Pressure drop of slush nitrogen flow in converging–diverging pipes and corrugated pipes

Cryogenic slush fluids such as slush hydrogen and slush nitrogen are solid–liquid, two-phase fluids. As a functional thermal fluid, there are high expectations for use of slush fluids in various applications such as fuels for spacecraft engines, clean-energy fuels to improve the efficiency of transportation and storage, and as refrigerants for high-temperature superconducting equipment. Experimental flow tests were performed using slush nitrogen to elucidate pressure-drop characteristics of converging–diverging (C–D) pipes and corrugated pipes. In experimental results regarding pressure drop in two different types of C–D Pipes, i.e., a long-throated pipe and a short-throated pipe, each having an inner diameter of 15 mm, pressure drop for slush nitrogen in the long-throated pipe at a flow velocity of over 1.3 m/s increased by a maximum of 50–60% as compared to that for liquid nitrogen, while the increase was about 4 times as compared to slush nitrogen in the short-throated pipe. At a flow velocity of over 1.5 m/s in the short-throated pipe, pressure drop reduction became apparent, and it was confirmed that the decrease in pressure drop compared to liquid nitrogen was a maximum of 40–50%. In the case of two different types of corrugated pipes with an inner diameter of either 12 mm or 15 mm, a pressure-drop reduction was confirmed at a flow velocity of over 2 m/s, and reached a maximum value of 37% at 30 wt.% compared to liquid nitrogen. The greater the solid fractions, the smaller the pipe friction factor became, and the pipe friction factor at the same solid fraction showed a constant value regardless of the Reynolds number. From the observation of the solid particles’ behavior using a high-speed video camera and the PIV method, the pressure-drop reduction mechanisms for both C–D and corrugated pipes were demonstrated.     

Pressure-drop reduction and heat-transfer deterioration of slush nitrogen in horizontal pipe flow

Cryogenic slush fluids such as slush hydrogen and slush nitrogen are two-phase, single-component fluids containing solid particles in a liquid. Since their density and refrigerant capacity are greater than those of liquid-state fluid alone, there are high expectations for the use of slush fluids in various applications such as clean-energy fuels, spacecraft fuels for improved efficiency in transportation and storage, and as refrigerants for high-temperature superconducting equipment. Experimental tests were performed using slush nitrogen to obtain the flow and heat-transfer characteristics in two different types of horizontal circular pipes with inner diameters of 10 and 15 mm. One of the primary objectives for the study was to investigate the effect of pipe diameter on the pressure-drop reduction and heat-transfer deterioration of slush nitrogen according to changes in the pipe flow velocity, solid fraction and heat flux. In the case of an inner diameter of 15 mm, pressure drop was reduced and heat-transfer characteristics deteriorated when the pipe flow velocity was higher than 3.6 m/s. On the other hand, in the case of an inner diameter of 10 mm, pressure drop was reduced and heat-transfer characteristics deteriorated when the pipe flow velocity was higher than 2.0 m/s. From these results, it can be seen that a larger pipe diameter produces a higher onset velocity for reducing pressure drop and deteriorating heat-transfer characteristics. Furthermore, based on observations using a high-speed video camera, it was confirmed that pressure drop was reduced and heat-transfer characteristics deteriorated when the solid particles migrated to the center of the pipe and the flow pattern of the solid particles inside the pipe was pseudo-homogeneous.     

Pressure drop reduction phenomenon of slush nitrogen flow in a horizontal pipe

Cryogenic slush fluids, such as slush hydrogen and slush nitrogen, are two-phase single-component fluids containing solid particles in a liquid. Their density and refrigerant capacity are greater than those of a liquid-state fluid alone. Owing to these advantages, there are high expectations for use of slush fluids in various applications such as a clean-energy fuel, fuel for space-planes to improve the efficiency of transportation and storage, and as a refrigerant for high-temperature superconducting power machines. Experimental tests were performed with slush nitrogen to obtain the frictional pressure drop flowing in a horizontal pipe with an inner diameter of 15 mm and a length of 400 mm. The primary objective of the study was to investigate the pressure drop reduction phenomenon according to changes in velocity and solid fraction. The pressure drop correlation between the friction factor and the Reynolds number was obtained, and an empirical correlation between them was derived. The flow pattern for slush nitrogen inside a pipe and the behavior of solid particles were observed using a high-speed video camera and the PIV method. From the experimental results, the pressure drop reduction phenomenon emerged clearly when the flow velocity was higher than 3.6 m/s and the flow pattern of solid particles inside the pipe was pseudo-homogeneous.     

