• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1271-1287
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• 2004

In this article, vapor bubble nucleation in liquid and the evaporation process of a liquid droplet at its superheat limit were discussed from the viewpoint of molecular clustering (molecular cluster model for bubble nucleation). For the vapor bubble formation, the energy barrier against bubble nucleation was estimated by the molecular interaction due to the London dispersion force. Bubble nucleation by quantum tunneling in liquid helium under negative pressure near the absolute zero temperature and bubble nucleation on cavity free micro heaters were also presented as the homogenous nucleation processes.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 1999.02a
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• pp.1-6
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• 1999

The recent progress in the new cooling technology for superconducting systems without liquid cryogens is briefly presented. In these conduction-cooled systems, the super-conducting magnets are cooled by a direct contact with closed-cycle cryocoolers and only electricity is supplied to maintain the cryogenic temperatures. It is reported that at least 20 conduction-cooled (low Tc or high Tc) super- conducting systems have been constructed, tested, or commercially used worldwide. Some of the significant design issues are discussed in comparison with the conventional liquid-helium cooled systems.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2024

The demand for research on materials with excellent cryogenic strength and ductility has been increasing, particularly for applications such as liquid hydrogen (20 K) storage tanks. To effectively utilize liquid hydrogen, a system capable of maintaining and operating at 20 K is essential. Therefore, preliminary research and verification of the cooling system are crucial. In this study, a heat transfer analysis was conducted on a cooling system to meet the cryogenic environment requirements for cryogenic hydrogen chamber, which are conducted at liquid helium temperatures (4 K). The cooling mechanism in a helium cooling system was examined using numerical analysis. The numerical cooling trends were compared with experimentally obtained cooling results. The good agreement between numerical and experimental results suggests that the numerical approach developed in this study is applicable over a wide range of cryogenic systems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.66-73
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• 2005

The pressurization system in a liquid rocket propulsion system provides a controlled gas pressure in the ullage space of the vehicle propellant tanks. It is advantage to employ a hot gas heat exchanger in the pressurization system to increase the specific volume of the pressurant and thereby reduce over-all system weight. A significant improvement in pressurization-system performance can be achieved, particularly in a cryogenic system, where the gas supply is stored inside the cryogenic propellant tank. In this study liquid nitrogen was used instead of liquid oxygen as a simulant. The temperature characteristic of cryogenic pressurant is very important to develop some components in pressurization system. Numerical modeling and test data were studied using SINDA/FLUINT Program and PTF(Propellant-feeding Test facility).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.293-297
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• 2009

Valves, which are used to supply or block the flow of cryogenic pressurant in the pressurization system of liquid-propellant propulsion system in a launch vehicle, are pneumo-actuated valve, solenoid valve, pyro-valve, etc. Both pneumo-actuated valve and solenoid valve have more complex structure and are heavier than pyro-valve. For this study, a couple of pyro-valves, which are applicable to cryogenic and high-pressure fluid (cryogenic gaseous helium), have a simple structure, and are comparably light, are designed, manufactured, and tested (proof-pressure/leakage tests, performance test, vibration test, helium supply tests).

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.6-9
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• 2013

Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) has a helium refrigeration system (HRS) with the cooling capacity of 9 kW at 4.5 K. Main cold components are composed of 300 tons of superconducting (SC) magnets, main cryostat thermal shields, and SC current feeder system. The HRS comprises six gas storage tanks, a liquid nitrogen tank, the room temperature compression sector, the cold box (C/B), the 1st stage helium distribution box (DB#1), the PLC base local control system interconnected to central control tower and so on. Between HRS and cold components, there's another distribution box (DB#2) nearby the KSTAR device. The entire KSTAR device was constructed in 2007 and has been operated since 2008. This paper will present the maintenance result of the KSTAR HRS during the campaign and discuss the operation record and maintenance history of the KSTAR HRS.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2012

The novel type of cable under consideration is cooled by gaseous Helium at elevated pressure. Helium is known for having poor electric breakdown strength; therefore the dielectric capabilities of this type of cable must be tested under conditions similar to the envisaged operation. In order to study the dielectric performance we have designed and built a novel high pressure cryostat rated at 2.17 MPa which has been used for testing model cables of lengths of up to 1 m. The cryostat is an open system where the gas is not re-circulated. This allows maintaining a high purity of the gas. The target temperature range is between 40 K and 70 K. This substantially increases the critical current density of the HTS compared to 77 K, which is the typical temperature of cables cooled by liquid nitrogen. The cryostat presented allows for adjusting the temperature and keeping it constant for the time necessary to run a complete dielectric characterization test. We give a detailed description of the cryostat. Measurements of partial discharge inception voltages as well as the temperature distribution along the model cables as a function of time are presented.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.64-68
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• 2009

To keep the superconducting (SC) magnet coils of KSTAR at proper operating conditions, not only the coils but also other cold components, such as thermal shields (TS), magnet structures, SC bus-lines (BL), and current leads (CL) must be maintained at their respective cryogenic temperatures. A helium refrigeration system (HRS) with an exergetic equivalent cooling power of 9kW at 4.5K without liquid nitrogen $(LN_2)$ pre-cooling has been manufactured and installed for such purposes. In this proceeding, we will present the commissioning and initial operation results of the KSTAR HRS. Circuits which can simulate the thermal loads and pressure drops corresponding to the cooling channels of each cold component of KSTAR have been integrated into the helium distribution system of the HRS. Using those circuits, the performance and the capability of the HRS, to fulfill the mission of establishing the appropriate operating condition for the KSTAR SC magnet coils, have been successfully demonstrated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.33-41
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• 2008

The prelaunch thermal transients in the cryogenic oxidizer tank of liquid propulsion rocket subjected to uniform heat flux from outside are numerically analyzed through thermodynamic equations and heat and mass transfer relations. The prelaunch stage is assumed to be composed of five idealized sub-stages including pressurization process by helium gas injection. The Peng-Robinson equation of state is utilized in the lumped analysis of ullage gas. The liquid region is divided into a number of horizontal layers of uniform properties to account for the thermal stratification. The computational result for the typical case shows that the temperature rise of liquid oxidizer is less than 1K and the adsorbed helium into the liquid is approximately 10g.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.211-215
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• 2004

For design of cryogenic propellant feeding system, one of the main requirements is to meet temperature requirement for satisfying turbo-pump NPSH requirement. In this paper improved method of estimating the thermal stratification in liquid oxygen tank is presented to help design. In the case of liquid rocket using turbo-pump, the inner pressure of liquid oxygen tank is maintained low, so vaporization of liquid oxygen is generally occurred. In this paper, inner process of LOX tank is analyzed by two phase flow modeling. The vaporization rate and required helium mass is investigated.