Office O

f Nuclear Energy

Sensors and Instrumentation

Annual R

eview M

eeting

Self-powered W

ireless Through-wall D

ata C

omm

unication for Nuclear Environments

Lei ZuoVirginia Tech

DE-NE0008591

October 18-19, 2017

2

TasksYear O

neYear Tw

oYear Three

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Task1:K

ickoffmeeting,review

sensingenvironm

entsand

needs(A

ll)◊

◊◊

◊

Task2:D

esigningand

fabricatingradiation

energyharvesters

(Univ.A

PI)◊

◊◊

◊◊

Task3:D

esigning&

testingultrasonic

datatransm

issionsystem

(Univ.B

co-PI)◊

◊◊

◊◊

Task4:D

evelopinghigh-tem

peratureelectronics

(Com

panyA

co-PI)◊

◊◊

◊◊

◊

Task5:R

adiationstudy

andshielding

protection(C

ompany

Bco-PI,U

niv.API)

◊◊

◊◊

Task6:System

integration,demonstration

andtest(All)

◊◊

◊

Task7:R

eportingand

projectmanagem

ent(Univ.A

PI)◊

◊◊

◊◊

◊◊

◊◊

◊◊

◊

Project Overview

�B

ackground2100 canisters for 20-50 years of spent fuel storage in the U

SA. 200 per year increase.

�G

oal, and Objectives

Develop

anddem

onstratean

enablingtechnology

forthe

datacom

munications

forenclosed

metal

canistersusing

radiationand

thermal

energyharvesters,

through-w

allultrasoundcom

munication,and

harshenvironm

entelectronics.

�Participants

�Lei Zuo (PI, Virginia Tech), D

ong Ha (co-PI, Virginia Tech)

�Haifeng

Zhang (co-PI, U. of North Texas)

�R

oger Kisner, M

. Nance Ericson (co-PI, O

RNL)

�M

ichael Heibel(collaborator, W

estinghouse Electric Com

pany)

�Schedule

3

Our Solution: Self-pow

ered W

ireless Through-wall D

ata C

omm

unication for Nuclear Environm

entsProblem

s and solutions:

I.Energy problem

: Independent and continuous energy source

Solution: A radiation/thermalenergy

harvester with pow

er managem

ent;

II.Com

munication challenge: Through m

etal wall and

thick concrete wall w

ireless comm

unication

Solution: Ultrasound w

ireless com

munication using high-tem

perature piezoelectric transducers

III.Harsh environm

ent: Electronics surviving high

temperature and radiation

Solution: a.

High-tem

perature radiation-hardened electronics for harvesting, sensing, and data transm

ission; b.

Radiation shielding for electronics and sensors

4

Accom

plishments: Energy harvesting

Energy harvesting strategy:

Topow

er1W

sensingand

datatransm

issionfor

3seconds

every5

minutes,10m

Wrequired.

Existing temp.

gradientG

amm

a heating

Thermoelectric energy harvesting

Thermoelectric energy harvesting:

σE

lectricalconductivityα,

Seebeck

coefficientκe

Electron

thermalconductivity

κlP

honontherm

alconductivity

From Snyder,

G. Jeffrey

Energy sources available:

1.M

echanical vibration 2.

Light3.

Wind

4.Electrom

agnetic5.

Thermalheat (tem

perature difference)6.

Radiation(alpha, beta, neutron, and gam

ma

rays)

Energy demand:

5

Heat and fluid environm

ent in the dry cask system

:The m

odel to estimate the decay heat

within the dry cask system

:Year

(Sincerem

oval)DecayHeat(kW

)G

amm

aSpectrum(#/s)

NeutronSpectrum

(#/s)

538.44

2.64x

1017

1.02x

1010

1024.52

1.47x

1017

8.4x

109

1521.07

1.20x

1017

7.0x

109

2019.00

1.04x

1017

5.9x

109

2517.31

9.2x

1016

4.9x

109

3015.85

8.2x

1016

4.1x

109

3514.56

7.3x

1016

3.4x

109

4013.42

6.5x

1016

2.9x

109

4512.40

5.8x

1016

2.4x

109

5011.49

5.1x

1016

2.0x

109

5510.67

4.6x

1016

1.7x

109

Fuel: Westinghouse 17x17 assem

bly, with a total cask M

TU of

15 spread over the 32 assemblies, an enrichm

ent weight

percentage of U-235 of 4%

, a burnup of 45 GW

d/MTU

, 3 runs per fuel assem

bly, and an average power of 40 M

W/M

TU.

MP

C-32 canister

Accom

plishments: Energy harvesting

We used M

CN

P Package.

