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Aso, Tomokazu; Tatsumoto, Hideki*; Otsu, Kiichi*; Kawakami, Yoshihiko*; Komori, Shinji*; Muto, Hideki*; Takada, Hiroshi
JAEA-Technology 2019-013, 77 Pages, 2019/09
JAEA-Technology-2019-013.pdf:5.59MB
At Materials and Life Science experimental Facility (MLF) of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), a 1-MW pulsed spallation neutron source is equipped with a cryogenic hydrogen system which circulates liquid hydrogen (20 K and 1.5 MPa) to convert high energy neutrons generated at a mercury target to cold neutrons at three moderators with removing nuclear heat of 3.8 kW deposited there. The cryogenic system includes an accumulator with a bellows structure in order to absorb pressure fluctuations generated by the nuclear heat deposition in the system. Welded inner bellows of the first accumulator was failured during operation, forcing us to improve the accumulator to have sufficient pressure resistance and longer life-time. We have developed elemental technologies for manufacturing welded bellows of the accumulator by a thick plate with high pressure resistance, succeeding to find optimum welding conditions. We fabricated a prototype bellows block and carried out an endurance test by adding a pressure change of 2 MPa repeatedly. As a result, the prototype bellows was successfully in use exceeding the design life of 10,000 times. Since distortions given during welding and assembling affect functionality and lifetime of the bellows, we set the levelness of each element of the bellows as within 0.1
. The improved accumulator has already been in operation for about 25,000 hours as of January 2019, resulting that the number of strokes reached to 16,000. In July 2018, we demonstrated that the accumulator could suppress the pressure fluctuation generated by the 932 kW beam injection as designed. As current operational beam power is 500 kW, the current cryogenic hydrogen system could be applicable for stable operation at higher power in the future.
Aso, Tomokazu; Teshigawara, Makoto; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Muto, Hideki; Aoyagi, Katsuhiro; Nomura, Kazutaka; Takada, Hiroshi
Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 1021(1), p.012085_1 - 012085_4, 2018/06
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.11(Nuclear Science & Technology)Kawamura, Seiko; Oku, Takayuki; Watanabe, Masao; Takahashi, Ryuta; Munakata, Koji*; Takata, Shinichi; Sakaguchi, Yoshifumi*; Ishikado, Motoyuki*; Ouchi, Keiichi*; Hattori, Takanori; et al.
Journal of Neutron Research, 19(1-2), p.15 - 22, 2017/11
Sample environment (SE) team at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) in J-PARC has worked on development and operation of SE equipment and devices. All the members belong to one sub-team at least, such as Cryogenic and magnet, High temperature, High pressure, Soft matter and special environment including Pulse magnet, Hydrogen environment, Light irradiation and 
He spin filter. Cryostats, a magnet, furnaces, a VX-6-type Paris-Edinburgh press and a prototype of a Spin-Exchange Optical Pumping (SEOP) based He spin filter for polarized neutron beam experiments are in operation. Furthermore, a prototype of compact power supply for a pulsed magnet system is currently developed. In the J-PARC Research Building, several pieces of equipment for softmatter research such as a rheometer and a gas and vapor adsorption measurement instrument have been prepared.
Takada, Hiroshi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Teshigawara, Makoto; Aso, Tomokazu; Meigo, Shinichiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Oi, Motoki; Harada, Masahide; et al.
Quantum Beam Science (Internet), 1(2), p.8_1 - 8_26, 2017/09
At the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), a pulsed spallation neutron source provides neutrons with high intensity and narrow pulse width to promote researches on a variety of science in the Materials and life science experimental facility. It was designed to be driven by the proton beam with an energy of 3 GeV, a power of 1 MW at a repetition rate of 25 Hz, that is world's highest power level. A mercury target and three types of liquid para-hydrogen moderators are core components of the spallation neutron source. It is still on the way towards the goal to accomplish the operation with a 1 MW proton beam. In this paper, distinctive features of the target-moderator-reflector system of the pulsed spallation neutron source are reviewed.
