Design of MHD throttles for regulating the mass flow rate of liquid-metal streams

Yu. M. Gel'fgat - A. L. Gudkov

Institute of Physics, Latvian Academy of Sciences, Salaspils-1, LV-2169, Latvia

Abstract
A study is made of the characteristics of the MHD throttling of liquid-metal flows, and the basic principles of the design of MHD throttles with a constant magnetic field are formulated. It is shown that the building of efficient, compact MHD throttles with flow-through channels made of nonconducting material is bound up with the modification of the cylindrical pipeline of the liquid-metal system. One of the advisable kinds of modification is a constriction of the pipeline in the section of the MHD action in such a way that its transition sections from a round to a flat cross section and back are located in the end zones of the scattering of the field. The article gives the results of experimental investigations of such throttles andmakes an evaluation of the efficiency of their work in aggregates for the continuous casting of aluminum.