Pressure drop and heat transfer during two-phase flow vaporization of propane in horizontal smooth minichannels

This study examined the two-phase flow boiling pressure drop and heat transfer for propane, as a long term alternative refrigerant, in horizontal minichannels. The pressure drop and local heat transfer coefficients were obtained for heat fluxes ranging from 5–20 kW m^?2, mass fluxes ranging from 50–400 kg m^?2 s^?1, saturation temperatures of 10, 5 and 0 °C, and quality up to 1.0. The test section was made of stainless steel tubes with inner diameters of 1.5 mm and 3.0 mm, and lengths of 1000 mm and 2000 mm, respectively. The present study showed the effect of mass flux, heat flux, inner tube diameter and saturation temperature on pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. The experimental results were compared against several existing pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient prediction methods. Because the study on evaporation with propane in minichannels was limited, new correlations of pressure drop and boiling heat transfer coefficient were developed in this present study.     

Two-phase heat transfer and pressure drop of LNG during saturated flow boiling in a horizontal tube

Two-phase heat transfer and pressure drop of LNG (liquefied natural gas) have been measured in a horizontal smooth tube with an inner diameter of 8 mm. The experiments were conducted at inlet pressures from 0.3 to 0.7 MPa with a heat flux of 8–36 kW m⁻², and mass flux of 49.2–201.8 kg m⁻² s⁻¹. The effect of vapor quality, inlet pressure, heat flux and mass flux on the heat transfer characteristic are discussed. The comparisons of the experimental data with the predicted value by existing correlations are analyzed. Zou et al. (2010) correlation shows the best accuracy with 24.1% RMS deviation among them. Moreover four frictional pressure drop methods are also chosen to compare with the experimental database.     

Cryogenic design and test results of 30-m flexible hybrid energy transfer line with liquid hydrogen and superconducting MgB2 cable

In this paper we present the development of a new hybrid energy transfer line with 30 m length. The line is essentially a flexible 30 m hydrogen cryostat that has three sections with different types of thermal insulation in each section: simple vacuum superinsulation, vacuum superinsulation with liquid nitrogen precooling and active evaporating cryostatting (AEC) system. We performed thermo-hydraulic tests of the cryostat to compare three thermo-insulating methods. The tests were made at temperatures from 20 to 26 K, hydrogen flow from 70 to 450 g/s and pressure from 0.25 to 0.5 MPa. It was found that AEC thermal insulation was the most effective in reducing heat transfer from room temperature to liquid hydrogen in ∼10 m section of the cryostat, indicating that it can be used for long superconducting power cables. High voltage current leads were developed as well. The current leads and superconducting MgB₂ cable passed high voltage DC test up to 50 kV DC. Critical current of the cable at ∼21 K was 3500 A. It means that the 30 m hybrid energy system developed is able to deliver ∼50–60 MW of chemical power and ∼50–75 MW of electrical power, i.e. up to ∼135 MW in total.     

Effect of twisted tape insert on heat transfer and pressure drop in horizontal evaporators for the flow of R-134a

An experimental study has been carried out on the heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop characteristics in presence of twisted tape inserts, during flow boiling of R-134a, inside a horizontal evaporator. The test-evaporator was an electrically heated 1260 mm long copper tube with 7.5 mm inside diameter. The experiments were performed for plain flow and four tubes with twisted tapes of 6, 9, 12 and 15 twist ratios and four refrigerant mass velocities of 54, 85, 114 and 136 kg/s m² for each tape. It has been found that the twisted tape inserts enhance the heat transfer coefficient on relatively higher pressure drop penalty, in comparison to that for the plain flow.     

Cryogenic flat-panel gas-gap heat switch

A compact additive manufactured flat-panel gas-gap heat switch operating at cryogenic temperature is reported in this paper. A guarded-hot-plate apparatus has been developed to measure the thermal conductance of the heat switch with the heat sink temperature in the range of 100–180 K. The apparatus is cooled by a two-stage GM cooler and the temperature is controlled with a heater and a braided copper wire connection. A thermal guard is mounted on the hot side of the device to confine the heat flow axially through the sample. A gas handling system allows testing the device with different gas pressures in the heat switch. Experiments are performed at various heat sink temperatures, by varying gas pressure in the gas-gap and with helium, hydrogen and nitrogen gas. The measured off-conductance with a heat sink temperature of 115 K and the hot plate at 120 K is 0.134 W/K, the on-conductance with helium and hydrogen gases at the same temperatures is 4.80 W/K and 4.71 W/K, respectively. This results in an on/off conductance ratio of 37 ± 7 and 35 ± 6 for helium and hydrogen respectively. The experimental results matches fairly well with the predicted heat conductance at cryogenic temperatures.     

