Vertical flow in the Thermoelectric Liquid Metal Plasma Facing Structures (TELS) facility at Illinois

Abstract Flowing liquid metal PFCs may offer a solution to the issues faced by solid divertor materials in tokamak plasmas. The Liquid–Metal Infused Trenches (LiMIT) concept of Illinois Ruzic et al. (2011) is a liquid metal plasma facing structure which employs thermoelectric magnetohydrodynamic (TEMHD) effects to self-propel lithium through a series of trenches. The combination of an incident heat flux and a magnetic field provide the driving mechanism. Tests have yielded experimental lithium velocities under different magnetic fields, which agree well with theoretical predictions Xu et al. (2013). The thermoelectric force is expected to overcome gravity and be able to drive lithium flow along an arbitrary direction and the strong surface tension of liquid lithium is believed to maintain the surface when Li flows in open trenches. This paper discusses the behavior of the LiMIT structure when inclined to an arbitrary angle with respect to the horizontal.