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The 2015 joint Cryogenic Engineering and International Cryogenic Materials Conferences were held from June 28 through July 2 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona. As at past conferences, the international scope of these meetings was strongly maintained with 26 countries being represented by 561 attendees who gathered to enjoy the joint technical programs, industrial exhibits, special events, and natural beauty of the surrounding Sonoran Desert.

The program for the joint conferences included a total of 363 presentations in the plenary, oral, and poster sessions. Four plenary talks gave in-depth discussions of the readiness of bulk superconductors for applications, the role of cryogenics in the development of the hydrogen bomb and vice versa, superconducting turboelectric aircraft propulsion and UPS's uses and plans for LNG fuel. Contributed papers covered a wide range of topics including large-scale and small-scale cryogenics, advances in superconductors and their applications. In total, 234 papers were submitted for publication of which 224 are published in these proceedings.

The CEC/ICMC Cryo Industrial Expo displayed the products and services of 38 industrial exhibitors and provided a congenial venue for a reception and refreshments throughout the week as well as the conference poster sessions.

Spectacular panoramic views of Saguaro National Park, the Sonoran Desert and the night time lights of Tucson set the stage for a memorable week in the American Southwest. Conference participants enjoyed scenic hikes and bike rides, exploring Old Town Tucson, hot and spicy southwestern cuisine, a nighttime lightning display and a hailstorm.

Conference Chairs for 2015 were Peter Kittel, Consultant, for CEC and Michael Sumption from The Ohio State University, Materials Science Department for ICMC. Program Chairs were Jonathan Demko from the LeTourneau University for CEC and Timothy Haugan from AFRL/RQQM for ICMC, assisted by the CEC Program Vice Chair, Jennifer Marquardt from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. The Exhibit chair was Richard Dausman of Cryomech, Inc. who also served as Publicity Chair. Finally, Awards Chairs were Ray Radebaugh from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for CEC and David Cardwell from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, for ICMC.

On June 28, the Cryogenic Society of America presented three short courses: Cryocooler Fundamentals and Space Applications, a full day course given by Dr. Ray Radebaugh and Dr. Ron Ross, Superconducting Radio Frequency Systems, a half-day course by Dr. Rong-Li Geng; and Practical Thermometry and Instrumentation, a half-day course by Dr. Scott Courts. The courses were well attended and catered to both seasoned professionals and newcomers to cryogenics.

The able leadership of Paula Pair with the hardworking staff from Centennial Conferences provided outstanding conference management and operations. Thank you Paula and staff for a truly outstanding and memorable conference experience! Finally, to the attendees, authors, editors, and reviewers whose combined efforts have contributed to these proceedings, thanks very much to you all.

We look forward to the next CEC/ICMC in Madison, Wisconsin, July 9 - 13, 2017.

Details of the Samuel C Collins, Russell B Scott Memorial, Student Meritorious Paper and Klaus & Jen Timmerhaus Scholarship awards are presented in the PDF.

A list of the members of the 2015 Cryogenic Engineering Conference Board is available in the PDF.

A list of the names and contact details of the CEC Technical Editors is available in the PDF.

The CEC and ICMC Boards wish to thank our supporter and sponsors who have contributed to the 2015 CEC/ICMC Conference. Their contributions helped ensure the success of the 2015 Conference.

An author index for CEC 2015 is available in the PDF.

A subject index for CEC 2015 is available in the PDF.

All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the proceedings Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.

This author and other authors have written papers concerning the cost of refrigeration as a function of the refrigeration delivered. These papers have included small coolers as well. The lowest temperature range from 3.8 K to 4.7 K (the liquid helium temperature range) is covered using coolers that have two stages. The use of magnets and power equipment that use MgB₂ conductors and HTS conductors have spurred the development of coolers that work well temperature ranges from 15 K to 30 K (hydrogen temperature applications), HTS conductors like BSSCO and YBCO for the range from 35 to 50 K and HTS devices from 65 K to 80 K (applications in the liquid nitrogen temperature range). This paper will present some cost data for a number of commercial two-stage and single-stage coolers. This data will be fitted to allow one to estimate the cost of coolers as a function of refrigeration for temperatures of 4.2 K, 20 K, 40 K and 77 K. The efficiency of a large number of coolers over a range of temperatures is also discussed.

The amount of cooling delivered to the second stage of a two stage cooler is dependent on the second stage temperature and the amount of refrigeration provided by the cooler first stage. The second stage cooling as a function of temperature for a Cryomech PT-415 cooler (1.5 W at 4.2 K with 42 W on the first stage) has been estimated by scaling similar data that was measured for a Cryomech PT-410 cooler (1.0 W at 4.2 K with 28 to 30 W on the first stage). In order to accurately calculate the cool-down time for a superconducting magnet using PT-415 K coolers one must know how much cooling can be delivered by the cooler second-stage as a function of the second-stage temperature and the added cooling delivered to the cooler first-stage. There are applications where PT415 coolers are used in the temperature range from 15 to 25 K to liquefy hydrogen or cool magnets fabricated from MgB₂. This report describes the method for estimating the cooler performance for a PT415 cooler as well as the results of the measurements on several PT415 coolers.

For wide spread high-temperature superconductor (HTS) devices, a cryocooler having COP of >0.1, with a compact size, light weight, high efficiency and high reliability is required. For practical use of superconductive devices, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (SHI) developed a high-efficiency Stirling type pulse tube cryocooler (STPC). The STPC had high reliability and low vibration. However, its efficiency was not enough to meet the demands of an HTS motor. To further improve the efficiency, we reconsidered the expander of cryocooler and developed a Stirling cryocooler (STC). Two prototype units of a compact, high-efficiency split Stirling cryocooler were designed, built and tested. With the second prototype unit, a cooling capacity of 151 W at 70 K and a minimum temperature of 33 K have been achieved with a compressor input power of 2.15 kW. Accordingly, COP of about 0.07 has been achieved. The detailed design of the prototype units and the experimental results will be reported in this paper.

The development and characterization of new materials is of extreme importance in the design of cryogenic apparatus. Recently Versarien^® PLC developed a technique capable of producing copper foam with controlled porosity and pore size. Such porous materials could be interesting for cryogenic heat exchangers as well as of special interest in some devices used in microgravit.y environments where a cryogenic liquid is confined by capillarity.

In the present work, a system was developed to measure the thermal conductivity by the differential steady-state mode of four copper foam samples with porosity between 58% and 73%, within the temperatures range 20 - 260 K, using a 2 W @ 20 K cryocooler. Our measurements were validated using a copper control sample and by the estimation of the Lorenz number obtained from electrical resistivity measurements at room temperature. With these measurements, the Resistivity Residual Ratio and the tortuosity were obtained.

Micro-scaling cryogenic refrigerators, in particular the Joule-Thomson (JT) variety require very good information about heat transfer characteristics of the refrigerants flowing in the microchannels for optimal design and performance. The extremely low Reynolds flow is present in a micro JT cryocooler, the heat transfer characteristics at these conditions require investigation. There are numerous studies regarding heat transfer coefficient measurements of liquid flow in microchannels at/near ambient temperature and high Reynolds flow (Re>2000), that agree well with the conventional correlations. However, results from previous studies of gaseous flow in microchannels at low Reynolds flow (Re<1000) disagree with conventional theory. Moreover, the studies performed at cryogenic temperatures are quite limited in number. In this paper, the single-phase heat transfer coefficients and friction factors for nitrogen are measured at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. The hydraulic diameters for this study are 60, 110 and 180 μm for circular microchannels. The Reynolds numbers varied from a very low value of 10 to 3000. The measured friction factors are comparable to those in macro-scale tubes. The experimental results of the heat transfer indicate that Nusselt numbers derived from measurements are significantly affected by axial conduction at low Reynolds flow (Re<500). The Nusselt numbers at high Reynolds flow (Re>1000) follow conventional theory. The detailed experiment, procedure, and measured results are presented in this paper and discussed regarding deviation from ideal theory at low Reynolds flow.

Condensation of nitrogen gas rapidly flowing into a liquid helium (LHe) cooled vacuum tube is studied. This study aims to examine the heat transfer in geometries such as the superconducting RF cavity string of a particle accelerator following a sudden loss of vacuum to atmosphere. In a simplified experiment, the flow is generated by quickly venting a large reservoir of nitrogen gas to a straight long vacuum tube immersed in LHe. Normal LHe (LHe I) and superfluid He II are used in separate experiments. The rate of condensation heat transfer is determined from the temperature of the tube measured at several locations along the gas flow. Instantaneous heat deposition rates in excess of 200 kW/m² result from condensation of the flowing gas. The gas flow is then arrested in its path to pressurize the tube to atmosphere and estimate the heat transfer rate to LHe. A steady LHe I heat load of ≈25 kW/m² is obtained in this scenario. Observations from the He II experiment are briefly discussed. An upper bound for the LHe I heat load is derived based on the thermodynamics of phase change of nitrogen.

In the past, cooling at 2 K used to be an exotic application in large scale cryogenics. The required sub-atmospheric helium bath was established with the help of one of the following two technical approaches - rough vacuum pumping at ambient temperature or turbo compression at cryogenic temperature - ora combination of both. The aforementioned approaches are still being applied, but the optimum distribution between warm and cold stages is not always obvious. In the last few years, 2 K cooling became a new state-of-the-art in the fields of experimental and applied physics. Standardisation of the machinery and its control significantly reduced commissioning time which has clearly been demonstrated during start-up of refrigeration plants such as Fermilab and DESY. Thus, the technological readiness of cold compressors has successfully been proven. This paper presents criteria for the optimisation of a cold compressor system under operational and economical aspects depending on the required 2 K cooling capacity.