Aso, Tomokazu; Teshigawara, Makoto; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Aoyagi, Katsuhiro*; Muto, Hideki*; Nomura, Kazutaka*; Takada, Hiroshi; Ikeda, Yujiro
JAEA-Technology 2017-021, 75 Pages, 2017/08
JAEA-Technology-2017-021.pdf:33.03MB
Liquid hydrogen is employed as a cold neutron moderator material at the spallation neutron source of Materials and Life science experimental Facility of Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). From January 2015, it became observable that the differential pressure between heat exchangers and an 80 K adsorber (ADS) in a helium refrigerator system increased with operating time. In November 2015, the differential pressure rise became more significant, leading to degrade the refrigerating performance in cooling liquid hydrogen. In order to investigate the cause of the abnormal differential pressure rise between the heat exchangers and the ADS, we carried out visual inspection inside the heat exchangers and analyzed the impurities contained in the helium gas. Unfortunately, we could not identify the impurities causing the performance degradation, but observed a trace of oil in the inlet piping of the heat exchanger. Based on investigations of the abnormal events occurred in the refrigerators with similar refrigerating capacity at other facilities, we took measures that cleaning the heat exchangers with Freon and replacing the ADS with new one. As a result, the differential pressure rise phenomenon was removed to recover the performance. We have detected oil from the Freon used for cleaning the heat exchangers and at a felt supporting charcoal packed in the ADS. In particular, oil was accumulated in membranous form onto the felt at the entrance side in the ADS. The amount of oil contained in the helium gas was about 10 ppb or so, less than the design value, in the helium refrigerator. However, the oil accumulated onto the felt in the ADS through long operating period may cause abnormal differential pressure rise, leading to the performance degradation of the helium refrigerator. Further study is needed to specify the cause more clearly.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Aoyagi, Katsuhiro; Muto, Hideki
IOP Conference Series; Materials Science and Engineering, 101, p.012107_1 - 012107_8, 2015/12
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.05(Thermodynamics)The Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) cryogenic hydrogen system was completed in April 2008. The proton beam power was gradually increased to 500 kW. A trial 600-kW proton beam operation was successfully completed in April 2015. We achieved long-lasting operation for more than three months. However, thus far, we encountered several problems such as unstable operation of the helium refrigerator because of some impurities, failure of a welded bellows of an accumulator, and hydrogen pump issues. Furthermore, the Great East Japan Earthquake was experienced during the cryogenic hydrogen system operation in March 2011. In this study, we describe the operation characteristics and our experiences with the J-PARC cryogenic hydrogen system.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Otsu, Kiichi; Aso, Tomokazu; Kawakami, Yoshihiko
IOP Conference Series; Materials Science and Engineering, 101, p.012109_1 - 012109_8, 2015/12
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.05(Thermodynamics)The J-PARC cryogenic hydrogen system provides supercritical cryogenic hydrogen to the moderators at a pressure of 1.5 MPa and temperature of 18 K and removes 3.8 kW of nuclear heat from the 1 MW proton beam operation. We prepared a heater for thermal compensation and an accumulator, with a bellows structure for volume control, to mitigate the pressure fluctuation caused by switching the proton beam on and off. In this study, a 1-D simulation code named DiSC-SH2 was developed to understand the propagation of pressure and temperature propagations through the hydrogen loop due to on and off switching of the proton beam. We confirmed that the simulated dynamic behaviors in the hydrogen loop for 300-kW and 500-kW proton beam operations agree well with the experimental data under the same conditions.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Kawakami, Yoshihiko
IOP Conference Series; Materials Science and Engineering, 101, p.012108_1 - 012108_8, 2015/12
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.05(Thermodynamics)Supercritical hydrogen with a temperature of less than 20 K and a pressure of 1.5 MPa is used as moderator material at J-PARC. Total nuclear heating of 3.75 kW is generated by three moderators for a 1-MW proton beam operation. We have developed an orifice-type high-power heater for thermal compensation to mitigate hydrogen pressure fluctuation caused by the abrupt huge heat load and to reduce the fluctuation in the temperature of the supply hydrogen to less than 0.25 K. Through a performance test, we confirmed that the developed orifice-type heater could be heated uniformly and showed fast response, as expected. Furthermore, a simulation model that can describe heater behaviors has been established on the basis of the experimental data. The heater control approach was studied using the aforementioned heater simulation model and a dynamic simulation code developed by the authors.
Aso, Tomokazu; Yamauchi, Yasuhiro; Kawamura, Seiko
Hamon, 25(4), p.283 - 287, 2015/11
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Otsu, Kiichi; Aso, Tomokazu; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Teshigawara, Makoto
AIP Conference Proceedings 1573, p.66 - 73, 2014/01
Times Cited Count：6 Percentile：92.67(Thermodynamics)The J-PARC cryogenic hydrogen system provides supercritical hydrogen provides to three moderators. A heater for the thermal compensation and a cryogenic accumulator are prepared to mitigate a pressure fluctuation. A feed temperature should be lower than 20 K and its fluctuation should be within 0.25 K to provide cold pulsed neutron beams of a higher neutronic performance. An ortho-para hydrogen convertor is installed to maintain the para-hydrogen concentration of more than 99.0%. In this study, it is confirmed that para-hydrogen always exists in the equilibrium concentration during the cool-down process. Propagation characteristics of temperature fluctuation caused by sudden heater power variations were studied. An allowable temperature fluctuation caused by the heater control approach is determined to be 1.05 K. It is found that the heater control would be applicable for the 1-MW proton beam operation by extrapolating from the experimental data for on-beam commissioning.
