Design and Analysis of Annular Linear Induction Pump (ALIP)

An EM (electromagnetic) pump is employed to transport liquid metal in applications like metal industries and metal cooled atomic reactors, which are in chemically active and high temperature environment. One type of EM pump is the annular linear induction pump (ALIP), which uses liquid sodium with high electrical conductivity as a coolant. In this paper we compare the performance of ALIP as predicted by an equivalent circuit model with that predicted by a finite element model. It is shown that the finite element model gives pointers to refinement that may be necessary to improve prediction accuracy through the equivalent circuit approach. This paper also presents a parametric study of the system in an attempt to find ways of improving the pump performance.