Pressure Wave Systems GmbH has developed a dry compressor for GM and pulse tube cryocoolers. The concept is based on hydraulically driven metal bellows in which the Helium working gas is compressed. The system is operated in the region of 1 kW of electrical input power and has been successfully tested with a SHI RDK-101D GM cryocooler cold head. Set-up, performance and reliability of the compressor system will be discussed.

Lockheed Martin has developed and tested a space-quality compressor capable of delivering closed-loop gas flow with a high pressure ratio, suitable for driving a Joule- Thomson cold head. The compressor is based on a traditional "Oxford style" dual-opposed piston compressor with linear drive motors and flexure-bearing clearance-seal technology for high reliability and long life. This J-T compressor retains the approximate size, weight, and cost of the ultra-compact, 200 gram Lockheed Martin Pulse Tube Micro Compressor, despite the addition of a flow-rectifying system to convert the AC pressure wave into a steady flow.

SAFARI (SpicA FAR-infrared Instrument) is an infrared instrument planned to be part of the SPICA (SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) Satellite. It will offer high spectral resolution in the 30 - 210 μm frequency range. SAFARI will benefit from the cold telescope of SPICA and to obtain the required detectors sensitivity, a temperature of 50 mK is required. This temperature is reached thanks to the use of a hybrid sorption - ADR (Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator) cooler presented here. This cooler provides respectively 14 μW and 0.4 μW of cooling power at 300 mK and 50 mK. The cooler is planned to advantageously use two thermal interfaces of the instrument at 1.8 and 4.9 K. One of the challenges discussed in this paper is the low power available at each intercept. A dedicated laboratory electronic is being designed based on previous development with a particular focus on the 50 mK readout. Temperature regulation at 50 mK is also discussed. This cooler has been designed following flight constraints and will reach a high TRL, including mechanical and environmental tests at the end of the on-going qualification campaign.

The European Spallation Source (ESS) is a neutron-scattering facility funded and supported in collaboration with 17 European countries in Lund, Sweden. Cryogenic cooling at ESS is vital particularly for the linear accelerator, the hydrogen target moderators, a test stand for cryomodules, the neutron instruments and their sample environments. The paper will focus on specific process design criteria, design decisions and their motivations for the helium cryoplants and auxiliary equipment. Key issues for all plants and their process concepts are energy efficiency, reliability, smooth turn-down behaviour and flexibility. The accelerator cryoplant (ACCP) and the target moderator cryoplant (TMCP) in particular need to be prepared for a range of refrigeration capacities due to the intrinsic uncertainties regarding heat load definitions. Furthermore the paper addresses questions regarding process arrangement, 2 K cooling methodology, LN2 precooling, helium storage, helium purification and heat recovery.

The European Spallation Source (ESS) is a neutron-scattering facility being built with extensive international collaboration in Lund, Sweden. The ESS accelerator will deliver protons with 5 MW of power to the target at 2.0 GeV, with a nominal current of 62.5 mA. The superconducting part of the accelerator is about 300 meters long and contains 43 cryomodules. The ESS accelerator cryoplant (ACCP) will provide the cooling for the cryomodules and the cryogenic distribution system that delivers the helium to the cryomodules. The ACCP will cover three cryogenic circuits: Bath cooling for the cavities at 2 K, the thermal shields at around 40 K and the power couplers thermalisation with 4.5 K forced helium cooling. The open competitive bid for the ACCP took place in 2014 with Linde Kryotechnik AG being selected as the vendor. This paper summarizes the progress in the ACCP development and engineering. Current status including final cooling requirements, preliminary process design, system configuration, machine concept and layout, main parameters and features, solution for the acceptance tests, exergy analysis and efficiency is presented.

Complex, non-developable surfaces require a tailored multi-layer insulation (MLI) for lowest heat load. The most experiments showing the heat transfer through MLI are performed under quasi-ideal conditions determining the principle insulation quality. But the surface to be insulated in real cryostats implies feed-throughs and other non-developable surface parts. The thermal performance of MLI is degraded significantly at cutting points. To investigate this degrading effect a LN₂-filled cylinder with a diameter of 219 mm and a length of 1820 mm was insulated with MLI and the heat load was measured by means of calorimetry. In addition the heat load to an insulated cylinder with eighteen branches was measured. Both cylinders have the same surface of 1.37 m² for a comparison of the results. This article describes the experiments with different ways of tailoring the MLI for the cylinder with branches and discusses their results. It was shown that the cutting points at the branches have a significant degrading influence on the thermal performance of MLI.

The cooling power consumption in large scale superconducting systems is huge and cryogenic devices used in space applications often require an extremely long cryogen holding time. To economically maintain the device at its operating temperature and minimize the refrigeration losses, high performance of thermal isolation is essential. The radiation from warm surrounding surfaces and conducting heat leaks through supports and penetrations are the dominant heat loads to the cold mass under vacuum condition. The advanced developments in various cryogenic applications to successfully reduce the heat loads through radiation and conduction are briefly and systematically discussed and evaluated in this review paper. These include: (1) thermal Insulation for different applications (foams, perlites, glass bubbles, aerogel and MLI), (2) sophisticated low-heat-leak support (cryogenic tension straps, trolley bars and posts with dedicated thermal intercepts), and (3) novel cryogenic heat switches.

Cryogenic multilayer insulation (MLI) systems provide both conductive and radiative thermal insulation performance. The use of radiation shields with low conductivity spacers in between are required. By varying the distance and types of the spacers between the radiation shields, the relative radiation and conduction heat transfers can be manipulated. However, in most systems, there is a fixed thickness or volume allocated to the insulation. To understand how various combinations of different multilayer insulation (MLI) systems work together and to further validate thermal models of hybrid MLI systems, test data are needed. The MLI systems include combinations of Load-Bearing MLI (LB-MLI) and traditional MLI (tMLI). To further simulate the space launch vehicle case wherein both ambient pressure and vacuum environments are addressed, different cold-side thermal insulation substrates were included for select tests.

The basic hybrid construction consists of some number of layers of LB-MLI on the cold side of the insulation system followed by layers of tMLI on the warm side of the system. The advantages of LB-MLI on the cold side of the insulation blanket are that its low layer density (0.5 - 0.6 layer/mm) is better suited for lower temperature applications and is a structural component to support heat interception shields that may be placed within the blanket. The advantage of tMLI systems on the warm side is that radiation is more dominant than conduction at warmer temperatures, so that a higher layer density is desired (2 - 3 layer/mm) and less effort need be put into minimizing conduction heat transfer. Liquid nitrogen boiloff test data using a cylindrical calorimeter are presented along with analysis for spacecraft tank applications.

Standards for thermal insulation used in applications between ambient and low temperatures, below 100 K, require test data under relevant conditions and by different laboratories to develop data sets for the proper comparisons of materials. This critically important technology is needed to provide reliable data and methodologies for industrial energy efficiency and energy conservation. Under ASTM International's Committee C16 on Thermal Insulation, two standards have been issued on cryogenic thermal insulation systems. Thermal conductivity data sets have been taken using identical flat-plate boiloff calorimeter instruments independently operated at the Cryogenics Test Laboratory of NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the Thermal Energy Laboratory of LeTourneau University (LETU). Precision specimens of cellular glass insulation were produced for both laboratories to provide the necessary comparisons to validate the thermal measurements and test methodologies. Additional specimens of commercial cellular glass pipe insulation were tested at LETU to compare with the flat plate results. The test data are discussed in relation to the experimental approach, test methods, and manner of reporting the thermal performance data. This initial Inter-Laboratory Study (ILS) of insulation materials for sub-ambient temperature applications provides a foundation for further ILS work to produce standard data sets for several key commercial materials.

Multilayer Insulation (MLI) uses stacks of low-emittance metalized sheets combined with low-conduction spacer features to greatly reduce the heat transfer to cryogenic applications from higher temperature surrounds. However, as the hot-side temperature decreases from room temperature to cryogenic temperatures, the level of radiant heat transfer drops as the fourth power of the temperature, while the heat transfer by conduction only falls off linearly. This results in cryogenic MLI being dominated by conduction, a quantity that is extremely sensitive to MLI blanket construction and very poorly quantified in the literature. To develop useful quantitative data on cryogenic blanket conduction, multilayer nonlinear heat transfer models are used to analyze extensive heat transfer data measured by Lockheed Palo Alto on their cryogenic dewar MLI and measured by JPL on their spacecraft MLI. The data-fitting aspect of the modeling allows the radiative and conductive thermal properties of the tested blankets to be explicitly quantified. Results are presented showing that MLI conductance varies by a factor of 600 between spacecraft MLI and Lockheed's best cryogenic MLI.

Early comprehensive testing of cryogenic multilayer insulation focused on the use of silk netting as a spacer material. Silk netting was used for multiple test campaigns that were designed to provide baseline thermal performance estimates for cryogenic insulation systems. As more focus was put on larger systems, the cost of silk netting became a deterrent and most aerospace insulation firms were using Dacron (or polyester) netting spacers by the early 1970s. In the midst of the switch away from silk netting there was no attempt to understand the difference between silk and polyester netting, though it was widely believed that the silk netting provided slightly better performance. Without any better reference for thermal performance data, the silk netting performance correlations continued to be used. In order to attempt to quantify the difference between the silk netting and polyester netting, a brief test program was developed. The silk netting material was obtained from Lockheed Martin and was tested on the Cryostat-100 instrument in three different configurations, 20 layers with both single and double netting and 10 layers with single netting only. The data show agreement within 15 - 30% with the historical silk netting based correlations and show a substantial performance improvement when compared to previous testing performed using polyester netting and aluminum foil/fiberglass paper multilayer insulation. Additionally, the data further reinforce a recently observed trend that the heat flux is not directly proportional to the number of layers installed on a system.

