The thermal characteristics of pressurant such as gaseous nitrogen or helium in the on-board storage tank, which is essential for designing propellant pressurization system of liquid-propellant launch vehicle, were studied. Experiments were performed ...
The thermal characteristics of pressurant such as gaseous nitrogen or helium in the on-board storage tank, which is essential for designing propellant pressurization system of liquid-propellant launch vehicle, were studied. Experiments were performed in order to measure the rate of temperature drop while pressure in a pressurant tank changes. The results of experiments were compared with calculation results from the case with the influence of heat transfer among pressurant, tank shell, and surrounding fluid and calculation results from the case without the influence of heat transfer. Analytic solutions were in good agreement with the results from pressurant discharge tests. In the following, the results obtained from this study are summarized:
1. With gaseous nitrogen or helium at room temperature condition as pressurant (The external fluid of pressurant storage tank is air.), the rate of temperature drop according to the rate of pressure drop in a pressurant storage tank decreases as shown in the following empirical relations:
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2. With gaseous helium at cryogenic temperature condition as pressurant (The external fluid of pressurant storage tank is liquid oxygen.), the rate of temperature drop according to the rate of pressure drop in a pressurant storage tank decreases as shown in the following empirical relation:
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3. When the pressurant is changed into the constant volume, the pressurant storage tank under cryogenic (90K) condition could hold the pressurant about 2.7 times more than the pressurant storage tank under room temperature (300K) condition.
4. Without the consideration of heat transfer among pressurant, tank shell, and external fluid during pressurant discharge, the differences of temperature trends between the results from analytic calculation and the experimental results were about 300% and 150% at the room temperature condition and cryogenic temperature condition respectively.
5. In the case of air as external fluid, the convection heat transfer coefficient inside pressurant tank was dominant compared to the convection heat transfer coefficient between external fluid. However, in the case of liquid oxygen as external fluid, both convection heat transfer coefficients inside and outside pressurant storage tank should be under consideration. Therefore incoming energy was considerably different according to external fluid.