FUEL ASSEMBLY Russian patent published in 2013 - IPC G21C3/32 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: in the fuel assembly, toroidal fuel cells are arranged into layers such that they fit into the hexagon of the cross-section of the assembly. Vertical axes of symmetry of toroidal fuel cells of the previous and next layers are displaced from the axes of symmetry of toroidal fuel cells of the middle layer. Each toroidal fuel cell has grooves on the top and bottom surfaces at points of intersection of projections of fuel cells of the previous and next layers, and in the column of toroidal fuel cells, grooves on the top surface of a toroidal fuel cell are superimposed with grooves on the bottom surface of the toroidal fuel cell of the previous layer, thereby forming a rigid connection of layers. The height of a toroidal fuel cell in the assembly decreases bottom-up in proportion to coolant speed.

EFFECT: improved heat dissipation of fuel cells owing to coolant flow turbulence and levelling the temperature field in the cross-section of the fuel assembly through cross mixing of the coolant, avoiding film boiling conditions.

5 cl, 5 dwg