Argonne National Laboratory has developed and is implementing a novel 2 K superconducting cavity cryomodule operating at 162.5 MHz. This cryomodule is designed for the acceleration of 2 mA H^-/proton beams from 2.1 to 10 MeV as part of the Fermilab Proton Improvement Project-II (PIP-II). This work is an evolution of techniques recently implemented in two previous heavy-ion accelerator cryomodules now operating at Argonne National Laboratory. The 2 K cryomodule is comprised of 8 half-wave cavities operated in the continuous wave mode with 8 superconducting magnets, one in front of each cavity. All of the solenoids and cavities operate off of a single gravity fed 2 K helium cryogenic system expected to provide up to 50 W of 2 K cooling. Here we review the mechanical design of the cavities and cryomodule which were developed using methods similar to those required in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. This will include an overview of the cryomodule layout, the alignment of the accelerator components via modifications of the cryomodule vacuum vessel and provide a status report on the cryomodule assembly.

Cornell University has finished building a 10 m long superconducting accelerator module as a prototype of the main linac of a proposed ERL facility. This module houses 6 superconducting cavities- operated at 1.8 K in continuous wave (CW) mode - with individual HOM absorbers and one magnet/ BPM section. In pushing the limits, a high quality factor of the cavities (2•10¹⁰) and high beam currents (100 mA accelerated plus 100 mA decelerated) were targeted. The design of the cryomodule and the results of components tested before assembly will be presented in this paper.

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) has built, commissioned and operated a Horizontal Test Apparatus (HTA) vessel in the Radiofrequency Test Facility (RFTF) test cave. It can be operated at 4.5 K using the independent Cryogenic Test Facility (CTF). The HTA is designed to be a single cavity version of an SNS cryomodule with the ability to demount and replace the cavity. It provides the functionality for testing a single dressed SNS medium or high beta Superconducting Radiofrequency (SRF) cavity. The HTA is currently being used in support of R&D for in-situ plasma processing of the cavity's inner niobium surface. The design and commissioning of the HTA at 4.5 K will be presented as well as results from operating the HTA including cool-down, warm-up and steady state operations. Results from plasma processing a warm SCRF cavity in-between cold HTA tests will also be reported.

In order to use stainless steel piping in an LCLS-II (Linac Coherent Light Source Upgrade) cryomodule, stainless steel to titanium bimetallic transitions are needed to connect the stainless steel piping to the titanium cavity helium vessel. Explosion bonded stainless steel to titanium transition pieces and bimetallic transition material samples have been tested. A sample transition tube was subjected to tests and x-ray examinations between tests. Samples of the bonded joint material were impact and tensile tested at room temperature as well as liquid helium temperature. The joint has been used successfully in horizontal tests of LCLS-II cavity helium vessels and is planned to be used in LCLS-II cryomodules. Results of material sample and transition tube tests will be presented.

Operated by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. De-AC02-07CH11359 with the United States Department of Energy.

The Raytheon Advanced Miniature (RAM) cryocooler is a flight packaged, high frequency pulse tube cooler with an integrated surge volume and inertance tube. Its design has been fully optimized to make use of the Raytheon Advanced Regenerator, resulting in improved efficiency relative to previous Raytheon pulse tube coolers. In this paper, thermodynamic characterization data for the RAM cryocooler is presented along with details of its design specifications.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) will have completed its first year in space on July 2, 2015. The OCO-2 instrument incorporates three bore-sighted, high-resolution grating spectrometers, designed to measure the near-infrared absorption of reflected sunlight by carbon dioxide and molecular oxygen. The cryocooler system design is coupled with the instrument's thermal control design to maximize the instrument's performance. A single-stage NGAS pulse tube cryocooler provides refrigeration to three focal plane arrays to ∼120 K via a high conductance flexible thermal strap. A variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) based heat rejection system (HRS) transports waste heat from the instrument located inside the spacecraft to the space-viewing radiators. The HRS provides tight temperature control of the optics to 267 K and maintains the cryocooler at 300 K. Soon after entering the A-Train on August 3, 2014, the optics and focal planes were cooled to their operating temperatures. This paper provides a general overview of the cryogenic system design and reviews the in-flight cryogenic performance during the Observatory's first year.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company has built and delivered an engineering model microcryocooler to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for use with instruments for deep space and earth science missions. Funding for this cryocooler was through JPL's Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration (MatISSE). This cooler is nearly identical to the compact coaxial microcryocooler presented at the 2014 International Cryocooler Conference. The cryocooler mass is just 345 grams for the entire thermal mechanical unit, and is compact enough to be packaged in a CubeSat. This paper describes the measured performance of the MatISSE cryocooler, including the performance at cold heat rejection temperatures.

We developed a turbo-Brayton refrigerator with Ne gas as a working fluid for a 3 ϕ- 66/6.9kV-2MVA superconducting transformer with coated conductors which was bath-cooled with subcooled LN₂. The two-stage compressor and expansion turbine had non-contact magnetic bearings for a long maintenance interval. In the future, we intend to directly install a heat exchanger into the Glass-Fiber-Reinforced-Plastics cryostat of a transformer and make a heat exchange between the working fluid gas and subcooled LN₂. In this paper we investigate the behaviour of subcooled LN₂ in a test cryostat, in which heater coils were arranged side by side with a flat plate finned-tube heat exchanger. Here a He turbo-Brayton refrigerator was used as a substitute for a Ne turbo-Brayton one. The pressure at the surface of LN₂ in the cryostat was one atmosphere. Just under the LN₂ surface, a stationary layer of LN₂ was created over the depth of 20 cm and temperature dropped from 77 K to 65 K with depth while, in the lower level than that, a natural convection flow of LN₂ was formed and temperature was almost uniform over 1 m depth. The boundary plane between the stationary layer and the natural convection region was visible.

In this paper, the shielding performance of electromagnetic shielding systems is analyzed using the finite element method. Considering the non-iron-core rotor structure of superconducting generators, it is proposed that the stator alternating magnetic field generated under different operating conditions could decompose into oscillating and rotating magnetic field, so that complex issues could be greatly simplified. A 1200KW superconducting generator was analyzed. The distribution of the oscillating magnetic field and the rotating magnetic field in rotor area, which are generated by stator winding currents, and the distribution of the eddy currents in electromagnetic shielding tube, which are induced by these stator winding magnetic fields, are calculated without electromagnetic shielding system and with three different structures of electromagnetic shielding system respectively. On the basis of the results of FEM, the shielding factor of the electromagnetic shielding systems is calculated and the shielding effect of the three different structures on the oscillating magnetic field and the rotating magnetic field is compared. The method and the results in this paper can provide reference for optimal design and loss calculation of superconducting generators.

We propose a new electrical power storage and stabilization system, called an Advanced Superconducting Power Conditioning System (ASPCS), which consists of superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and hydrogen energy storage, converged on a liquid hydrogen station for fuel cell vehicles. A small 10- kJ SMES system, in which a BSCCO coil cooled by liquid hydrogen was installed, was developed to create an experimental model of an ASPCS. The SMES coil is conductively cooled by liquid hydrogen flow through a thermo-siphon line under a liquid hydrogen buffer tank. After fabrication of the system, cooldown tests were carried out using liquid hydrogen. The SMES coil was successfully charged up to a nominal current of 200 A. An eddy current loss, which was mainly induced in pure aluminum plates pasted onto each pancake coils for conduction cooling, was also measured.

A proposal for a very large liquid argon (68,000 kg) based neutrino detector is being studied. To validate the design principles and the detector technology, and to gain experience in the development of the cryostats and the cryogenic systems needed for such large experiments, several smaller scale installations will be developed and implemented, at Fermilab and CERN.

The cryogenic systems for these installations will be developed, constructed, installed and commissioned by an international engineering team. These installations shall bring the required cooling power under specific conditions to the experiments for the initial cool-down and the long term operation, and shall also guarantee the correct distribution of the cooling power within the cryostats to ensure a homogeneous temperature distribution within the cryostat itself. The cryogenic systems shall also include gaseous and liquid phase argon purification devices to be used to reach and maintain the very stringent purity requirements needed for these installations (parts per trillion of oxygen equivalent contamination).

This paper gives an overview of the installations involved in these cryogenic projects, describes the functional demands made to these cryogenic systems and presents the initial studies on which these future cryogenic systems will be based.

A Superconducting Fault Current Limiter is an electric power device which limits the fault current immediately in a power grid. The SFCL must be cooled to below the critical temperature of high temperature superconductor modules. In general, they are submerged in sub-cooled liquid nitrogen for their stable thermal characteristics. To cool and maintain the target temperature and pressure of the sub-cooled liquid nitrogen, the cryogenic cooling system should be designed well with a cryocooler and coolant circulation devices. The pressure of the cryostat for the SFCL should be pressurized to suppress the generation of nitrogen bubbles in quench mode of the SFCL. In this study, we tested the performance of the cooling system for the prototype 154 kV SFCL, which consist of a Stirling cryocooler, a subcooling cryostat, a pressure builder and a main cryostat for the SFCL module, to verify the design of the cooling system and the electric performance of the SFCL. The normal operation condition of the main cryostat is 71 K and 500 kPa. This paper presents tests results of the overall cooling system.

