"Our new research facility COSMOS-H expands the experimental possibilities and strengthens KIT as a research location," said Professor Jan S. Hesthaven, President of KIT, at the opening ceremony. "It enables the controlled investigation of complex thermal flow phenomena using advanced measurement methods and thus makes an important contribution to the safety and efficiency of future energy systems."

COSMOS-H (stands for: Critical heat flux On Smooth and MOdified Surfaces - High pressure) is a thermohydraulic test facility for water-steam experiments under high pressure conditions of up to 160 bar. With an installed thermal output of 1.8 megawatts and temperatures of up to 360 degrees Celsius, it offers extensive possibilities. "With COSMOS-H, we can investigate heat transfer and transient boiling phenomena under realistic conditions like in a real power plant for the first time," says Professor Daniel Banuti, Head of the Institute for Thermal Energy Technology and Safety (ITES) at KIT. "This is of great importance for developing safe and efficient energy systems." The knowledge gained could help to make industrial plants and power stations safer and more efficient in the future, including nuclear reactors as well as concentrating solar power plants. "We are convinced that the research results will make an important contribution to the energy transition," says Banuti.

When working with COSMOS-H, all experimental boundary conditions such as pressure, temperature, flow velocity and heat output can be precisely controlled. This allows the researchers to create exactly the same conditions in the experiment as would occur in a real thermal power plant. During operation, the scientists can control and observe the plant with more than one hundred high-resolution sensors. The part of the plant in which the actual experiments take place consists of a modular pressure shell, inside which numerous pressure sensors and flow measurement technology are installed in addition to the high-performance heaters and thermocouples. "We can flexibly adapt the experimental set-up and the measuring devices to the specific requirements of each experiment," explains Dr. Stephan Gabriel from ITES, who has been in charge of setting up the system since 2014. By using high-pressure sight glasses specially developed for this purpose, the researchers were also able to apply modern optical measurement methods in conjunction with image evaluation methods. "A robotic system is used to precisely move and position high-speed cameras during the experiment. This allows us to use the complex measurement technology simultaneously at several measuring points in one experiment," says Gabriel.

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