Experimental investigation of evaporation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-410A in a multiport mini-channel

The evaporation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-410A flowing through a horizontal aluminium rectangular multiport mini-channel having 3.48 mm hydraulic diameter are experimentally investigated. The test runs are performed at mass flux ranging between 200 and 400 kg/m² s. The heat fluxes are between 5 and 14.25 kW/m² and the saturation temperatures range between 10 and 30 °C. The pressure drop across the test section is directly measured by a differential pressure transducer. The effects of the imposed wall heat flux, mass flux, vapour quality, and saturation temperature on the evaporation heat transfer and pressure drop are also discussed. The results from the present experiment are compared with those obtained from the existing correlation. New correlations for the evaporation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-410A flowing through a multiport mini-channel are proposed for practical applications.     

EDU liquid acquisition device outflow tests in liquid hydrogen: Experiments and analytical modeling

This paper presents experiments and modeling of the most recent set of liquid acquisition device (LAD) vertical outflow tests conducted in liquid hydrogen. The Engineering Development Unit (EDU) was a relatively large tank (4.25 m³) used to mimic a storage tank for a cryogenic storage and transfer flight demonstration test. Six 1-g propellant tank outflow tests were conducted with a standard 325 × 2300 rectangular cross-section curved LAD channel conformal to the tank walls over a range of tank pressure (158–221 kPa), ullage temperature (22–39 K), and mass flow rate (0.0103–0.0187 kg/s) per arm. An analytical LAD channel solver, an exact solution to the Navier-Stokes equations, is used to model propellant outflow for the LAD channel. Results shows that the breakdown height of the LAD is dominated by liquid and ullage gas temperatures, with a secondary effect of flow rate. The best performance is always obtained by exposing the channel to cold pressurant gas and low flow rates, consistent with the cryogenic bubble point model. The model tracks the trends in the data and shows that the contribution of flow-through-screen pressure drop is minimized for bottom outflow in 1-g, versus the standard inverted outflow.     

Effects of biofouling on air-side heat transfer and pressure drop for finned tube heat exchangers

Experimental investigations on the effects of biofouling on air-side heat transfer and pressure drop for three biofouled finned tube heat exchangers and one clean finned tube heat exchanger were performed. Artificial accelerated method of microorganism growth on the fin surface was used for simulating the biofouled finned tube heat exchangers. Experimental results indicate that the effects of biofouling on the air-side heat transfer coefficient decreases 7.2% at 2.0 m/s when the biofouled area ratio is 10%, while it decreases 15.9% at 2.0 m/s when the biofouled area ratio is 60%, and biofouling causes a 21.8% ～ 41.3% increase in pressure drop when the air velocity is between 0.5 and 2.0 m/s. The increase of inlet air velocity is helpful to improve the long-term performance of finned tube heat exchanger. Biofouling makes the hydrophilic coating failure, and the condensation water easily converges on the fin surface where biofouling grows.     

Experimental investigation and correlation of two-phase frictional pressure drop of R410A–oil mixture flow boiling in a 5 mm microfin tube

This study presents experimental two-phase frictional data for R410A-oil mixture flow boiling in an internal spiral grooved microfin tube with outside diameter of 5 mm. Experimental parameters include the evaporation temperature of 5 °C, the mass flux from 200 to 400 kg m^?2 s^?1, the heat flux from 7.46 to 14.92 kW m^?2, the inlet vapor quality from 0.1 to 0.8, and nominal oil concentration from 0 to 5%. The test results show that the frictional pressure drop of R410A initially increases with vapor quality and then decreases, presenting a local maximum in the vapor quality range between 0.7 and 0.8; the frictional pressure drop of R410A–oil mixture increases with the mass flux, the presence of oil enhances two-phase frictional pressure drop, and the effect of oil on frictional pressure drop is more evident at higher vapor qualities where the local oil concentrations are higher. The enhanced factor is always larger than unity and increases with nominal oil concentration at a given vapor quality. The range of the enhanced factor is about 1.0–2.2 at present test conditions. A new correlation to predict the local frictional pressure drop of R410A-oil mixture flow boiling inside the internal spiral grooved microfin tube is developed based on local properties of refrigerant–oil mixture, and the measured local frictional pressure drop is well correlated with the empirical equation proposed by the authors.     