Sakai, Kenji; Sakamoto, Shinichi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Seki, Masakazu; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Naoe, Takashi; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Tatsumoto, Hideki; et al.
JAEA-Technology 2011-039, 121 Pages, 2012/03
JAEA-Technology-2011-039.pdf:10.87MB
This report investigates the behavior, damage and restoration of a neutron source station of the MLF at the Great East Japan Earthquake and verified the safety design for emergency accidents in the neutron source station. In the MLF, after an occurrence of the Earthquake, strong quakes were detected at the instruments, the external power supply was lost, all of the circulators shut down automatically, and the hydrogen gas was released. The leakages of mercury, hydrogen and radio-activation gases did not occur. While, the quakes made gaps between the shield blocks and ruptured external pipe lines by subsidence around the building. But significant damages to the components were not found though the pressure drop of compressed air lines influenced on a target trolley lock system and so on. These results substantiated the validity of the safety design for emergency accidents in the source station, and suggested several points of improvement.
Sakai, Kenji; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Takada, Hiroshi; Sakamoto, Shinichi; Maekawa, Fujio; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Seki, Masakazu; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; et al.
Proceedings of 20th Meeting of the International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources (ICANS-20) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2012/03
This report investigates behaviors and damages of each component in a neutron target station of the MLF at the J-PARC at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). At the date of the GEJE, in the MLF, strong quakes were detected at several instruments, an external power supply were lost, all of the circulation systems were shut down automatically, and a hydrogen gas was released as planned. Leakage of activation liquids and gases did not occur. While, the quakes made gaps between shield blocks and ruptured external pipe lines for air and water by subsidence. But significant damages on the components of the target station were not found though a loss of compressed air supply affected lock systems with air cylinders and pneumatic operation values. These results substantiated a validity of safety design on the target station for emergency accidents.
Aso, Tomokazu; Tatsumoto, Hideki; Otsu, Kiichi; Uehara, Toshiaki; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Sakurayama, Hisashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Proceedings of 19th Meeting of the International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources (ICANS-19) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2010/07
In the J-PARC, the cryogenic hydrogen system for the 1MW pulsed spallation neutron source (JSNS) plays a role in supplying supercritical hydrogen at a temperature of 18 K and pressure of 1.5 MPa to three moderators in which spallation neutrons generated in a mercury target are slowed down to cold neutrons. Through the off-beam commissioning until April 2008, we confirmed that the specifications of the cryogenic system were satisfied as expected, and we could succeed in circulating supercritical hydrogen with the maximum flow rate of about 190 g/s. We have succeeded in generating first neutrons in the mercury target and providing moderated neutrons through the hydrogen moderators without any problems in May 2008. We also confirmed characteristics of the cryogenic hydrogen system with accepting the proton beam on the mercury target as on-beam commissioning.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Uehara, Toshiaki; Sakurayama, Hisashi; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Proceedings of International Cryogenic Engineering Conference 23 (ICEC-23) and International Cryogenic Materials Conference 2010 (ICMC 2010), p.1009 - 1014, 2010/07
The cryogenic hydrogen system provides supercritical hydrogen to three hydrogen moderators and removes the nuclear heating of 3.75 kW for a 1-MW proton beam operation at the J-PARC. A pressure control system that used a heater and an accumulator was designed to mitigate a pressure fluctuation caused by the sudden heat load of kW-order. The temperature and pressure behaviors were studied for a 300-kW beam operation. It was confirmed that the pressure control system made it possible to reduce the pressure fluctuation below 13.5 kPa. A simulation model was derived and could describe the experimental results within 15% errors.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Uehara, Toshiaki; Sakurayama, Hisashi; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Yoshinaga, Seiichiro*
Proceedings of International Cryogenic Engineering Conference 23 (ICEC-23) and International Cryogenic Materials Conference 2010 (ICMC 2010), p.377 - 382, 2010/07
A dynamic gas bearing centrifugal pump that circulated supercritical hydrogen with a large flow rate of more than 0.16 kg/s was developed to minimize the hydrogen density change at the moderator. The two pumps were simultaneously operated in parallel for redundancy. The performance test results indicated that the dimensionless characteristics for the single and the parallel operations existed on an identical curve. An outstanding peak adiabatic efficiency exited at the flow coefficient of 0.046, independently of the revolution. It was verified that the developed hydrogen pump satisfied the design requirement.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Uehara, Toshiaki; Sakurayama, Hisashi; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Proceedings of International Cryogenic Engineering Conference 23 (ICEC-23) and International Cryogenic Materials Conference 2010 (ICMC 2010), p.601 - 606, 2010/07
