Tuning and Optimization of Temperature in a Fatigue Sodium Loop of Fast Breeder Tank Reactor Using PID Controller

Sodium-based heat transfer technology development in India for fast-breeder nuclear reactors utilizes liquid sodium metal as a coolant because it can remove heat efficiently. In the secondary loop of the Fast Breeder Tank Reactor, liquid sodium exchange heat from the nuclear reactor to water through the pipe arrangement to produce superheated steam for power generation. Sodium has a high boiling point of 882.8°C, low-melting-point of 97.7°C helps to operate the plant under low pressure of around 0.1 MPa. Sodium evolved as the solid state at ambient temperature and transferred to liquid state above 550°C. Metallic sodium has a high reactivity in chemical reactions with metallic flow pipe exposed to moisture or periodical environmental conditions. An important built-up material of liquid sodium was very effective heat exchanging capacity within a short period. Due to sodium's wonderful structural and chemical behavior, it forms the appropriate choice for heat exchanger or as coolant in the standard nuclear power plant fast breeder reactor (FBR). Fatigue Loop Testing Method is used to analyze the purity property of sodium to predict the corrosion of structural materials and blockage of flow routes in the secondary loop of the Fast Breeder Tank Reactor(FBTR) loop in the Nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam. The fatigue loop test requires an appropriate PID controller design to set the sodium flow control in pipes at an optimized temperature to maintain its liquid state for thermal transmission and the necessary pressure to apply through the electromagnetic pump to monitor sodium purity, system performance, accuracy and efficiency. Here, the optimum temperature for the operation of the Fast Breeder Tank Reactor (FBTR) tuned in the Fatigue loop is simulated using the PID Auto Tuning method.