Instrumentation Laboratory Project Page
Project: Interlock System for Water flow and Electrical Current Sensing
Department: Physics
Primary Investigator: Dr. Burcin Bayram
Purpose: A sophisticated interlock system was
built to protect our sodium molecular heatpipe. This system has dual
properties: it has (1) the control of the amount of current supplied to
the heaters by
adjusting the variac while monitoring the electric current in real-time
and (2) the control of water-flow rate which cools the 4-arm side
windows continuously while the rest of the heatpipe is hot. For
example, if water flow is lost while heatpipe is hot the interlock
alarm goes off and shuts down the heater. This interlock system also
notifies us if one of the heaters is faulty.
Without this interlock system there could be a major
potential problem on the heatpipe windows such as sodium metal leaking
towards the 4-arm side windows. Thus, it is critical to monitor and
control the
water-flow and electrical current simultaneously in the heatpipe oven
system.
IL Comment:
Researcher required a system that would monitor the electrical current
(Amps) being “pulled” by 4 independent heater circuits that are part of
a bigger experiment apparatus. In the event of a heater failure (i.e.
zero current draw), the system needs to shutdown the remaining heaters
to keep the system all at the same temperature. If the temperature were
to be higher in one area vs. another, it would ruin and\or destroy
their experiment(s) and apparatus.
The design using 4 independent current interlock sensors that are
connected together in series along with a water flow sensor that is
used for cooling the experiment apparatus. For the system to initially
turn on, the water must be flowing at the correct rate. After turn on,
the system continually monitors the current draw along with showing the
current draw on four independent current meters on the front panel. In
order to alert researchers of an alarm condition, an audible alarm also
exists in the instrumentation.
Cost to researcher: $373.16