• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.466-472
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• 2018

The investigation of cryogenic liquid pool spreading is an essential procedure to assess the hazard of cryogenic liquid usage. In this experimental study, to measure the evaporation velocity when the pool is spreading, liquid nitrogen was continuously released onto unconfined concrete ground. Almost all of the reported results are based on a non-spreading pool in which cryogenic liquid is instantaneously poured onto bounded ground for a very short period of time. A simultaneous measurement of the pool location using thermocouples and of the pool mass using a digital balance was carried out to measure the evaporation velocity and the pool radius. A greater release flow rate was found to result in a greater average evaporation velocity, and the evaporation velocity decreased with the spreading time and the pool radius.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.6
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• pp.124-135
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• 1998

A thermodynamic cycle analysis is performed for refrigerator-precooled Linde-Hampson hydrogen liquefiers, including catalysts for the ortho-to-para conversion. Three different configurations of the liquefying system, depending upon the method of the o-p conversion, are selected for the analysis. After some simplifying and justifiable assumptions are made, a general analysis program to predict the liquid yield and the figure of merit (FOM) is developed with incorporating the commercial computer code for the thermodynamic properties of hydrogen. The discussion is focused on the effect of the two primary design parameters - the precooling temperature and the high pressure of the cycle. When the precooling temperature is in a range between 45 and 60 K, the optimal high pressure for the maximal liquid yield is found to be about 100 to 140 bar, regardless of the ortho-to-para conversion. However, the FOM can be maximized at slightly lower high pressures, 75 to 130 bar. It is concluded that the good performance of the precooling refrigerator is significant in the liquefiers, because at low precooling temperatures high values of the liquid yield and the FOM can be achieved without compression of gas to a very high pressure.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.240-246
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• 2014

In order to develop a universal cryogenic piston pump of small size for increasing utilization of liquid hydrogen, dynamic compression performance of piston pump were evaluated and improvements were also discussed for piston rod and piston tip. The cryogenic piston pump has crosshead structure and inclined cup shape piston tip. As the results, it was found that i) insulation of heat flow from piston-rod part is required for stable operation ii) improving the self-clearance adjustment effect of piston tip and reducing piston eccentricity were desirable to promote pumping pressure and operating range.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2024

High-temperature superconducting rotors offer advantages in terms of output-to-weight ratio and efficiency compared to conventional phase conduction motors or generators. The rotor can be cooled by conduction cooling, which attaches a cryocooler, and by refrigerant circulation, which uses circulating liquid or gas neon, helium and hydrogen. Recent work has focused on environmental issues and on high-temperature superconducting motors cooled with liquid hydrogen that can be combined with fuel cells. However, to ensure smooth supply and return of the cryogenic cooling fluid, a cryogenic rotational coupling between the rotating and stationary parts is necessary. Additionally, the development of a sealing structure to minimize fluid leakage applicable to the coupling is essential. This study describes the design and performance evaluation of a non-contact sealing method, specifically a labyrinth seal, which avoids power loss and heat load caused by friction in contact sealing structures. The seal design incorporates a spiral flow path to reduce leakage using centrifugal force, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to analyze the flow path and rotational speed. A performance evaluation device was configured and employed to evaluate the designed seal. The results of this study will be used to develop a cryogenic rotational coupling with supply and return flow paths for cryogenic applications.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.302-310
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• 2013

As an initial step to develop a liquid hydrogen pump of piston type operated under cryogenic and high pressure, leakage and piston head shape for the piston pump were discussed with temperature and pressure. As the results, the leakage depended on correlation among density, viscosity, clearance area by the low temperature. In order to reduce the leakage, it was found that the air-tightness can be improved by minimizing contact surface between piston and cylinder, and also increasing pressure in-cylinder can reduce piston clearance. Among the proposed piston shapes, D type piston shape had the most air-tightness. D type piston had smaller contact surface than other piston shape and easier expansion of cup shape by pressure. The leakage of D type piston shape was found about 7%, compared with A type piston shape. But it was required that analyze about vapor lock by friction and wear resistance.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.56-60
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• 2021

The microwave Radar used for special purposes in the past is being applied in various areas due to the technological advancement and cost reduction, and is particularly applied to autonomous driving in the automobile field. The FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) Radar can acquire level information of liquid in vessel based on the beat frequency obtained by continuously transmitting and receiving signals by modulating the frequency over time. However, for cryogenic fluids with small impedance differences between liquid medium and gas medium, such as liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen, it is difficult to apply a typical Radar-based level meter. In this study, we develop an 80 GHz FMCW Radar for level measurement of cryogenic fluids with small impedance differences between media and analyze its characteristics. Here, because of the low intrinsic impedance difference, most of the transmitted signal passes through the liquid nitrogen interface and is reflected at the bottom of the vessel. To solve this problem, a radar measurement algorithm was designed to detect multiple targets and separate the distance signal to the bottom of the vessel in order to estimate the precise position on the liquid nitrogen interface. Thereafter, performance verification experiments were performed according to the liquid nitrogen level using the developed radar level meter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.104-104
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• 2015

