssei a Such a device could be used In a high-temperature generator in that the "armature" of the MHD is a hot, high-speed electrically-conducting gas, while the force or torque-required to heat cycle, and the MHD generator would replace the move a metallic conductor through a field is replaced by a pressure turbine and generator of conventional cycles. For such gradient in the gaseous armature. Thus the functions of turbine and a device the problems related to magnetohydrodynamgenerator are combined in a single machine. Because this machine ics are fairlv simple as the applied magnetic field is has no moving parts, it can, in principle, accept a working fluid at hardly affected by the induced field in the slightly temperature. high very very~ hig tepraue ionized gas. This high temperature flow becomes a flow equations After a derivation of the basic MHD-generator a brief synopsis of losses in an MHD generator is given. The nature problem of two-dimensional gas dynamics where deof these losses is such that the MHD generator is applicable where tailed thermodynamic and electrical properties of gases, large amounts of power are involved. In gases, the Hall effect can be magnetic field, temperature, and pressure are important. very pronounced, and its influence on MHD generator design and Further, since the engineering applications of the genperformance is pointed out. There follows a brief statement of the state of the art in MHD- erator appear more imminent, one is concerned with generator development at the Avco-Everett Research Laboratory. It problems of over-all design, efficiency, reliability, and is shown that gases produced by conventional heat sources can be economy. The distinguishing feature of an M\4HD genierator as made adequate conductors of electricity for use in an MHD if a

thbea

small amount of easily ionizable impurity called seed is added to the gas. Recent developments in superconducting materials, plus

detailed studies of MHD-generator fluid mechanics in a large combustion-driven generator point to early realization of the potential of MHD.

turbo-generator iS that it cornpared to a conventional g .

achieve
ne

Finally, some potential applications of MHD are suggested. These applications lie in the areas of central station power generation, ship-

utlizes an ionized and, hence, electrically conducting gas. Of importance then are the values of conductivity which may be reached and the conditions required to

board propulsion, limited duration, high-power units, and energy storage and discharge in some ranges now covered by capacitor and inductive devices.

INTRODUCTION A SIMPLE FORM of MHD generator is sketched in Fig. 1. It consists of a duct through which the gaseous working fluid flows, coils which produce a magnetic field across the duct, and electrodes at the top and bottom of the duct. These electrodes serve much the same purpose as the brushes in a conventional generator.
ANODE

production of a given amount of power. If the conductivity is too low so that the generator becomes excessively large, then one expects that the power required to maintain the field, heat transfer and other losses will become excessive. Studies of conductivity for comibustion gases are described later.

valuenof as generator se nes netic field strength and generator size necessary for the
for the

The value of gas

them.

conductivity determines

the mag-

Flow Theory

BASIC PRINCIPLES

FIELD COIL
.

The equations sional flow in an

7are:

MHD generator

governing

the

essentially one-dimenas

sketched in Fig. 1

INDUCED :GAS AEmfD MOTION

Energy
Alomentum
Cniut

pu d( 2

+CPT) =jm Em

(la)
(2a)

L,a,OAD M4 -OvE J
Fig. 1-The dc magnetohydrodynamic generator.

xj,ppudu,/dx+ grad P=jmXBm

u

netic field, has an EMF generated in it which drives a stehatcpct tcn current through it, the electrodes, and the external dest,advlciy.. j is the current density; E and B are the pressure; . that of a con- ~~~stant . . . ' with stegh;Ai h hne an mantc-il elcrc load. Thus, itS operation 'iS .identical cross section; and co and T are the cyclotron frequency * Reevdb. h G L coe ,91
t Avco-Everett Research Laboratory, Everett, Mass.