6

Accom

plishments: Energy harvesting

Fuel rods

Temperature Profiles:

�Transitional S

ST k-ω

turbulence model and D

O radiation m

odel.�

The total decay heat was calculated using S

CA

LE for a period of 50 years.

�The sim

ulation result was verified using experim

ental result in literature.

Years 5 Years 55

Peak temperature 621.4 K

(348.4C)

Peak temperature 436.0 K

(163.0C)

MPC

-32 canister thermal analysis

“Thermal and Fluid A

nalysis of Dry C

ask Storage C

ontainers over Multiple Years of Service”, Yongjia

Wu, Jackson

Klein, H

anchenZhou, Lei Zuo, Annals of Nuclear Energy, Vol 112, Feb 2018, P

ages 132–142

7

Accom

plishments: Energy harvesting

Fuel rods

Temperature Profiles:

�For year 5, the tem

perature difference is ~70 K.

�For year 55, the tem

perature difference is ~13 K.

(Two TE

Gs (TE

G1-P

B-12611-6.0) from

TEC

TEG

M

FR w

ill be enough)

MPC

-32 canister thermal analysis 70 K

13 K

8

Accom

plishments: Energy harvesting

gamm

a radiation

Shielding m

aterial (tungsten plate)

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

010

2030

4050

60

Energy Generation (W)

Years (Removal from

reactor)

Gam

ma H

eating in Tungsten from Spent FuelSide of C

ask

Top of Cask

MN

CP m

odel

Fuel assem

blies

Tungsten plate One

(Top of cask, 20 x 20 x 2 cm

3)

Tungsten plate Two

(Side of cask)

�The input m

aterial com

position was obtained

from S

CA

LE analysis.

Stainless steel

2W -> 0.3W

9

Accom

plishments: Energy harvesting

Adjustable suspension

Adaptor one

Heat sink

Tungsten plate

Thermal isolation layer

Adaptor

�M

erits:S

imple,

compact,

lowcost,

reliable,andhigh

energyoutput

�C

haracteristics:C

ombined

gamm

adecay

heatandconvective

heat

Size: 80 x 80 x 60m

m3

Energy harvester design

Year 5Tem

perature difference: Δ

T=64.2 K,

Open circuit voltage:

V=1.94 x 4 V,M

aximum

power output:

P = 941 mW

> 10 mW

Goal: P>=10 m

W

Temperature difference:

ΔT=11.7 K

,O

pen circuit voltage: V=0.335 x 4 V,M

aximum

power output:

P = 28 mW

> 10 mW

Year 55

Performance estim

ation

10

Accom

plishments: Energy harvesting

Experimental setup to test design oneYears 5 case

Simulation for the experim

ental setup

VelocityTem

peratureVoltage

00.03

0.060.09

0.120.15

0.180.21

0.240.260

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Velocity (m

/s)

h (W/mK)

Mineral oil

Air

Waterh= 143.37W

/mK

11

Current available through w

all comm

unication methods

Accom

plishments: W

ireless com

munication technology

12

Principle of ultrasound through wall com

munication

Theacoustic

modelling

results;(a)

thesteel

blocksandw

ichedby

twopiezoelectric

transducers.(b)Theultrasound

transmission

systemefficiency

versusdriving

frequency;(c)The

systemefficiency

versusnormalized

loadcircuitim

pedance.

Ou

tside

Tran

sdu

cer

Ste

el b

lock

Insid

e Tra

nsd

uce

r

Ele

ctrod

e

Ele

ctrod

e

(b)

(c)(a)

Accom

plishments: W

ireless com

munication technology

13

Dem

onstration of audio signal through-wall transm

ission

Accom

plishments: W

ireless com

munication technology

14

Ultrasonic TEX

T transmission system

at room tem

perature

Accom

plishments: W

ireless com

munication technology

15

Accom

plishments: W

ireless com

munication technology

Results

Metal W

all

High Tem

p~ Oven

Binary D

ata Transmission

Dem

onstration of High Tem

perature TEXT Transm

ission

16

Accom

plishments: M

ethod for Low-

Power U

ltrasonic Com

munications

Across B

arriers

�Focused instead on developing a m

odulation method

xThree transducer m

ethod described by Murphy

xM

odulating transducerx

Used com

pressional waves

Alternative M

odulation Method

17

Accom

plishments: M

ethod for Low-

Power U

ltrasonic Com

munications

Across B

arriers

First Task Was B

uild an Experimental A

pparatus for Studying Modulation

�In-line propagation (not reflecting)