Large Liquid Hydrogen (LH₂) storage tanks are vital infrastructure for NASA. Eventually, air may leak into the evacuated and perlite filled annular region of these tanks. Although the vacuum level is monitored in this region, the extremely cold temperature causes all but the helium and neon constituents of air to freeze. A small, often unnoticeable pressure rise is the result. As the leak persists, the quantity of frozen air increases, as does the thermal conductivity of the insulation system. Consequently, a notable increase in commodity boil-off is often the first indicator of an air leak. Severe damage can result from normal draining of the tank. The warming air will sublimate which will cause a pressure rise in the annulus. When the pressure increases above the triple point, the frozen air will begin to melt and migrate downward. Collection of liquid air on the carbon steel outer shell may chill it below its ductility range, resulting in fracture. In order to avoid a structural failure, as described above, a method for the safe removal of frozen air is needed. A thermal model of the storage tank has been created using SINDA/FLUINT modelling software. Experimental work is progressing in an attempt to characterize the thermal conductivity of a perlite/frozen nitrogen mixture. A statistical mechanics model is being developed in parallel for comparison to experimental work. The thermal model will be updated using the experimental/statistical mechanical data, and used to simulate potential removal scenarios. This paper will address methodologies and analysis techniques for evaluation of two proposed air removal methods.

The performance of pulse tube cryocooler is affected by the temperature of hot end, which is mainly influenced by the temperature of environment. Effects on a single-stage multibypass type pulse tube cryocooler are investigated by means of numerical simulation. For different opening of multi-bypass orifices, the refrigeration performances are studied when hot end temperature changed in a certain range, and some numerical results are provided and analysed. Together with the temperature at cold head and multi-bypass position, the mass flow rate through the multi-bypass orifice is affected significantly by the temperature of hot end, and the optimum opening of multi-bypass orifice decreases with hot end temperature increasing from 240 K to 320 K. Therefore, to select an optimal opening of bypass orifice according to the temperature of operating environment is necessary.

Transient analysis of single stage GM type double inlet pulse tube cryocooler is carried out using a one dimensional numerical model based on real gas properties of helium. The model solves continuity, momentum and energy equation for gas and solid to analyse the physical process occurring inside of the pulse tube cryocooler. Finite volume method is applied to discretize the governing equations with realistic initial and boundary conditions. Input data required for solving the model are the design data and operating parameters viz. pressure waveform from the compressor, regenerator matrix data, and system geometry including pulse tube, regenerator size and operating frequency for pulse tube cryocooler. The model investigates the effect of orifice opening, double inlet opening, pressure ratio, system geometry on no load temperature and refrigeration power at various temperatures for different charging pressure. The results are compared with experimental data and reasonable agreement is observed. The model can further be extended for designing two stage pulse tube cryocooler.

The MSU-FRIB cryogenic distribution system supports the 2 K primary, 4 K primary, and 35 - 55 K shield operation of more than 70 loads in the accelerator and the experimental areas. It is based on JLab and SNS experience with bayonet-type disconnects between the loads and the distribution system for phased commissioning and maintenance. The linac transfer line, which features three separate transfer line segments for additional independence during phased commissioning at 4 K and 2 K, connects the folded arrangement of 49 cryomodules and 4 superconducting dipole magnets and a fourth transfer line supports the separator area cryo loads. The pressure reliefs for the transfer line process lines, located in the refrigeration room outside the tunnel/accelerator area, are piped to be vented outdoors. The transfer line designs integrate supply and return flow paths into a combined vacuum space. The main linac distribution segments are produced in a small number of standard configurations; a prototype of one such configuration has been fabricated at Jefferson Lab and has been installed at MSU to support testing of a prototype FRIB cryomodule.

ITER cryolines (CLs) are complex network of vacuum-insulated multi and single process pipe lines, distributed in three different areas at ITER site. The CLs will support different operating loads during the machine life-time; either considered as nominal, occasional or exceptional. The major loads, which form the design basis are inertial, pressure, temperature, assembly, magnetic, snow, wind, enforced relative displacement and are put together in loads specification. Based on the defined load combinations, conceptual estimation of reaction loads have been carried out for the lines located inside the Tokamak building. Adequate numbers of embedded plates (EPs) per line have been defined and integrated in the building design. The finalization of building EPs to support the lines, before the detailed design, is one of the major design challenges as the usual logic of the design may alter. At the ITER project level, it was important to finalize EPs to allow adequate design and timely availability of the Tokamak building. The paper describes the single loads, load combinations considered in load specification and the approach for conceptual load estimation and selection of EPs for Toroidal Field (TF) Cryoline as an example by converting the load combinations in two main load categories; pressure and seismic.

System of Cryoline and Cryo-distribution for ITER has matured to a stage of preliminary design with the advent of industrial associates. Starting from the cold power source, the system of Cryoline and Cryo-distribution transfers the controlled cold power through a large network to the superconducting magnets and cryopumps. The functional responsibility also includes very high reliability and availability with respect to the operation of the ITER machine. Following the completion of conceptual design, it was necessary to perform a detailed engineering study of the complete network of distribution system in totality, before entering in to the industrial phase. This is to ensure the functional responsibility of the system. Value engineering in the area of distribution boxes including interfacing Cryolines has been performed in order to access the integrated reliable performance with respect to the overall cryogenic system, reducing the risk transferred to the industrial partners. These include technical risk assessment, analysis, mitigation plan and implementation with the industrial partners. The paper describes the methodology of technical risk management, value engineering performed to ensure fulfilment of licensing and regulatory obligations, functional reliability, testing and manufacturability by standard industrial processes, so that highly reliable integrated distribution system is delivered for the project.

Liquid cryogens cooling by direct contact is very often used as a method for decreasing the temperature of electronic devices or equipment i.e. HTS cables. Somehow, cooldown process conducted in that way could not be optimized, because of cryogen pool boiling characteristic and low value of the heat transfer coefficient. One of the possibilities to increase the efficiency of heat transfer, as well as the efficiency of cooling itself, it is to use a spray cooling method. The paper shows dynamics analysis of liquid nitrogen cooling solid surface process. The model of heat transfer for the single droplet of liquid nitrogen, which hits on a flat and smooth surface with respect to the different Weber numbers, is shown. Temperature profiles in calculation domains are presented, as well as the required cooling time. The numerical calculations are performed for different initial and boundary conditions, to study how the wetting contact coefficient is changing, and how it contributed to heat transfer between solid and liquid cryogen.

Thermoacoustics in cryogenics continues to be a very interesting phenomenon which is still poorly understood but often experienced unexpectedly in experiments where it causes unacceptable heat leaks. The authors report on the appearance and onset of this unwanted occurrence at temperatures below 35 K. A number of physical experiments are presented, where the authors had the means to take quantitative measurements of the heat leak caused by these pressure oscillations in apparatus with bent tubes ranging from 4.55 and 4.7 mm inner diameter, with heat stationing links. The parameters which indicate the likelihood of inadvertently developing these thermoacoustic oscillations are presented and means developed to avoiding them in that instance are given. Furthermore, we had the rare opportunity to record and analyze 4 K TAOs experienced on a test setup and present the simple method that was used to eliminate them.

Managing parallel cryogenic flows has become a key challenge in designing efficient and smart cryo-modules for particle accelerators. In analysing the heating dynamics of the Cornell high current injector module a computational tool has been set-up allowing time resolved analysis and optimization. We describe the computational methods and data sets we have used, report the results and compare them to measured data from the module being in good agreement. Mitigation strategies developed on basis of this model have helped us in pushing the operational limitations.

Cold circulators, part of ITER Cryo-distribution system, have now reached to a stage of final qualification to demonstrate the design to cater the maximum mass flow and operational demands of the toroidal field (TF) superconducting magnet of ITER with a very high isentropic efficiency. The design for the two numbers of TF cold circulators are now complete gratifying additionally the operational requirements of poloidal field & central solenoid superconducting magnet as well as the cryopumps towards the fulfilment of standardization aspects. Management of physical and functional interfaces has been identified as one the most critical aspect towards the performance of cold circulator. All the interfaces of cold circulators have been analysed with the help of optimized interfacing parameters of Test Auxiliary Cold Box (TACB) and cryogenic test facility at JAEA, Japan during the course of design finalization. Testing at the warm conditions after completion of precise manufacturing of cold circulators has been performed before integrating into the TACB to fulfil the Japanese as well as European regulatory requirements simultaneously. The paper elaborates the methodology of interface management and control, analysis performed towards the interface management and preliminary test results towards the qualification test of the ITER cold circulator.

The ITER cryodistribution system provides the supercritical Helium (SHe) forced flow cooling to the magnet system using cold circulators. The cold circulators are located in each of five separate auxiliary cold boxes planned for use in the facility. Barber-Nichols Inc. has been awarded a contract from ITER-India for engineering, manufacture and testing of the Toroidal Field (TF) Magnet Helium Cold Circulator. The cold circulator will be extensively tested at Barber-Nichols' facility prior to delivery for qualification testing at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's (JAEA) test facility at Naka, Japan. The TF Cold Circulator integrates features and technical requirements which Barber-Nichols has utilized when supplying helium cold circulators worldwide over a period of 35 years. Features include a vacuum-jacketed hermetically sealed design with a very low helium leak rate, a heat shield for use with both nitrogen & helium cold sources, a broad operating range with a guaranteed isentropic efficiency over 70%, and impeller design features for high efficiency. The cold circulator will be designed to meet MTBM of 17,500 hours and MTBF of 36,000 hours. Vibration and speed monitoring are integrated into a compact package on the rotating assembly with operation and health monitoring in a multi-drop PROFIBUS communication environment using an electrical cabinet with critical features and full local and network PLC interface and control. For the testing in Japan and eventual installation in Europe, the cold circulator must be certified to the Japanese High Pressure Gas Safety Act (JHPGSA) and CE marked in compliance with the European Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) including Essential Safety Requirements (ESR). The test methodology utilized at Barber-Nichols' facility and the resulting test data, validating the high efficiency of the TF Cold Circulator across a broad operating range, are important features of this paper.