Experimental measurements and modeling of transient heat transfer in forced flow of He II at high velocities

An experiment has been built to study heat transfer in forced flow of He II at flow velocities up to 22 m/s. The main part of this experiment is a 10 mm ID, 0.86 m long straight test section instrumented with a heater, thermometers and pressure transducers. The high flow velocities allow clear observation of the effects of the forced convection, counterflow heat transfer and the Joule–Thomson effect. A numerical model based on the He II energy conservation equation and including pressure effects has been developed to compare with the experimental results. The model works well for low flow velocities where the heat flux is primarily driven by the temperature gradient and for high flow velocities where the heat flux is primarily driven by the pressure gradients. In the intermediate velocity region, discrepancies between the model and experiment may result from an inappropriate representation of the heat flux by counterflow when the temperature and pressure gradients have an effect of similar magnitude on the heat flux.     

Development and parametric study of the convection-type stationary adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) for hydrogen re-condensation

The adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) system in this paper is composed of a conduction-cooled current cycling high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet system, a magnetic bed assembly, its heat exchange parts and an auxiliary precooling stage (a commercial GM cryocooler and a liquid nitrogen vessel). The whole magnetic refrigeration system including the conduction-cooled HTS magnet is cooled by the precooling stage to absorb the rejection heat of the ADR cycle. The packed bed type magnetic bed consists of tiny irregular powders of Dy_0.9Gd_0.1Ni₂ enclosed in a thin walled stainless steel container (22.2 mm in O.D., 0.3 mm in thickness and 40.0 mm in height). The precooled heat transfer fluid (helium) travels through the magnetic material when heat rejection is required; otherwise the helium stagnates within its pores (pseudo-adiabatic process). Flow of the heat transfer fluid substitutes for the function of a traditional heat switch, creating, essentially, a forced-convection type heat switch. The magnetic bed assembly is periodically magnetized and demagnetized at the center of the conduction-cooled HTS magnet which can stably generate both strong and alternating magnetic field from 0 T to 3.0 T (0–130 A) with an average ramp rate of 0.24 T s⁻¹. The cooling capacities of the ADR system at 20 K which is the normal boiling point (NBP) of hydrogen, are 11.1 J cycle⁻¹, 6.3 J cycle⁻¹ and 1.9 J cycle⁻¹ when the temperature spans are 1 K, 2 K and 3 K, respectively. We describe the detailed construction of the ADR system and discuss the test results with the operational parameters (the entrained helium pressure, the mass flow rate of helium and the operating temperature span) in the 20 K region.     

An experimental study on flow patterns and heat transfer characteristics during cryogenic chilldown in a vertical pipe

In the present paper, the experimental results of a cryogenic chilldown process are reported. The physical phenomena involve unsteady two-phase vapor–liquid flow and intense boiling heat transfer of the cryogenic fluid that is coupled with the transient heat conduction inside pipe walls. The objective for the present study is to compare the chilldown rates and flow patterns between the upward flow and downward flow in a vertical pipe. Liquid nitrogen is employed as the working fluid and the test section is a vertical straight segment of a Pyrex glass pipe with an inner diameter of 8 mm. The effects of mass flow rate on the flow patterns, heat transfer characteristics and interface movement were determined through experiments performed under several different mass flow rates. Through flow visualization, measurement and analysis on the flow patterns and temperature variations, a physical explanation of the vertical chilldown is given. By observing the process and analyzing the results, it is concluded that pipe chilldown in a vertical flow is similar to that in microgravity to some extent.     

Measurement and correlation of frictional pressure drop of refrigerant-based nanofluid flow boiling inside a horizontal smooth tube

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of nanoparticle on the frictional pressure drop characteristics of refrigerant-based nanofluid flow boiling inside a horizontal smooth tube, and to present a correlation for predicting the frictional pressure drop of refrigerant-based nanofluid. R113 refrigerant and CuO nanoparticle were used for preparing refrigerant-based nanofluid. Experimental conditions include mass fluxes from 100 to 200 kg m^?2 s^?1, heat fluxes from 3.08 to 6.16 kW m^?2, inlet vapor qualities from 0.2 to 0.7, and mass fractions of nanoparticles from 0 to 0.5 wt%. The experimental results show that the frictional pressured drop of refrigerant-based nanofluid increases with the increase of the mass fraction of nanoparticles, and the maximum enhancement of frictional pressure drop is 20.8% under above conditions. A frictional pressure drop correlation for refrigerant-based nanofluid is proposed, and the predictions agree with 92% of the experimental data within the deviation of ±15%.     

