Ground experimental investigation of thermodynamic vent system for propellant on-orbit storage
- Paper number
IAC-18,C2,1,1,x42043
- Author
Mr. Xiaoyu Zhang, China, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology(CALT)
- Year
2018
- Abstract
Thermodynamic vent system (TVS) is of significance to long term on-orbit storage of cryogenic fuel. In present study, one ground experiment is established to investigate the pressure control performance of TVS. The simulant fluid HCFC123 is selected to be the experiment fluid and to verify the efficient of TVS in the ground. The tank pressure variation and fluid temperature change are respectively studied in tank self-pressurization, the injection mixing depressurization and active refrigeration process. The refrigeration capacity supplied by the TVS heat exchanger and the thermal stratification during different phases, are specially illustrated. The present experiment proves the effectiveness of the pressure control performance by means of TVS. The total venting gas loss is about 17.3kg for 16 throttling cycles. The corresponding refrigeration capacity of TVS heat exchanger is 1216~1415W, under the circulation volume flow of 95L/h and the throttling ratio of 16.8~18.9%. Moreover, it costs more than 4 hours for the liquid thermal stratification develop fully during the mixing process. While in the active refrigeration phase, TVS reduces the vapor temperature with the maximum reduction of 9.2°C, and controls the liquid temperature variation in 2°C. When compared to direct venting method, TVS has recovered more than 23.22% venting loss for 4.75 hours’ operation. On the whole, the effective pressure control and heat load elimination of TVS are well confirmed in the present experimental investigation.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-18,C2,1,1,x42043.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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