The as, y vrtueof ts mtio thrughthe

ag-

(4) ( X Bm+ Em)-(cwrB) jm XBm, Ohm's Law jm=(m where P, T, p, and u are the gas pressure, temperature,

osat(a

and the rmean free time of an electron in the gas. The

1962

Kantrowitz, et al.: Magnetohydrodynamic Power Generator

that or, u, 71e, and B
moment the term in
are

79

three-dimensional continuum rather than a bundle of essentially one-dimensional wires. Therefore, eddy The rate at which gas enthalpy is extracted as elec- currents may occur whenever there is rapid space variatrical energy is given by (lb). Dividing the latter by tion in electric or magnetic field strength or in gas the former gives velocity. For the type of generator in Fig. 1, such variations can be largely avoided, except at the entrace and p>dh dx dhi E exit. These entering and leaving losses have been '11e 5) dp uB udpldx analyzed and calculated by Fishman.3 Under typical it appears that they will be roughly ten per where is the "electrical efficiency" of the cent of the or, pressure. Thisinissome not serious fis the"letr inentrance a typicalstagnation nof of effctricien" generat i.e.,the power cycle. Moreover, i.e., the fraction too of the electric power generatedithatis actually delivered difference being dis- cases, it should be practical to put vanes in the entrace theto sipated in the internal resistance of the generator itself. nozzle and diffuser to block the eddy current circulation. of constan velocit and Aerodynamic Losses: As in a conventional turbine, Under the a in specific heat, one finds that the real pressure ratio viscous drag and diffuser losses will also occur. Howacross the generator as compared to the ideal will be ever, an MHD generator has the possibility of being given by aerodynamically much cleaner; hence, such losses may be relatively small. PilPf(real) /hi\7( 1 fe) (7 - 1>e P,/Pf(isentropic) =y7hfJ Electrode Losses: The electrodes will have a charge sheath and potential drop associated with space them where -y is the specific heat ratio. much as in a conventional arc-type gas discharge. The A formula for generator length L can be obtained by gas conditions which will exist in an MUD generator integrating (2b) using (4) for j and (5) for F. Assuming differ considerably from those which have been studied in the past; in particular, gas discharges in hot combus1 R. J. Rosa, Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca,

symbol xi,n denotes a unit vector in the direction of flow. These equations can be solved in closed form for some special conditions,1 and for more general conditions may readily be integrated numerically.2 A simplifying feature of MHD theory under the conditions of interest here is that the magnetic field strength B can usually, to good approximation, be taken as a given thing, fixed by external conditions, and not influenced appreciably by the current patterns that arise in the gas. On the other hand, it is necessary to allow for both the temperature and pressure dependence of the electrical conductivity ov. As in a turbine, the flow velocity through an MHD generator is more or less a constant, the primary effect being a drop in pressure as the gas forces itself through the successive turbine stages of the former, or the magnetic field of the latter. The assumption of strictly constant velocity is useful in that it greatly simplifies the equations of motion and makes clear the processes occurring in the generator. The equations then are: Energy pudhldx jm Em (Ib) \omenturn dPldx = jyB (2b) Momentinumty Continuity pA = constant (3b) where h is the gas enthalpy per unit mass. The continuity equation now gives the area increase which must be provided to insure constant velocity. The rate at which work is done bv the gas in pushing itself through the magnetic field is obtained by multiplying (2b) by u
pA
constant

L=

This shows clearly the way length varies with the parameters at one's disposal and so is useful in spite of the several assumptions made in its derivation. The velocity of the gaseous working fluid in a generator and its electrical conductivity are tied together through the gas temperature. As the working fluid accelerates into a generator, its temperature, and hence, its conductivity drops. Since both high velocity and high conductivity are desirable, the question arises as to what compromise between the two should be
The power output per unit volume of flow as given by (lb) is equal to j E. By use of (4) and (5), we can show, for a given value of 77e, that it is proportional to the product (lU2); dividing (lb) by the gas velocity u gives the amount of gas enthalpy which is extracted per unit length of flow path through the magnetic field showing it to be proportional to the product (ou). In the design of a specific generator, one will probably seek to maximize one or the other of these two products. Losses

constant, and neglecting for the (4) involving cor, one obtains r P /lf ry(7L1 - lI)-.e] (6) (1 - 7)uB2 i \IhJ

chosen.

(3b

Eddy Current Losses: A pressure loss peculiar to an 1IHD generator is that due to circulating eddy currents. In an MHD device, the moving conductor is a

udPldx = j,uB.