Numerical study of the two-phase flow characteristics of slush nitrogen

The fundamental two-phase flow characteristics of slush nitrogen in a pipe are numerically investigated to develop effective cooling performance for long-distance superconducting cable. First, the governing equations of two-phase slush nitrogen flow based on the unsteady thermal non-equilibrium two-fluid model are constructed and several flow characteristics are numerically calculated taking into account the effects of the slush volume fraction, the thermodynamic behavior of slush, and the duct shape. Furthermore, the numerical results are compared with previous experimental results on pressure loss measurement and visualization measurement in two-phase slush nitrogen flow along the longitudinal direction of the pipe. Results of this research show that it is possible to reduce the pressure loss by using a two-phase slush flow under the high Reynolds number condition and by applying the appropriate volume fraction of slush particles. The optimized thermal flow conditions for cryogenic two-phase slush nitrogen with practical use of latent heat for slush melting are predicted for the development of a new type of superconducting cooling system.     

Numerical study of flow and heat-transfer characteristics of cryogenic slush fluid in a horizontal circular pipe (SLUSH-3D)

Cryogenic slush fluids, such as slush hydrogen and slush nitrogen, are two-phase, single-component fluids containing solid particles in a liquid. Since their density and refrigerant capacity are greater than those of liquid-state fluids alone, there are high expectations for use of slush fluids as functionally thermal fluids in various applications, such as fuels for spacecraft engines, clean energy fuels to improve the efficiency of transportation and storage, and as refrigerants for high-temperature superconducting equipment. In this research, a three-dimensional numerical simulation code (SLUSH-3D), including the gravity effect based on the thermal non-equilibrium, two-fluid model, was constructed to clarify the flow and heat-transfer characteristics of cryogenic slush fluids in a horizontal circular pipe. The calculated results of slush nitrogen flow performed using the numerical code were compared with the authors’ experimental results obtained using the PIV method. As a result of these comparisons, the numerical code was verified, making it possible to analyze the flow and heat-transfer characteristics of slush nitrogen with sufficient accuracy. The numerical results obtained for the flow and heat-transfer characteristics of slush nitrogen and slush hydrogen clarified the effects of the pipe inlet velocity, solid fraction, solid particle size, and heat flux on the flow pattern, solid-fraction distribution, turbulence energy, pressure drop, and heat-transfer coefficient. Furthermore, it became clear that the difference of the flow and heat-transfer characteristics between slush nitrogen and slush hydrogen were caused to a large extent by their thermo-physical properties, such as the solid–liquid density ratio, liquid viscosity, and latent heat of fusion.     

He II heat transfer through random packed spheres: Pressure drop

Heat flow induced pressure drop through superfluid helium (He II) contained in porous media is examined. In this experiment, heat was applied to one side of a He II column containing a random pack of uniform size polyethylene spheres. Measured results include steady state pressure drops across the random packs of spheres (nominally 35 μm, 49 μm, and 98 μm diameter) for different heat inputs. Laminar, turbulent, and transition fluid flow regimes are examined. The laminar permeability and equivalent channel shape factor are compared to our past studies of the temperature drop through He II in the same porous media of packed spheres. Results from the pressure drop experiments are more accurate than temperature drop experiments due to reduced measurement errors achieved with the pressure transducer. Turbulent results are fitted to models with empirically derived friction factors. A turbulent model considering only dynamic pressure losses in the normal fluid yields the most consistent friction factors. The addition of the laminar and turbulent heat flow equations into a unifying prediction fits all regimes to within 10%.     

Experimental study of laminar natural convection heat transfer from a vertical cylinder to slush nitrogen under constant heat flux conditions

Natural convection heat transfer from a vertical cylinder immersed in slush and subcooled liquid nitrogen and subjected to constant heat fluxes was investigated in order to determine the relative merits of slush nitrogen (SlN₂) for immersion cooling. A glass dewar was used as a test vessel in which a cylindrical heater was mounted vertically, and heat transfer measurements were carried out for SlN₂ and subcooled liquid nitrogen (LN₂) in the laminar flow range. The results revealed advantages of SlN₂ over subcooled LN₂ in natural convection cooling. The local temperatures of the heated surface surrounded by solid nitrogen particles are measured to increase at much slower rates than in subcooled LN₂, which is due to the latent heat of fusion of solid nitrogen. Even after the solid nitrogen particles surrounding the heater are apparently depleted, the average heat transfer coefficients for SlN₂ are still found to be greater than those for LN₂ with the improvement in heat transfer being larger for lower Grashof number regime. Our analysis also indicates that solid nitrogen particles in close proximity to heated surface do not discourage local convection due to the porous nature of SlN₂, making the heat transfer in SlN₂ more effective than in the case of solid–liquid phase change of nitrogen involving melting and conduction processes.