In the course of the studies for the next generation particle accelerators, in this case the Future Circular Collider for hadron-hadron interaction (FCC-hh), different aspects are being investigated. One of these is the heat load on the beam screen, which results mainly from the synchrotron radiation. In case of the FCC-hh, a heat load of 6 MW is expected. The heat has to be absorbed at 40 to 60 K due to vacuum restrictions. In this range, refrigeration is possible with both helium and neon. Our investigations are focused on a mixed refrigerant of these two components, which combines the advantages of both. Especially promising is the possible substitution of the oil flooded screw compressors by more efficient turbo compressors. This paper investigates different flow schemes and mixture compositions with respect to complexity and efficiency. Furthermore, thermodynamic aspects, e.g. whether to use cold or warm secondary cycle compressors are discussed. Additionally, parameters of the main compressor are established.

Following recommendations of the recent update of the European strategy in particle physics, CERN has undertaken an international study of possible future circular colliders beyond the LHC. This study considers an option for a very high energy (100 TeV) hadron-hadron collider located in a quasi-circular underground tunnel having a circumference of 80 to 100 km. The synchrotron radiation emitted by the high-energy hadron beam increases by more than two orders of magnitude compared to the LHC. To reduce the entropic load on the superconducting magnets' refrigeration system, beam screens are indispensable to extract the heat load at a higher temperature level. After illustrating the decisive constraints of the beam screen's refrigeration design, this paper presents a preliminary design of the length of a continuous cooling loop comparing helium and neon, for different cooling channel geometries with emphasis on the cooling length limitations and the exergetic efficiency.

Towards the aim of developing a pump with large pumping speed of the order of 1 L/(s-cm²) or above for gases like hydrogen and helium through physical adsorption, development of activated carbon based sorbents like granules, spheres, flocked fibres, knitted and non -knitted cloth was carried out. To investigate the pumping speed offered, a test facility SSCF (Small Scale Cryopump Facility) which can take samples of hydroformed cryopanel (a technology developed in India) of size ∼500 mm × 100 mm was set up as per international standards comprising a dome mounted with gauges, calibrated leak valve, gas analyser, sorbent adhered to cryopanel etc. The cryopanel was shielded by chevron baffles. Pumping speed measurements were carried out for gases like hydrogen, helium and argon at a constant panel temperature in the pressure range of 1×10^-7 to 1×10^-4 mbar, and pumping speed was found to be in the range of 2000 L/s for a pressure range 1×10^-6 to 1×10^-4 mbar, and 4000 L/s for pressure range 1×10^-7mbar and below for a pumping surface area of ∼1000 cm² thus giving an average pumping speed of about 2 L/(s-cm²). Using the Monte Carlo codes SSCF was modelled and simulation studies performed. Parameters like sticking coefficient, capture coefficients affecting the pumping speed were studied. This paper describes the experimental setup of SSCF, experimental results and its correlation with Monte-Carlo simulation.

The High Energy and Intensity HIE-ISOLDE is a facility under construction at CERN whose target is ultimately, after the installation of six cryo-modules, to produce radioactive ion beams at 10MeV/u maximum energy in order to significantly expand the nuclear physics programme carried out by REX-ISOLDE. Since thermal control is essential to the performance of the whole cryo-module, a combination of a passive (materials, coatings, and surface finishes) and active (cryogenic loops, heaters) control has been designed to keep the cryostat operating within the allowable thermal budget. A numerical model based on Finite Element has been developed in order to generate a faithful global mapping of temperatures and heat fluxes inside the cryo-module. The numerical model, combined with the experimental results of the first test campaign, will serve as an optimization tool for the future cryo-modules in terms of improvement in the global and specific heat loads management.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Spacecraft Component Thermal Research Group has been devoted to evaluating lifetime performance of space cryocooler technology for over twenty years. Long-life data is essential for confirming design lifetimes for space cryocoolers. Continuous operation in a simulated space environment is the only accepted method to test for degradation. AFRL has provided raw data and detailed evaluations to cryocooler developers for advancing the technology, correcting discovered deficiencies, and improving cryocooler designs. At AFRL, units of varying design and refrigeration cycles were instrumented in state-of-the-art experiment stands to provide spacelike conditions and were equipped with software data acquisition to track critical cryocooler operating parameters. This data allowed an assessment of the technology's ability to meet the desired lifetime and documented any long-term changes in performance. This paper will outline a final report of the various flight cryocoolers tested in our laboratory. The data summarized includes the seven cryocoolers tested during 2014-2015. These seven coolers have a combined total of 433,326 hours (49.5 years) of operation.

Currently, many space missions using cryogenic temperatures are being planned. In particular, high resolution sensors such as Transition Edge Sensors need very low temperatures, below 100 mK. It is well known that the adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) is one of most useful tools for producing ultra-low temperatures in space because it is gravity independent. We studied a continuous ADR system consisting of 4 stages and demonstrated it could provide continuous temperatures around 100 mK. However, there was some heat leakage from the power leads which resulted in reduced cooling power. Our efforts to upgrade our ADR system are presented. We show the effect of using the HTS power leads and discuss a cascaded Carnot cycle consisting of 2 ADR units.

The match between the cold finger and the linear compressor of the Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler plays a vital role in optimizing the compressor efficiency and in improving the cold finger cooling performance. To reveal the match mechanism between the linear compressor and pulse tube cold finger (PTCF), detailed analyses have been made to understand the interactions between them. Based on the theoretical investigations, both of the design method of the PTCF to match the given linear compressor and a reverse method of the linear compressor to match the given PTCF have been proposed. In order to verify the validity of these theories and methods, actual PTCF and linear compressor are developed to match the existing linear compressor and PTCF, respectively. The experimental results show good agreements with the simulated ones.

A new collaboration is being formed to develop a multi-kiloton Long-Baseline neutrino experiment that will be located at the Surf Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. In the present design, the detector will be located inside cryostats filled with 68,400 ton of ultrapure liquid argon (less than 100 parts per trillion of oxygen equivalent contamination). To qualify the membrane technology for future very large-scale and underground implementations, a strong prototyping effort is ongoing: several smaller detectors of growing size with associated cryostats and cryogenic systems will be designed and built at Fermilab and CERN. They will take physics data and test different detector elements, filtration systems, design options and installation procedures. In addition, a 35 ton prototype is already operational at Fermilab and will take data with single-phase detector in early 2016. After the prototyping phase, the multi-kton detector will be constructed. After commissioning, it will detect and study neutrinos from a new beam from Fermilab. These cryostats will be engineered, constructed, commissioned, and qualified by an international engineering team. This contribution presents the on-going effort on the development of the cryostats and details the requirements and the current status of the design.

High-energy neutrons are being decelerated by passing through supercritical parahydrogen circulated by pumps in a closed loop. Fluctuations in neutron heat load cause changes of the circuits' local and average temperature and hence significant pressure variations caused by the almost incompressible behavior of hydrogen. Solutions by adding a variable volume in form of a helium gas-backed metal bellow to mitigate pressure deviations are already in use. This paper presents an alternative approach by introducing a vertical storage vessel for supercritical hydrogen in a side branch of the moderator loop, with cold incompressible high density hydrogen at the bottom and warmer compressible lower density hydrogen at the top.

Optical refrigeration is currently the only completely solid state cooling method capable of reaching cryogenic temperatures from room temperature. Optical cooling utilizing Yb:YLF as the refrigerant crystal has resulted in temperatures lower than 123K measured via a fluorescence thermometry technique. However, to be useful as a refrigerator this cooling crystal must be attached to a sensor or other payload. The phenomenology behind laser cooling, known as anti-Stokes fluorescence, has a relatively low efficiency which makes the system level optimization and limitation of parasitic losses imperative. We propose and model a variety of potential designs for a final optical refrigerator, enclosure and thermal link; calculate conductive and radiative losses, and estimate direct fluorescence reabsorption. We generate parasitic load-lines; these curves define temperature-dependent minimum heat lift thresholds that must be achieved to generate cooling for detectors.

As a new-type heat pipe, pulsating heat pipe (PHP) has several outstanding features, such as great heat transport ability, strong adjustability, small size and simple construction. PHP is a complex two-phase flow system associated with many physical subjects and parameters, which utilizes the pressure and temperature changes in volume expansion and contraction during phase changes to excite the pulsation motion of liquid plugs and vapor bubbles in the capillary tube between the evaporator and the condenser. At present time, some experimental investigation of helium PHP have been done. However, theoretical research of helium PHP is rare. In this paper, the physical and mathematical models of operating mechanism for helium PHP under steady state are established based on the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. Several important parameters are correlated and solved, including the liquid filling ratio, flow velocity, heat power, temperature, etc. Based on the results, the operational driving force and flow resistances of helium PHP are analysed, and the flow and heat transfer is further studied.

Recent developments have shown that superconducting undulators, mainly NbTi- based, outperform the existing devices. However, cooling these undulators is a challenge. REBCO (RE = rare earth, barium copper oxide) coated conductors (CCs) have been found to be a promising alternative to these materials due to their larger temperature stability margin and high engineering current densities. Here, we have investigated the feasibility of building an undulator magnetic structure using REBCO coated conductors and conducted experiments to evaluate their performance. The undulator coil has been wound with no inter-layer insulation. The critical current measurements at 77K showed that the winding of the undulator does not noticeably deteriorate the performance of the tape. Transient behaviour of the undulator has also been investigated and found to be characterized by long magnetic field decay times that result from current sharing between the windings. Steady-state operation was found to be very suitable for most undulator applications.

