WP 10894. Over the break we had 24hour CO2 tests with both annular and central masks to understand time constants effecting our circulating power transient alog 66548.
Attaching plots. CO2X Annular 4.7W, Central 3.0W. CO2Y Annular 4.2W, Central 3.3W.
Some interesting things:
Elenna was questioning how long cool down takes. When the annular CO2 is turned off it takes 1 hour for spherical power to stabilize (right plot). Central CO2 is much slower, it takes >4 hours for spherical power to stabilize but it keeps drifting after this time. Plot attached.
There is a much longer time constant for the ITM surface curvature change. The CO2 laser heats the CP, th CP couples heat to the ITM and the HR surface becomes more curved. Modeling in COMSOL suggests that the 1/e time constant is about 2E4s. The attached images show (a) the configuration modeled in COMSOL - with 1W CO2 heat applied to the CP and (b) the change in the ITM ROC vs time after the CO2 laser is turned on at t=0s.
Configuration
Change in ROC vs time
Due to the linearity of the system, the cooldown will be the reverse of the above scenario.