Due to the demand of the cold neutron flux in the neutron science and beam utilization technology, the cold neutron source (CNS) has been constructed and operating in the nuclear research reactor all over the world. The majority of the heat load removal scheme in the CNS is two-phase thermosiphon using the liquid hydrogen as a moderator. The CNS moderates thermal neutrons through a cryogenic moderator, liquid hydrogen, into cold neutrons with the generation of the nuclear heat load. The liquid hydrogen in a moderator cell is evaporated for the removal of the generated heat load from the neutron moderation and flows upward into a heat exchanger, where the hydrogen gas is liquefied by the cryogenic helium gas supplied from a helium refrigeration system. The liquefied hydrogen flows down to the moderator cell. To keep the required liquid hydrogen stable in the moderator cell, the CNS consists of an in-pool assembly (IPA) connected with the hydrogen system to handle the required hydrogen gas, the vacuum system to create the thermal insulation, and the helium refrigeration system to provide the cooling capacity. If one of systems is running out of order, the operating research reactor shall be tripped because the integrity of the CNS-IPA is not secured under the full power operation of the reactor. To prevent unscheduled reactor shutdown during a long time because the research reactor has been operating with the multi-purposes, the introduction of the standby cooling system (STS) can be a solution. In this presentation, the design considerations are considered how to design the STS satisfied with the following objectives: (a) to keep the moderator cell less than 350 K during the full power operation of the reactor under loss of the vacuum, loss of the cooling power, loss of common electrical power, or loss of instrument air cases; (b) to circulate smoothly helium gas in the STS circulation loop; (c) to re-start-up the reactor within 1 hour after its trip to avoid the Xenon build-up because more than certain concentration of Xenon makes that the reactor cannot start-up again; (d) to minimize the possibility of the hydrogen-oxygen reaction in the hydrogen boundary.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.264-267
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• 2010

This research focuses on the development of numerical code to deal with compressible two phase flow around three dimensional objects combined with cavitation model suggested by Weishyy et al. with k-e turbulent model. The cryogenic cavitation is carried out by considering the thermodynamic effect on physical properties of cryogenic fluids in physical point of view and implementing the temperature sensitivity in the energy equation of the government equations in numerical point of view, respectively. The formulation has been extensively validated for both liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen by simulating the experiments of Hord on hydrofoils. Then, simulations of cavitating turbopump inducers at their design flow rate are presented. Results over a broad range of Nss numbers extending from single-phase flow conditions through the critical head break down point are discussed. In particular, thermal depression effects arising from cavitation in cryogenic fluids are identified and their impact on the suction performance of the inducer quantified.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.808-818
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• 2022

In this research paper, we investigated the cryogenic line chill down characteristics of liquefied natural gas (LNG). A numerical analysis model was established and verified so that it can calculate the precise cooling characteristics of cryogenic fluid for the stable and safe utilization especially such as LNG and liquid hydrogen. The numerical modeling was programmed by C++ as an one-dimensional homogeneous model. The thermohydraulic cooling process was simulated using mass, momentum, energy conservation equations and appropriate heat transfer correlations. In this process, the relevant heat transfer correlations for nuclear boiling, transition boiling, film boiling, and single-phase heat transfer that can predict the experimental results were implemented. To verify the numerical modeling, several cryogenic line chill down experiments using LNG were conducted at the Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM) LNG and Cryogenic Technology Center.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2022

Recently, development of a cryogenic fluids storage tank for storing or transporting liquid hydrogen is actively in progress. In cryogenic fluids storage tanks, hydrogen evaporates due to the extreme temperature difference inside and outside the tank. As the mass of the cryogenic fluids changes with continuous vaporization, the fluids level also changes. Therefore, there is need for a method of accurately measuring the level change in the storage tank. In the case of general cryogenic fluids, it is difficult to accurately measure the level because the dielectric constant is very low. As a method of measuring cryogenic fluids level with low dielectric constant, it can be used an Millimeter wave (MM wave) FMCW radar sensor. However, the signal sensitivity is very weak and the level accuracy is poor. In this paper, the signal sensitivity is improved by designing the horn lens antenna of the existing 80 GHz FMCW radar sensor. Horn lens antenna is fabricated by FDM/SLA type 3D printer according to horn and lens characteristics. The horn is used to increase the signal gain and the lens improves the signal straightness. This makes it possible to measure the level of cryogenic fluids with a low dielectric constant.