The conduction-cooled superconducting magnets are now widely used in various applications due to their minimum usage of helium. In the accelerator science, they also play an increasingly important role in particle detector solenoids because they can minimize the materials needed for the magnet such that they can be more transparent against irradiated particles. For the same reason they are currently used in high radiation environments because they can reduce the heat load from the irradiation. However, the hadronic reactions, such as neutron or proton irradiation, can create degradation on the thermal conductivity of pure aluminum which is used as a cooling path. It leads to a poor cooling condition of the magnets. In Japan, there are two conduction-cooled superconducting magnets for muon production; one is already constructed and under operation, the other is now under construction. This paper briefly reports the influence of the irradiation on those magnets and discusses the possibilities of HTS based conduction-cooled magnets under high irradiation environments.

Hadron Colliders (HC) are the most powerful discovery tools in modern high energy physics. A 100 TeV scale HC with a nominal operation field of at least 15 T is being considered for the post-LHC era. The choice of a 15 T nominal field requires using the Nb₃Sn technology. Practical demonstration of this field level in an accelerator-quality magnet and substantial reduction of the magnet costs are the key conditions for realization of such a machine. FNAL has started the development of a 15 T Nb₃Sn dipole demonstrator for a 100 TeV scale HC. The magnet design is based on 4-layer shell type coils, graded between the inner and outer layers to maximize the performance. The experience gained during the 11-T dipole R&D campaign is applied to different aspects of the magnet design. This paper describes the magnetic and structural designs and parameters of the 15 T Nb₃Sn dipole and the steps towards the demonstration model.

Cryostats have been developed and standardized for laboratory testing of thermal insulation systems in a cylindrical configuration. Boiloff calorimetry is the measurement principle for determining the effective thermal conductivity (k_e) and heat flux (q) of a test specimen at a fixed environmental condition (boundary temperatures, cold vacuum pressure, and residual gas composition). Through its heat of vaporization, liquid nitrogen serves as the energy meter, but the design is adaptable for various cryogens. The main instrument, Cryostat-100, is thermally guarded and directly measures absolute thermal performance. A cold mass assembly and all fluid and instrumentation feedthroughs are suspended from a lid of the vacuum canister; and a custom lifting mechanism allows the assembly and specimen to be manipulated easily. Each of three chambers is filled and vented through a single feedthrough for minimum overall heat leakage. The cold mass design precludes direct, solid-conduction heat transfer (other than through the vessel's outer wall itself) from one liquid volume to another, which is critical for achieving very low heat measurements. The cryostat system design details and test methods are discussed, as well as results for select thermal insulation materials. Additional cylindrical boiloff calorimeters and progress toward a liquid hydrogen apparatus are also discussed.

Cryostats have been developed and standardized for laboratory testing of thermal insulation systems in a flat-plate configuration. Boiloff calorimetry is the measurement principle for determining the effective thermal conductivity (k_e) and heat flux (q) of test specimens under a wide range of actual conditions. Cryostat-500 is thermally guarded to measure absolute thermal performance when calibrated with a known reference via an adjustable-edge guard ring. With liquid nitrogen as the energy meter, the cold boundary temperature can be adjusted to any temperature between 77 K and approximately 300 K by the interposition of a thermal resistance layer between the cold mass and the specimen. A low thermal conductivity suspension system has compliance rods that adjust for specimen thickness and compression force. Material type, thickness, density, flatness, compliance, outgassing, and temperature sensor placement are important test considerations, and edge effects and calibration techniques for the apparatus are crucial. Over the full vacuum pressure range, the thermal performance capability is nearly four orders of magnitude. The horizontal configuration provides key advantages over the vertical cylindrical cryostats for testing at ambient pressure conditions. Cryostat-500's design and test methods, other flat-plate boiloff calorimeters, and results for select thermal insulation materials (composites, foams, aerogels) are discussed.

New MLI measurements at the TU Dresden flow type calorimeter have been carried out. Specimens of 20 layer double side aluminized polyester film were tested. A cylindrical cold surface of 0.9 m² is held at the desired cold boundary temperature between approximately 30 K and 300 K. The heat transfer through the MLI is measured by recording the mass flow as well as the inlet and the outlet temperature of the cooling fluid. Measurements at varied cold boundary temperatures have been performed. Moreover the effect of an additional vacuum degradation - as it might occur by decreasing getter material performance in real systems at elevated temperatures - is studied by a controlled inlet of nitrogen gas. Thus the vacuum pressure was varied over a range of 10^-7 mbar to 10^-2 mbar. Different cold boundary temperatures between 35 K and 110 K were investigated. Test results for 20 layer MLI are presented.

Fabrum Solutions in association with Callaghan Innovation and Absolut System has developed a 330 W pulse tube cryocooler based on Callaghan Innovation's novel diaphragm pressure wave generators (DPWG). A cost-effective, long life and robust cryocooler has been achieved due to the pulse tube's lack of moving parts and the DPWG's metal diaphragms separating the working gas from the oil lubricated drive mechanism. A 330 cc DPWG was designed and manufactured to run with an inline pulse tube. Absolut System carried out the pulse tube design; manufacture was by Fabrum Solutions, with integration and testing by Callaghan Innovation. The 330 W pulse tubes were run as cryocoolers mounted to 330 cc DPWG's. 480 W of cooling power at 77 K was achieved (target was 330 W at 77 K) from 7kW PV power and 12 kW of electrical input power. An endurance cryocooler was assembled with the left over parts from the optimization exercise. The endurance cryocooler was assembled to run as a liquefier. Calculation showed that 1 litre per hour of liquid nitrogen production was possible from 91 W of cooling power at 83 K. 1 litre per hour of liquid nitrogen was successfully produced for every 100 W of cooling power at 83 K, in a commercial application. Three more 330 W pulse tubes have been mounted to a single 1000 cc DPWG to produce > 1 kW of cooling power at 77 K. The commercialisation of the 1000 W cryocooler is the topic of another paper presented at this conference. Details of the design, development, testing and integration of the 330 W cryocooler are presented in this paper.

Fabrum Solutions in collaboration with Callaghan Innovation has been developing large pulse tube cryocoolers based on Callaghan Innovation's diaphragm pressure wave generators (DPWG). The pulse tube's lack of moving parts in combination with the DPWG's metal diaphragms produces a cost-effective, long life and robust cryocooler. The DPWG has had 10 years of development, resulting in a series of DPWGs ranging in input powers from 0.5 kW to 30 kW that have been coupled to a variety of in-line and coaxial pulse tubes. Two DPWGs have had in excess of 7000 hours running to date. The PTC330 cryocooler is based on a new 330 cc DPWG and has produced 480 W of cooling at 77 K during testing. The PTC1000 combines three such pulse tubes on a single 1000 cc DPWG to produce 1270 W at 77 K. This paper details the development of the PTC330 and PTC1000 cryocoolers from initial lab prototypes through to commercial products, integrated into liquefiers and ready for use in applications such as: Nitrogen liquefaction, re-liquefaction of boil-off from storage tanks, or cooling of cryostats for High Temperature Superconductor applications.

An oxygen liquefier using a large 'pulse-tube' or acoustic-Stirling cryocooler is described, which has a liquefaction rate in excess of 60 gallons per day (227 liters per day) as measured by the increase in weight of a storage dewar, from <20 kWe input. Several of these systems will be deployed on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers to provide shipboard liquid oxygen. Paths to improvement in future systems are identified, although it is noted that since the present system exceeds the required specifications, these improvements may not be implemented in the near term.

Experiments were conducted on a liquid helium natural circulation loop with a 4 m long horizontal heated section. Wall temperatures on the heated section, mass flow rate and pressure drop were measured in steady and transient regimes. The stability of the loop has been studied and the power stability limits have been found. Also, different heating configurations were explored and their drawbacks and benefits were observed. The result is that the loop is stable only above a non-zero low power and below a certain upper power limit. The distance from the heating to the vertical riser affects the stability range. It has been found that instabilities at low power or transients following a low power step pulse can produce considerable temperature oscillations, potentially dangerous from the magnet protection point of view.

Five beam line cryomodules with total 27 superconducting Radio Frequency (RF) cavities are installed and commissioned at IUAC to enhance the energy of heavy ion from 15 UD Pelletron. To reduce the heat load at 4.2 K, liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooled intermediate thermal shield is used for all these cryomodules. For three linac cryomodules, concept of forced flow LN2 cooling is used and for superbuncher and rebuncher, thermo-siphon cooling is incorporated. It is noticed that the shield temperature of superbuncher varies from 90 K to 110 K with respect to liquid nitrogen level. The temperature difference can't be explained by using the basic concept of thermo-siphon with the heat load on up flow line. A simple thermo-siphon experimental set up is developed to simulate the thermal shield temperature profile. Mass flow rate of liquid nitrogen is measured with different heat load on up flow line for different liquid levels. It is noticed that small amount of heat load on down flow line have a significant effect on mass flow rate. The present paper will be investigating the data generated from the thermosiphon experimental set up and a theoretical analysis will be presented here to validate the measured temperature profile of the cryomodule shield.

We report the design, experimental setup and successful test results using an innovative passive cooling system called a "Pulsating Heat Pipe" (PHP) operating at temperatures ranging from 77 K to 80 K and using nitrogen as the working fluid. PHPs, which transfer heat by two phase flow mechanisms through a closed loop tubing have the advantage that no electrical pumps are needed to drive the fluid flow. In addition, PHPs have an advantage over copper straps and thermal conductors since they are lighter in weight, exhibit lower temperature gradients and have higher heat transfer rates. PHPs consist of an evaporator section, thermally anchored to a solid, where heat is received at the saturation temperature where the liquid portion of the two-phase flow evaporates, and a condenser where heat is rejected at the saturation temperature where the vapor is condensed. The condenser section in our experiment has been thermally interfaced to a CT cryocooler from SunPower that has a cooling capacity of 10 W at 77 K. Alternating regions of liquid slugs and small vapor plugs fill the capillary tubing, with the vapor regions contracting in the condenser section and expanding in the evaporator section due to an electric heater that will generate heat loads up to 10 W. This volumetric expansion and contraction provides the oscillatory flow of the fluid throughout the capillary tubing thereby transferring heat from one end to the other. The thermal performance and temperature characteristics of the PHP will be correlated as a function of average condenser temperature, PHP fill liquid ratio, and evaporator heat load. The experimental data show that the heat transfer between the evaporator and condenser sections can produce an effective thermal conductivity up to 35000 W/m-K at a 3.5 W heat load.