At the J-PARC, the cryogenic hydrogen system provides supercritical hydrogen to three hydrogen moderators and removes the nuclear heating evolved by converting high energy neutrons into cold neutrons. As safety countermeasure, fail-safe devices such as relief valves and rupture disks are installed and a hydrogen explosion-proof structure is adopted. Additionally, the safety interlock system that is divided into 7 categories based on the trouble events is established to protect the equipments and to ensure the safety at the occurrence of a trouble. It is confirmed that the interlock system can be operated without any problems. The recovery procedures are also established.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Uehara, Toshiaki; Sakurayama, Hisashi; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
AIP Conference Proceedings 1218, p.297 - 304, 2010/04
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：72.94(Thermodynamics)In JSNS, supercritical hydrogen at around 20 K and 1.5 MPa was selected as a moderator material. Three kinds of hydrogen moderators are installed to provide pulsed neutron beam with higher neutronic performance. A cryogenic hydrogen system, in which a hydrogen circulation system is cooled by a helium refrigerator system with the refrigerator capacity of 6.45 kW at 15.6 K, provides the supercritical hydrogen to the moderators and absorbs nuclear heating in the moderators. Through the off-beam commissioning, we have confirmed that the cryogenic hydrogen system can be cooled down to 18 K within 19 hours. The supercritical hydrogen with the mass flow rate of 190 g/s can be circulated at the rated condition. It is verified that the cryogenic hydrogen system is satisfied with the performance requirements. In May 2008, we have succeeded in providing the first cold neutron beam cooled by the cryogenic hydrogen system.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
AIP Conference Proceedings 1218, p.1154 - 1161, 2010/04
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：56.46(Thermodynamics)Supercritical hydrogen with a pressure of 1.5 MPa and a temperature of 20 K has been selected as a moderator material in an intense spallation neutron source (JSNS), which is one of main experimental facilities in J-PARC. The cryogenic hydrogen system, in which a hydrogen circulation system is cooled by a helium refrigerator with the refrigeration power of 6.45 kW at 15.5 K, has been designed to provide the supercritical hydrogen to the moderator and to remove the nuclear heating generated there. In this study, we have developed a simulation code that predicts temperature behaviors in the hydrogen circulation system during its cool-down process. A cool-down process analyses have been performed, and an operational method for the cool-down process has been studied. The analytical results indicate that the hydrogen circulation system would be able to be cooled down to 18 K within 19 hours.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Kato, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
AIP Conference Proceedings 1218, p.1162 - 1169, 2010/04
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0.04(Thermodynamics)In J-PARC, an intense spallation neutron source (JSNS) driven by a proton beam of 1 MW has selected supercritical hydrogen with a temperature of around 20 K and the pressure of 1.5 MPa as a moderator material. A hydrogen circulation system has been designed to provide supercritical hydrogen to the moderators and remove the nuclear heating there. It is important for the cooling design of the hydrogen circulation system to understand the pressure drops through the equipments. In this work, the pressure drop through each component was analyzed by using a CFD code, STAR-CD. The correlation of the pressure drops through the components that can describe the analytical results within 14 % differences has been derived. It is confirmed that the pressure drop in the hydrogen circulation system would be estimated to be 37 kPa for the circulation flow rate of 160 g/s by using the correlations derived here, and is sufficiently lower than the allowable pump head of 100 kPa.
Tatsumoto, Hideki; Aso, Tomokazu; Otsu, Kiichi; Uehara, Toshiaki; Sakurayama, Hisashi; Kawakami, Yoshihiko; Kato, Takashi; Hasegawa, Shoichi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
AIP Conference Proceedings 1218, p.289 - 296, 2010/04
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：72.94(Thermodynamics)A cryogenic hydrogen system provides the supercritical hydrogen to the moderators and removes the nuclear heating at the moderators, which is estimated to 3.8 kW for a proton beam power of 1 MW. In order to mitigate pressure fluctuation caused by suddenly turning a proton beam on and off, we should design a pressure control system, which is composed of a heater as an active controller for thermal compensation and an accumulator as a passive volume controller. In December 2007, a 109 kW proton beam was injected to the JSNS. The pressure fluctuation behaviors have been studied for the 109 kW proton beam operation. As soon as the proton beam is injected, the accumulator starts to spontaneously constrict. The heater control can succeed in maintaining a constant heat load applied to the cryogenic hydrogen system. The pressure control system can reduce the pressure fluctuation below 5 kPa. We have confirmed that the pressure control system should be effective.
