Highest operating temperature liquid pump
Who
Asegun Henry, Caleb Amy, Diane England, Daniel Budenstein, Malavika Bagepalli
What
1200 degree(s) Celsius
Where
Vereinigte Staaten (Atlanta)
When

The highest operating temperature liquid pump measures 1,200 °C (1,473 K), achieved by Asegun Henry, Caleb Amy, Diane England, Daniel Budenstein (all USA) and Malavika Bagepalli (India), demonstrated at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on 23 January 2017.


The research group demonstrated they were capable of containing circulate liquid tin at a temperature range between 1,200 °C (1,473 K) and 1,400 °C (1,673 K) for over 72 hours using their engineered ceramic, mechanical pump. Liquid-metal is extremely challenging to transfer, store and convert heat at temperatures above approximately 1,000 °C as it has the ability to corrode metal infrastructure. The research group's pump is unique as they use ceramic instead of metal, an inorganic, non-metallic material that has a brittle nature. The research group overcame this challenge with careful engineering.

The ceramic pump is directly exposed to the heated liquid tin, thus is able to operate at extremely high temperature, unlike other pumps which often require a cooling system to perform.