-=

-q,

generator,conditions

load,ithe

N. Y.; 1956. 2 R. M. Patrick, and T. R. Brogan, J. Fluid Mech. February, 1959.

3F. Fishman, Avco-Everett Res. Lab., Everett, Mass., Res. Rept. 78; June, 1959.

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IRE TRANSACTIONS ON MILITARY ELECTRONICS

January

tion gas have not been studied extensively. Heat Transfer and Field Coil Losses: The two remaining sources of loss are heat transfer to the generator walls and joule dissipation in the coils producing the magnetic field. These two losses are to a considerable extent coupled and, hence, need to be discussed together. Wall heat transfer is apt to be one of the largest single sources of loss in an MHD generator. Thus, the necessity for minimizing it will play a large role in generator design. For a linear configuration as discussed above, this means, roughly speaking, that one should avoid duct length to diameter ratios greater than about 20 and duct cross sections which depart appreciably from being square. The duct length, according to (6), is inversely proportional to the magnetic field strength squared; hence, to minimize wall heat loss a high field seems desirable. The joule loss per unit coil length will increase as B2, but since the length goes down as B2 the total field loss will remain more or less constant. Therefore, it appears that the higher the field the better. If iron is used the field is, of course, limited to something less than 20,000 gauss. For the magnitude and shape of the field desired, in a full scale device, the benefits of using iron in the magnetic circuit are, however, relatively small, as air core magnets consume only a small fraction of the generator output in large machines. Recent developments in high field strength superconducting materials make it possible to envisage production of the magnetic field with no power expenditure.

conductivity of a gas is always equal to a until cor becomes so high that ion slip occurs. However, it is useful here to consider the gas as having an "effective" conductivity defined by
Fig. 2, which is a plot of (10), graphically shows how this "effective" conductivity will vary with E. for given values of wT. It can be seen that it will be less than the actual conductivity, "o" unless (11) E. = (uB - Ey)cor.
From this equation it appears that E. can build up to the value given by (11), but only if no current Jx is allowed to flow in the x direction; i.e., if the Hall field is prevented in any way from "shorting out." In principle, this can be done in a linear generator if the electrodes are segmented, with each anode-cathode pair feeding a separate external circuit. In any case, the Hall effect is always important in generator design and is of particular importance if gas nonuniformities exist.4
K / A

Seff/o- = j,/o(uB-E )

(10)

.2.5s

1.5

2UT

10
A

With the values of electrical conductivity that can be produced by conventional heat sources, the necessity that heat loss and field dissipation be tolerable in terms of generator output means that the MHD generator is suited to applications requiring large amounts of power. One megawatt is a likely lower limit of applicability for combustion gases.
Hall Effects Inviscid gases, like solid conductors, exhibit Hall effects which are proportional to the magnetic field

.2
0

Ex/(uB-E1)
STATE OF THE ART

strength.

The last term of the Ohm's law

J = o(u X B + E)-B

X B)

(7)

gives rise to the Hall effect. Its relative magnitude depends upon the quantity, cer. . The above defect has been remed led during the last tron freqency tims mean fre time.)decade. Using a shock tube, Lin, et al., accurately measThe xcompoents any of 4) are:ured the electrical conductivity of argon and air6 7 in

(cor=27rXelectron-cyclo-edeothelcralpprisofge.
()ment with theory.
8

Conceptually, at least, the MHD generator is a very old device dating from the middle 19th century when M1ichael Faraday proposed that the tidal rip of the Thames River be used as a source of power. Patent literature in the field dates from the turn of the century. The first known attempt to actually develop an MHD generator was carried out by Karlovitz, et al.5 of Westinghouse in the late 1930's. That project was of considerable scale, butrprte failed because of lack of knowlfgss edeo.h'letia

[u , +E](xil =1 + (A2T2 [U-v+E](xa) Jx =

thermodynamic equilibrium, and found excellent agree' . .Roa Phys. Fluids, February, 1961. 6 S. C. Lin, E. L. Resler, and A. R. Kantrowitz, J.