�First apparatus operated at 100 kH

z then switched to 2.25 M

Hz

�U

sed magnetic fluid to change acoustic propagation

xM

agnetorheological fluid—w

e observed attenuation with m

agnetic field but it w

as inconsistent–

MR

fluid easily precipitates (5-50 μm)—

results are inconsistent and depend on w

hen you agitated the apparatus–

Attenuation of transm

itted waves from

3 to 16 % w

ith up to 10 amps of

coil currentx

Ferrofluid—w

e observed repeatable attenuation–

Particles stay in suspension (10-50 nm

)–

Range of attenuations up to 47 dB

at 2.28 MH

z

18

Accom

plishments: M

ethod for Low-

Power U

ltrasonic Com

munications

Across B

arriers

Using LabVIEW

Lock-In Am

plifier to Improve Signal-to-N

oise Ratio for

Low-Energy Signal

�2.23 M

Hz continuous Sine w

ave driving transm

itting transducer at 10Vpp�

Ferrofluid filled acrylic tube�

Permanent m

agnet suspended approximately

8m

m above coil section as a bias m

agnet�

Modulation coil driven w

ith a 3Vpp 1Hz

continuous sine wave

�20 M

s 4-channel A/D card

19

Accom

plishments: M

ethod for Low-

Power U

ltrasonic Com

munications

Across B

arriers

Result of Synchronous D

etection by LabVIEW System

Look Good but Slow

�R

esults below show

successful modulation of ferrofluid

�Perm

anent magnet experim

entation confirms that pre-biasing fluid is necessary

Dem

odulated Output: X

Dem

odulated Output: Y

Dem

odulated Output: θ

Dem

odulated Output: R

20

Accom

plishments: M

ethod for Low-

Power U

ltrasonic Com

munications

Across B

arriers

Conducting a Study of B

ias Magnet Effects

�N

ano particles are randomly distributed

�Application of m

agnetic field causes alignment and

clumping

�As particles clum

p their combined m

ass affects loading and changes the spring-m

ass transfer function �

A dead zone exists as field is first applied�

Ferrofluidis field polarity insensitive

�The question is w

here to put the magnet

�N

ext Steps Are to Conduct a R

eflective D

emonstration

21

Technology Impact

�VT:W

eanalyzed

thetherm

alandradiation

environmentin

thedry

cask.We

haveshow

nenergy

harvestingfrom

thermal

andgam

ma

radiationthe

usingtherm

oelectrics.Theproposed

self-sustainablepackage

canbe

integratedinto

enclosednuclear

vessels.W

ehave

shown

itsapplication

tothe

spentfuel

canistersof

drycask

storage.Sim

ilartechnology

canbe

appliedto

reactorvessels

orreactorcontainmentbuilding

comm

unications.�

UN

T:Thecapability

tocom

municate

throughthick

metalw

allsw

ithoutphysicalpenetration

hasgreat

potentialapplicationsin

hazardenvironm

ents,especiallyenclosed

nuclearreactors.

Inthis

project,am

plitudem

odulation(AM

)of

ultrasonicw

avesw

asused

toexchange

datavia

metalw

allathightem

perature.C

ompare

toother

datacom

munication

methods,

theultrasonic

techniquehas

theadvantages

like,highspeed

(over5M

bps)data

transfer,hightem

perature(over

300C

),and

LessPow

erconsum

ption(Less

than1W

att).The

impact

ofsuch

asolution

isthat

it’shighly

usefulin

hazards,harm

fulnuclear

environment.

�O

RN

L:U

singa

FerrofluidH

asPotentialB

enefitsfor

EnhancedM

odulation.We

foundthat

itsexcitation

bym

agneticfield

issim

pleto

accomplish.It

works

atultrasonic

frequencies.Itis

radiationinsensitive

andcan

bem

adeto

uselittle

poweratm

odulationside.

22

Conclusions

�VT:TEG

usingthe

temperature

differenceexisting

inthe

canistercombined

with

gamm

aheating

effectcan

provideenough

power

forthe

wireless

sensingand

comm

unicationsystem

working

inthe

nuclearcanister.

Theenergy

harvestercan

harvesterenoughenergy

evenafter50years

operation.

�U

NT:The

AMm

odulationbased

throughw

allAudiocom

munication

principleis

verifiedw

ithPZT

piezotransduce

atroom

temperature.

Afterthe

conceptverification

atroom,sim

ilartechniqueused

forbinary/TEXTdata

comm

unicationhas

beensuccessfully

demonstrated

20–

100C

.We

newstep

isdesigned

fortem

peratureup

to300C

with

TRS200HD

hightem

peraturetransducer.

�O

RN

L:W

edeveloped

aU

niqueM

ethodof

Ultrasonic

Com

munication

usingferrofluid.This

technologyperm

itstransm

issionofdata

acrossbarrier

with

lowenergy

requirement.

Andare

goingto

demonstrate

them

odulation-dem

odulationschem

e.