High Speed Loops

A high speed loop is a versatile instrument to study the effects of flow on corrosion and electrochemical behaviour of materials. It can be used to test not only standard specimen geometries but different kinds of real-life geometries such as elbows, bends, valve bodies, etc.

A high-speed loop can also be used to simulate heat exchanger / steam generator operation as well as the Critical Heat Flux (CHF) phenomena. The testing cell is often a flow through cell with an orifice or a central heating element.

The core of a high speed loop is a centrifugal or canned motor pump that operates at HT HP environment. Such a pump cannot provide that much pump head but a very high volume flow rate. The system pressure and the water chemistry is created using a conventional recirculation loop.

Special attention must be paid to the thermohydraulic parameters if boiling phenomena is studied. The operation temperature and pressure must be close to the boiling conditions. The HS loop must have an adequate cooling capacity to remove the excess heat coming from the testing cell. At the same time the testing liquid must not boil even in the HS pump inlet which would be fatal for the pump.