[wrT(uB

= F,,) - Er]. (transverse) (9)

Appi. Phys.;

Strictly speaking, the absolute magnitude Qf the

'L L+amb anXd S. C, Lin, J. App5jl. Phys.; July, 1957,

1962

Kantrowitz, et al.: Magnetohydrodynamic Power Generator

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY

81

and many practical problems were discovered and Electrical Properties of Gases studied during its operation. Recently, a new and In order to design a generator, an accurate knowledge larger generator using seeded combustion products has of the electrical conductivity of the working fluid and been placed in operation, and a photograph of the its variation with temperature and pressure is required. equipment is shown in Fig. 4. The magnet is of the Measurements of the conductivity of seeded high tem- "Bitter"" type composed of conducting plates laid atop perature combustion products have been carried out each other to form a continuous solenoid, with a thin using the technique due to Rosa4 adapted to combus- layer of insulation between each plate. Excitation is by tion gases.'0 Results are shown in Fig. 3, where good a battery bank; the magnet is uncooled during a run agreement between theory and experiment are ob- which has a maximum duration of one minute, the served. The influence of electronegatives (particularly heat being removed between runs. Iron pole pieces are chlorine) has also been studied experimentally. Chlorine used to increase field strength, but the iron circuit does not close in order that the rise time may be kept within must not be present. bounds. The effective gap is 14 in by 24 in in cross secFluid Mechanics tion by 5 ft long. Peak field strength is 32,000 gauss. The burner protrudes into the magnet to the beginheated arc Experiments with generator flows, using of the pole piece, where the generator channel is ning Rosa.4 by out argon as the working fluid, were carried This assures minimum heat loss between attached. kw, 11 of output This generator delivered a maximum burner and generator. The oxidizer is oxygen gas. Two fuels have been used, JP4 with K2CO3 seed, or isopropyl 8 R. J. Rosa, J. Appl. Phys., April, 1960. 9 P. Sporn and A. R. Kantrowitz, Power Magazine; November, alcohol (KOH seed). Total mass flow with either fuel is 1959. ieamshr ttcds bscwt disatmosphere static with one between 4 and 6 lb/sec 10 T. R. Brogan, A. R. Kantrowitz, R. J. Rosa, and Z. J. Stekly, bten4ai
'Progress in MHD Power Generation," presented at the 2nd Symp. on Engrg. Applications of Magnetohydrodynamics, Philadelphia, Pa.; February, 1961.

engaged in the study and development of MHD generators for over five years, that is to say, since the seeding principle was found to be practical. Since 1959, a group of electric utilities have joined with Avco to investigate the use of the generator in a central station power plant where studies indicated that development of a practical generator would lead to very appreciable improvements in generation efficiency. Also in 1959, other firms in the power, missile and space, and aircraft industries began serious work in the field. (The authors do not attempt in this paper to do justice to these other efforts, but confine themselves only to work at Avco.) The MHD generator program here is divided into three areas: a) Electrical Properties of Gases b) Fluid Mechanics c) Production of Magnetic Field. The results of early work in these areas are summarized by Rosa4'8 and Sporn and Kantrowitz.9

Now the MHD generator can use as a working fluid the gas delivered by any heat source. At present, two heat sources are available: combustion gases, with peak temperatures slightly above 3000K, and a high temperature nuclear reactor, with a top temperature of 2500K, as in the Rover rocket reactor. Such gases are not suitable for use in an MHD generator unless a small amount of easily ionizable impurity called seed (usually a potassium salt) is added to the gas.1'4 This is because without the addition of seed, such gases do not have sufficient electrical conductivity. It was the discovery of the seeding principle' which permitted consideration and development of MHD generators using conventional heat sources. The Avco-Everett Research Laboratory has been

JP4+02+ 1%K

102
0

, 3
U

>-10'_

/00

TEMPERATURE,2K

seeded with

TiviTURE,-K

potassium.

Fig. 4-The Mark II experimental magnetohydrodynamic

power generator.

1" F. Bitter, Rev. Scientific Instruments; December, 1936.

