PFC Distributor Design and Testing for Integration in a Flowing Liquid Lithium Loop

Liquid lithium is being considered as a plasma-facing component (PFC) due to its low-Z, self-healing abilities, and gettering potential, which can have a myraid of plasma benefits. At the University of Illinois, a full liquid lithium loop with a free-surface PFC in a magnetic field, deuterium plasma exposure, and hydrogenic/impurity species removal system is being constructed. Its aim is to study the uptake, transport, and removal of tritium in a future fusion device with a liquid lithium PFC. A variety of components have been developed to flow and keep track of the lithium within the system, specifically: pumps, flow-meters, height sensors, leak sensors, etc. During operation, the lithium is pumped from a reservoir onto the PFC, where it is uniformly distributed. The lithium flows across the PFC and getters deuterium from an ECR plasma before being collected at the end of the PFC. The lithium can then either be pumped back into the reservoir or to the Hydrogen Distillation Experiment (HyDE) where it can be thermally treated to remove deuterium/impurities. This loop is currently performing integrated components and flow testing before beginning plasma operation. A key component of this testing is the distributor technology which spreads the lithium from the inlet pipe to a thin flow across a PFC plate. This distributor geometry was designed in COMSOL multiphysics with a combination of topology optimization and pattern generating Turing equations. The selected geometry was 3D printed out of 316 stainless steel using direct metal laser sintering. Results from this preliminary flow operation will be presented.