Company Background
Alkali Consulting LLC was founded in 2016 by Mike Hvasta.
Mike has over a decade of liquid-metal research experience related to Na, Li, and GaInSn systems. Since graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013, Mike has worked in the Nuclear Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory, the Dept. of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, and as a researcher at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
Mike has a keen interest in energy systems, high-temperature thermal hydraulics, material compatibility studies, and custom instrumentation. He has developed cost-effective electromagnetic pumps for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Oregon State University. He has also invented award-winning, non-contact flowmeters for electrically conductive fluids.
Mike Hvasta, PhD
Founder & Manager
(Pictured winning 1st place at the 2018 Innovation Forum at Princeton University.)
Selected Publications
Liquid Metal Diagnostics, M. Hvasta, G. Bruhaug, A. E. Fisher, D. Dudt, and E. Kolemen, Fusion Science and Technology, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1661719.
Design of the Flowing LIquid Torus (FLIT), E. Kolemen, M. Hvasta, R. Majeski, R. Maingi, A. Brooks, and T. Kozub, Nuclear Materials and Energy, Vol. 19, May 2019, Pgs. 524-530, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2019.01.005.
Study of liquid metal surface wave damping in the presence of magnetic fields and electrical currents, A. E. Fisher, M. G. Hvasta, and E. Kolemen, Nuclear Materials and Energy, Vol. 19, May 2019, Pgs. 101-106, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2019.02.014.
Designing moving magnet pumps for high-temperature, liquid-metal systems, M. G. Hvasta, W. K. Nollet, and M. H. Anderson, Nuclear Engineering and Design, Volume 327, February 2018, Pages 228-237, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.11.004.
Experimental demonstration of hydraulic jump control in liquid metal channel flow using Lorentz force, A. E. Fisher, E. Kolemen, and M. G. Hvasta, Physics of Fluids, Vol. 30, 067104 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5026993.
Calibrationless rotating Lorentz-force flowmeters for low flow rate applications, M. G. Hvasta, D. Dudt, A. E. Fisher, and E. Kolemen, Measurement Science and Technology, Vol. 29 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/aac3b5.
Electromagnetic control of heat transport within a rectangular channel filled with flowing liquid metal, M. Modestov, E. Kolemen, A. E. Fisher, and M. G. Hvasta, Nuclear Fusion, Vol. 58, Num. 1 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/aa8bf4.
Experimental calibration procedures for rotating Lorentz-force flowmeters, M. G. Hvasta, N. T. Slighton, E. Kolemen, A. E. Fisher, Measurement Science and Technology, Vol. 28, Num. 8 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/aa781b.
Application of IR imaging for free-surface velocity measurement in liquid-metal systems (Editor’s Pick), M. G. Hvasta, E. Kolemen, A. Fisher, Review of Scientific Instruments 88, 013501 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973421.
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