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6007 50 0o
0

January

charge pressure from the generator at sonic speed. At the exit of the burner, a transition section leads the seeded combustion gases from the burner into the 3 in by 9 in generator channel. On leaving the generator channel, the hot gases are cooled by a water spray and discharged to the atmosphere. Segmented electrodes are used to reduce Hall currents and to permit detailed studies of the power distribution along the generator channel. A total of 45 such electrodes are installed, each with its own load circuit. The load on each electrode may be varied in steps. At peak field strength, the value of cor is about two, so that interesting Hall-effect studies are possible with the equipment. Conductivity studies were carried out along the length of the channel using the technique described by Brogan, et al.10 The values of o- are slightly lower than expected. A typical open current voltage distribution is shown in Fig. 5. At the inlet and exit of the channel, the end effect persists into the channel for about one duct diameter (9 in). The open circuit voltage generally rises along the channel to a peak approximately two thirds of the distance along the duct, where there is a rather abrupt drop. The sudden drop in voltage may be due to a shock wave or boundary layer separation. The values of open-curcuit voltage are close to theoretical and suggest that little shorting occurs through the boundary layer. For the first runs, single 8-in-diameter carbon electrodes were used at each station along the channel. Aside from end effects, the distribution was surprisingly flat in view of the conductivity variation. This is due to the velocity gradient and Hall effect. Total maximum output with the single electrodes was 93 kw. The low output was partially due to current concentration around the single electrodes. Changing to triple electrodes at each station raised the output to about 135 kw. It was then found that some Hall current was flowing due to the fact that both ends of the channel were at ground potential. By ungrounding the downstream end, output was raised to 205 kw. The power distribution for such a situation is shown in Fig. 6. Recently, the output has been raised to a value in excess of 450 kw.
Production of Magnetic Field The field coil is the most expensive part of the MHD generator, and, in addition, if room-temperature copper is used as the conductor, the field coils dissipate some of the generator output, the relative dissipation decreasing as generator size is increased. However, copper coils are relatively inexpensive and easy to construct, and will find application where low weight and utmost efficiency are secondary to low cost. A second method of providing the field is by the use of a refrigerated orcryogenic coil. In the case of the cryogenic coil, the

400-

<CD

200100-' o4 _
0

v
IN 3 60 LENGTH45IN INCHES CHANNEL
0

75

Fig. 5-Mark

II-Open circuit voltage vs axial distance.

6001
5000 4000

3000a.
3
0

IS1

CHANNEL LENGTH IN INCHES

30

45

60

75

any gains are possible over a room-temperature copper coil, the ratio of power dissipation plus refrigerator power at a given temperature must be compared with the dissipation of a copper coil at room temperature. When this is done for various materials, it is found that the use of high purity sodium as a conductor would lead to a net reduction of more than ten in the power required to maintain the field if the sodium is operated at 10K. The performance of sodium and of copper vs temperature is shown in Fig. 7. (A refrigerator efficiency of 0.25 is assumed.) Because sodium looked so promising, and, in addition, is inexpensive, a program was undertaken to design, construct, and test a refrigerated sodium coil. As construction was about to begin, work was halted due to exciting developments in superconductivity. Work on a cryogenic coil is now being carried out at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory of the AEC."2 Field strengths of between 20,000 and 100,000 gauss are required by an MHD generator. Until recently, superconducting materials were limited to field strengths below 20,000 gauss. Now, however, the development of the high critical field strength (in excess of 80,000 gauss) niobium-tin material'3 has been followed by several similar developments which make it possible to envisage MHD generator coils of required field strength and no dissipation. The only refrigeration necessary is that

power dissipated by the coil at low temperature must be removed by a refrigerator. Thus, to determine if

uze,E uhe,F .L Phys. Rev., February, 1961.

19519.

12 R. F. Post and C. E. Taylor, UCRL Rept. 5630-t; October,

s,adJ

.Wrik

1962
u1- 0 0.8
Z
>.