The pulsating heat pipe (PHP) has been increasingly studied in cryogenic application, for its high transfer coefficient and quick response. Compared with Nb₃Sn and NbTi, MgB₂ whose critical transformation temperature is 39 K, is expected to replace some high-temperature superconducting materials at 25 K. In order to cool MgB₂, this paper designs a Hydrogen Pulsating Heat Pipe, which allows a study of applied heat, filling ratio, turn number, inclination angle and length of adiabatic section on the thermal performance of the PHP. The thermal performance of the hydrogen PHP is investigated for filling ratios of 35%, 51%, 70% at different heat inputs, and provides information regarding the starting process is received at three filling ratios.

The objective of this paper is to carry out an extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study on work transfer due to viscous shear in a hot cascade Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube. The commercial CFD code ANSYS FLUENT 14.0 has been employed to carry out the numerical analysis using RANS standard k-epsilon turbulence model. A two-dimensional axisymmetric geometrical domain has been generated with structured mesh and air has been taken as the working fluid. The CFD results reveal that work transfer due to the action of viscous shear along the tangential direction increases considerably with hot cascading. However, the work transfer due to viscous shear along the axial direction degrades the performance of the device as the heat transfer takes place from cold zone to the hot zone. The effect of radial shear stress is negligible due to low value of radial velocity gradient.

Vortex tube (VT) is a simple low refrigeration producing device having no moving part. However, the flow inside it is very complex. Recent studies show that the performance of VT improves with the increase in the divergence angle of a flared VT. To explore the temperature separation phenomenon in the VT, a three dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of VT has been carried out. For the present work, a VT having diameter of 12 mm, length of 120 mm, cold outlet diameter of 7 mm and hot outlet annulus of 0.4 mm with 6 straight rectangular nozzles having area of 0.5 sq. mm each is considered. The turbulence in the flow field of the VT is modeled by standard k-e turbulence model considering Redlich-Kwong real gas model. The effect of variation of divergence angle of hot tube in the VT is studied and compared with the experimental results available in the literature. The temperature separation between the hot outlet and cold outlet, in both straight and 2 degree flared tube is studied. Analysis results indicate that for a hot mass fraction above 0.5, the flared tube shows better cold production capacity compared to the straight tube. Effect of important parameters like temperature gradient, velocities (axial, radial and tangential), velocity gradients, effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of fluid etc., on heat transfer and shear work transfer in the VT have been investigated. To understand the temperature separation mechanism, heat transfer and work transfer along the axial direction have been evaluated in both straight and flared tubes. The isentropic efficiency and COP as a refrigerator as well as a heat pump of straight tube and flared tube have been computed.

Large customized cryogenic pumps are used in fusion reactors to evacuate the plasma exhaust from the torus. Cryopumps usually consist of an active pumping surface area cooled below 5 K and shielded from direct outer thermal radiation by plates cooled at 80K. In nuclear fusion applications, cryopumps are exposed to excessively high heat fluxes during pumping operation, and follow-up regeneration cycles with rapid warm-up and cool-down phases. Therefore, high cryogenic operational mass flows are required and thus pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics become key issues for the design of the pump cryogenic circuits. Actively cooled dimple plates are a preferred design solution for the thermal radiation shield. A test plate with a rhomb pattern of dimples has been manufactured and tested in terms of pressure drop with a dedicated test facility using water. In the present work, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the test dimple plate have been performed, and computed pressure drops have been compared to experimental results. Despite the complexity of the geometry, a good agreement with the experimental results was found. Then, the validated CFD approach has been further extended to relevant operation conditions, using gaseous helium at cryogenic temperature as working fluid. The resulting pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics are finally presented.

We report on the development of a hierarchy of models of cryogenic two-phase flow motivated by NASA plans to develop and maturate technology of cryogenic propellant loading on the ground and in space. The solution of this problem requires models that are fast and accurate enough to identify flow conditions, detect faults, and to propose optimal recovery strategy. The hierarchy of models described in this presentation is ranging from homogeneous moving- front approximation to separated non-equilibrium two-phase cryogenic flow. We compare model predictions with experimental data and discuss possible application of these models to on-line integrated health management and control of cryogenic loading operation.

The High Intensity and Energy ISOLDE (HIE-ISOLDE) project is a major upgrade of the existing ISOLDE and REX-ISOLDE facilities at CERN. The most significant improvement will come from replacing the existing REX accelerating structure by a superconducting linear accelerator (SC linac) composed ultimately of six cryo-modules installed in series, each containing superconducting RF cavities and solenoids operated at 4.5 K. In order to provide the cooling capacity at all temperature levels between 300 K and 4.5 K for the six cryo-modules, an existing helium refrigerator, manufactured in 1986 and previously used to cool the ALEPH magnet during LEP operation from 1989 to 2000, has been refurbished, reinstalled and recommissioned in a dedicated building located next to the HIE-ISOLDE experimental hall. This helium refrigerator has been connected to a new cryogenic distribution line, consisting of a 30-meter long vacuum-insulated transfer line, a 2000-liter storage dewar and six interconnecting valve boxes, one for each cryo-module. This paper describes the whole cryogenic system and presents the commissioning results including the preliminary operation at 4.5 K of the first cryo- module in the experimental hall.

After practical changes were approved to the initial conceptual design of the cryogenic system for MSU FRIB and an agreement was made with JLab in 2012 to lead the design effort of the cryogenic plant, many activities are in place leading toward a cool-down of the linacs prior to 2018. This is mostly due to using similar equipment used at CHLII for the 12 GeV upgrade at JLab and an aggressive schedule maintained by the MSU Conventional Facilities department. Reported here is an updated status of the cryogenic plant, including the equipment procurement status, plant layout, facility equipment and project schedule.

The main cryogenic system for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is comprised of a 4-K cold box, a 2-K cold box, six warm compressors, and ancillary support equipment. This system has been cold and operating with little disruption since 2005. Design and operation of liquid nitrogen (LN2) supplied from a single 20,000-gallon supply Dewar will be discussed. LN2 used to precool the 4-K cold box heat exchanger started to increase around 2011. LN2 Consumption during 2012 and 2013 was almost double the nominal usage rate. Studies of this data, plant parameter changes to respond to this information, and current interpretations are detailed in this paper. The usage rate of LN2 returned to normal in late 2013 and remained there until recent additional changes. Future study plans to understand potential causes of this including contamination migration within the 4-K cold box will also be addressed.

The European Spallation Source (ESS) is an intergovernmental project building a multidisciplinary research laboratory based upon the world's most powerful neutron source to be built in Lund, Sweden. The ESS will use a superconducting linear accelerator which will deliver protons with 5 MW of power to the target at 2.0 GeV with a nominal current of 62.5 mA. A cryomodule test stand will be supplied with helium for the site acceptance tests. The target will have two moderators using supercritical hydrogen to cool down the neutrons. The neutron instruments and the experiments' sample environment will use liquid helium and liquid nitrogen to cool detectors and samples. The ESS cryogenic system is designed to deliver cryogenic cooling capacity to all three client system. A first concept of the ESS cryogenic system was developed in 2010 and 2011 with a limited amount of input from the clients as well as from site infrastructure (i.e. buildings and utilities). The design had to be flexible enough to accommodate future changes in scope, schedule and available infrastructure. Over the following years the design has evolved together with these parameters to achieve a maturity today which allowed us to order the accelerator cryoplant and to start procurement of many of the other parts of the ESS cryogenic system. This paper presents the evolution of the design throughout the years and the factors influencing certain design choices.

In order to test the fast-ramped superconducting magnets for FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research), a cryogenic test facility with an equivalent overall capacity of 1.5 kW at 4.4 Kelvin was designed and commissioned at GSI Helmholzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH.

For efficient testing of the 108 dipole magnets the cryogenic infrastructure consists of a refrigeration system and four main test benches. Due to the different operating modes and load fluctuations a dedicated process and control concept was developed which allows an independent operation of each test bench and ensures highest efficiency over the whole operating range. The system is designed in a way that one magnet can be cooled down to its operating temperature while simultaneously another magnet is kept at cold state for the measurements. The third and fourth test benches serve for warming up and exchanging the magnets respectively.

The high flexibility of the set-up moreover allows the testing of other FAIR magnets like the SIS100 quadrupole modules or the operation of a string configuration.

The project was executed in a close collaboration between GSI and Linde Kryotechnik AG. The paper will show the key solutions of the refrigeration system and the test benches and highlight some commissioning results.

