Calibration of YSZ sensor for the measurement of oxygen concentration in Lbe

Although liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) is a good candidate for coolant in the sub-critical transmutation blanket, it is known to be corrosive to stainless steel tubes and containers used in nuclear installations. To prevent the long-term corrosion problem by producing and maintaining a protective oxide layer on exposed surface of stainless steel, it is essential to accurately measure and control the oxygen concentration dissolved in LBE. An automobile style voltametric oxygen sensors, with YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia) as electrolyte and molten bismuth saturated with oxygen as reference was selected. An instrumentation system was designed specifically for calibrating the YSZ sensor and measure oxygen concentration in LBE. An initial setup was built and some preliminary experiments were conducted to calibrate the oxygen sensor. A set of calibration curves of voltage vs. temperature ranging from 300°C to 500°C under various oxygen concentrations in liquid LBE was obtained and presented here. A new improvised setup and instrumentation have also been developed to obtain more accurate results for a wide range of temperature between 300°C to 700°C.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2003

Author dc:creator

• Sivaraman, Ramkumar B

Contributors dc:contributor

• Yingtao Jiang

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1612

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2611