Kantrowitz, et al.: Magnetohydrodynamic Power Generator

83

oxygen mole ratio of the air from 3.76 to 2. The required combustion temperature can now be achieved after
COPPER

00

0 0

a0.40

0.6-

SSODIU
L QU

D
3
a_

L-

03

HYDROGEN NITROGEN OXYGEN TEMP 10 20 30 50 100 0 300 TEMP (K)

O o

0.2-

Fig. 7-Performance of copper anid sodium in a ci-yogenic coil.

required to maintain the coil at liquid helium temnperatures, anid this will probably be small. Therefore, we and many others are investigating the use of the superconducting coil for the generator and other applications. Cost anid fabrication appear to be the chief problems. IVlaterials presently available in bulk are expensive, and the tolerable current densities are barely sufficient for use in a commerical generator. However, for applications where light weight is more importanit than low cost, superconducting coils constructed of presenitly available materials offer decisive advantages. MIoreover, there are indications of sizable cost reductions if materials presently available are produced in quantity. Further, test results have shown that short lengths of superconducting wire perform much better than long lengths necessary to wind a coil, indicating existence of nonuniformities in the longer lengths. It would be of great advantage to eliminate these nonuniformities.

the generator attractive. At the inception of this work it appeared that the chief obstacle retarding this application was the high temperature (inl excess of 3000F) to which air had to be preheated before inltroduction into the combustion cham1ber in order that the combustion temperature be high enough to make the gas a conductor of electricity. This difficulty was sidestepped with introduction of the oxygen cycle. In this cycle, oxygen is

APPLICATIONS The MHD generator may be used for any application requiring outputs in the megawatt range for time periods between 10 microseconds and indefinite. Such applications include: 1) Central station power generation; 2) Ship propulsion; 3) Self-sufficient high peak power, limited-duty cycle power packs, including portable and flyable; 4) Energy storage and discharge in some ranges now covered by capacitor and inductive storage devices. We have been much concerned with the first application above in connection with our work with the utility group. In this application, very high cycle efficiency (up to 60 per cent) plus competitive capital cost make

preheating to temperatures which can be attained with conventional materials. Cycle efficiency and plant capital cost are little affected by this development. It is likely that the oxygen cycle would also be used for ship propulsion applications, and it appears that the L4 HD-oxygen cycle can compete with a shipboard streanm plant in power levels above 25 Mlw. Power supplies that deliver power levels in excess of 1 Mw for periods of one second to one day at a reasonable cost are notably absent from the present inventory. The existence of a few bulky and costly brute-force systems in this range, presently used only in laboratory work, might be taken as an indication of future needs outside the laboratory. The importance of this highpower short-time range seems emphasized by the advent of pulsed communication, radar, and ECM equipment, and by the fact that modern methods of warfare make one day a very long period of time. In this range, selfsufficient MHD generators, driven by rocket engines, can make an important contribution. There seems to be no upper limit to the power output which can be obtained by such a rocket-driven MHD generator. In addition, sizable cost and operational advantages will be gained. With a superconducting coil, these generators nmay be considered portable, and in some cases flyable with several minutes of their fuel. Outputs as high as 50 kw/lb of generator (exclusive of fuel) are possible. The application to very short energy storage and discharge service would use either a shock tube or cannon to deliver a burst of conducting gas for the generator. There is no cooling problem, and the equipment is very simple. Shock-tube generators have been built by Brogan"4 and more recently by Pain.'5 It appears that such generators would compete favorably with other methods of energy storage and discharge for total energy stored in excess of 100,000 joules. In addition, peak storage capacity capabilities of the device can be extremely high (1010 joules does not appear unreasonable). CONCLUSIONS

induced in working fluids heated by convenltional energy sources, the MHD generator is most ideally suited to those applications requiring large amounots of power. On the other hand, there appears to be no upper limit to the peak powver capability of the generator.
4 T. R. Brogan, M.S. thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

rapidly and increasingly, and it appears to have wide application. Most of the basic questions have been answered, and problems remaining are largely of a practical nature. By virtue of the limited conductivity which can be

Development of the

M1HD

generator is proceeding

added to the

combustionl

air to reduce the

nitrogenl-

XG

H.J J. Pain and P. R. Smy, J. Fluid Mlech.; February,

1961.