In the coming years a new international accelerator Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), one of the largest research projects worldwide, will be build close to Darmstadt in Germany. FAIR will provide antiproton and ion beams with unprecedented intensity and quality. One of its major accelerators will be a synchrotron called SIS100 having a circumference of about 1100 meters. The SIS100 tunnel will house a complex cryogenic system supplying up to 20 kW cooling capacity @ 4.5 K to about 300 superconducting fast ramped magnets and other physics equipment. The planned SIS100 local cryogenic system can be principally divided into three sections each fed from a separate Feed Box. Every Feed Box supplies 4.5 K helium for magnet, vacuum chamber, cryo collimator, current lead and bus-bar cooling as well as 50 K helium for the current lead and thermal shield cooling, independently to two sixth of the ring. Each sixth of the ring, so called sextant, consists of a cold arc and a straight warm section. By-pass Lines circumvent the straight warm sections of the sextants, where warm equipment (e.g. normal conducting cavities and magnets) is located. Between the warm equipment, are superconducting magnets located which also need to be supplied from the By-pass Lines with helium and cold electrical connections. The By-pass Lines are Polish in-kind contribution, coordinated by the Jagiellonian University of Krakow and will be designed, manufactured and commissioned by the Wroclaw University of Technology. In this paper the SIS100 local cryogenic system will be described with focus on the By-pass Lines and on magnet cooling including the balancing of differences between dipole and quadrupole circuits and the coping with dynamic loads.

During quench tests in 2011 variations in resistance of an order of magnitude were found in the diode by-pass circuit of the main LHC magnets. An investigation campaign was started to understand the source, the occurrence and the impact of the high resistances. Many tests were performed offline in the SM18 test facility with a focus on the contact resistance of the diode to heat sink contact and the diode wafer temperature. In 2014 the performance of the diodes and diode leads of the main dipole bypass systems in the LHC was assessed during a high current qualification test. In the test a current cycle similar to a magnet circuit discharge from 11 kA with a time constant of 100 s was performed. Resistances of up to 600 μΩ have been found in the diode leads at intermediate current, but in general the high resistances decrease at higher current levels and no sign of overheating of diodes has been seen and the bypass circuit passed the test. In this report the performance of the diodes and in particular the contact resistances in the diode leads are analysed with available data acquired over more than 10 years from acceptance test until the main dipole training campaign in the LHC in 2015.

Conduction-cooled superconducting magnets are cooled by cryocooler alone through the conductive thermal links. The limited refrigeration capacity and conductive cooling make the magnets more prone to quench. We have studied the quench characteristics of a 6 T conduction-cooled NbTi magnet system in detail in this paper. The NbTi magnet has been designed for 102 A with 31% current margin to achieve 0.8 K temperature margin. During a training quench at 101.2 A, the outer surface of the NbTi magnet reached 53.25 K and the temperature of the 2^nd stage cold head of the cryocooler reached 15.8 K. Conductive cooling by the cryocooler makes the post-quench recovery of the NbTi magnet in 40 minutes. The maximum sweep rate is 6 A/min for thermally stable operation of this conduction-cooled NbTi magnet. We have done an intentional quench at a sweep rate of 8 A/min. The maximum hot-spot temperature and the post-quench current decay have been simulated using a finite element analysis (FEA) code. Post-quench distribution of the dumped energy in the different components of the magnet system is also presented.

The FAIR project (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) evolves and builds an international accelerator- and experimental facility for basic research activities in various fields of modern physics. Within the course of this project, integrated quadrupole doublet modules are in development. The quadrupole doublet modules provide a pair of superconducting main quadrupoles (focusing and defocusing), corrector magnets, cryogenic collimators and beam position monitors as integrated sets of ion-optical elements. Furthermore LHe cooled beam pipes and vacuum cold-warm transitions are used as ultra-high vacuum components for beam transportation. Superconducting bus bars are used for 13 kA current supply of the main quadrupole magnets. All components are integrated as one common cold mass into one cryostat. High temperature super conductor local current leads will be applied for the low current supply of corrector magnets. The quadrupole doublet modules will be operated in the SIS100 heavy ion accelerator, the core component of the FAIR project. A first version of a corrector magnet has already been manufactured at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Russia, and is now ready for testing. The ion-optical lattice structure of SIS100 requires multiple configurations of named components. Eleven different configurations, organized in four categories, provide the required quadrupole doublet module setups. The high integration level of multiple ion-optical, mechanical and cryogenic functions, based on requirements of operation safety, is leading towards a sophisticated mechanical structure and cooling solution, to satisfy the demanding requirements on position preservation during thermal cycling. The mechanical and cryogenic design solutions will be discussed.

The underlying theory of hydrogen Ortho-Para conversion has long been known, but the specifics of non-linear heat of conversion from normal to para hydrogen have not been widely disseminated in the cryogenic literature. These factors are reviewed and thermally efficient applications in liquefiers and back conversion cooling systems are illustrated.

The modification and outfitting of a 125,000-liter liquid hydrogen tank was performed to provide integrated refrigeration and storage capability. These functions include zero boil-off, liquefaction, and densification and therefore require provisions for sub-atmospheric tank pressures within the vacuum-jacketed, multilayer insulated tank. The primary structural modification was to add stiffening rings inside the inner vessel. The internal stiffening rings were designed, built, and installed per the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section VIII, to prevent collapse in the case of vacuum jacket failure in combination with sub-atmospheric pressure within the tank. For the integrated refrigeration loop, a modular, skeleton-type heat exchanger, with refrigerant temperature instrumentation, was constructed using the stiffening rings as supports. To support the system thermal performance testing, three custom temperature rakes were designed and installed along the 21-meter length of the tank, once again using rings as supports. The temperature rakes included a total of 20 silicon diode temperature sensors mounted both vertically and radially to map the bulk liquid temperature within the tank. The tank modifications were successful and the system is now operational for the research and development of integrated refrigeration technology.

NASA operations for handling cryogens in ground support equipment have not changed substantially in 50 years, despite major technology advances in the field of cryogenics. NASA loses approximately 50% of the hydrogen purchased because of a continuous heat leak into ground and flight vessels, transient chill down of warm cryogenic equipment, liquid bleeds, and vent losses. NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) needs to develop energy-efficient cryogenic ground systems to minimize propellant losses, simplify operations, and reduce cost associated with hydrogen usage. The GODU LH2 project has designed, assembled, and started testing of a prototype storage and distribution system for liquid hydrogen that represents an advanced end-to-end cryogenic propellant system for a ground launch complex. The project has multiple objectives including zero loss storage and transfer, liquefaction of gaseous hydrogen, and densification of liquid hydrogen. The system is unique because it uses an integrated refrigeration and storage system (IRAS) to control the state of the fluid. This paper will present and discuss the results of the initial phase of testing of the GODU LH2 system.

The European Spallation Source (ESS) project is a neutron spallation source research facility currently being designed and built outside of Lund, Sweden. A linear accelerator delivers a 5 MW, 2.0 GeV, 62.5 mA proton beam to a spallation target to generate fast neutrons. Supercritical hydrogen circulates through two moderators surrounding the target, and transforms the fast neutrons emitted into slow neutrons, which are the final form of useful radiation. The supercritical hydrogen is in turn cooled from a helium cryogenic plant operating at 15-20 K. The supercritical cryogenic hydrogen circuit is a dynamic system, subject to significant changes in heat load. Proper pressure control of this system is critical to assure safe operation. The interaction between the hydrogen system and helium cryoplant poses unique challenges. This paper investigates the impact of the hydrogen system constraints on operation and control of the helium cryoplant, and suggests design options for the helium circuit.

The measured Total Hydrocarbon Content (THC) levels in liquid oxygen (LOX) systems at Stennis Space Center (SSC) have shown wide variations. Examples of these variations include the following: 1) differences between vendor-supplied THC values and those obtained using standard SSC analysis procedures; and 2) increasing THC values over time at an active SSC test stand in both storage and run vessels. A detailed analysis of LOX sampling techniques, analytical instrumentation, and sampling procedures will be presented. Additional data obtained on LOX system operations and LOX delivery trailer THC values during the past 12-24 months will also be discussed. Field test results showing THC levels and the distribution of the THC's in the test stand run tank, modified for THC analysis via dip tubes, will be presented.

Technologies in the fields of cryogenic components and control systems are constantly evolving to advance the state of current cryogenic operations that will support future space exploration missions. To meet new demanding requirements, these missions will increasingly rely upon research and development in energy-efficient storage, transfer and use of cryogens and cryogenic propellants on Earth and in space. The capability to test these technologies is sometimes limited to isolated subsystems with a narrow application spectrum. The initiative to develop the Simulated Propellant Loading System (SPLS) is to provide an integrated multipurpose generic testbed to allow dedicated test and evaluation of new technologies in a field environment on a scale that is relevant to launch facility propellant systems. The Cryogenic Test Laboratory (CTL) at the Kennedy Space Center has more than two years of operational experience of using the SPLS to support independent and integrated technology maturation. This paper presents the development of a highly repeatable automated cold flow test sequence that was used in the evaluation and advancement of autonomous control system technologies. A range of other recent applications and capabilities of the SPLS will also be presented in this paper.

There is a perceived need in the future for a move away from traditional aircraft designs in order to meet ambitious emissions and fuel burn targets. High temperature superconducting distributed propulsion may be an enabler for aircraft designs that have better propulsive efficiency and lower drag. There has been significant work considering the electrical systems required, but less on the cryogenics to enable it. This paper discusses some of the major choices to be faced in cryocooling for aircraft. The likely need for a disposable cryogen to reduce power demand is explained. A set of cryocooling methods are considered in a sensitivity study, which shows that the feasibility of the cryogenic system will depend strongly on the superconducting technology and the aircraft platform. It is argued that all three aspects must be researched and designed in close collaboration to reach a viable solution.

Starting on the Gemini program in the 1960s, Beech Aircraft (now Ball Aerospace) has been designing and manufacturing dewars for a variety of cryogens including liquid hydrogen and oxygen. These dewars flew on the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle spacecraft providing fuel cell reactants resulting in over 150 manned spaceflights. Since Space Shuttle, Ball has also built the liquid hydrogen fuel tanks for the Boeing Phantom Eye unmanned aerial vehicle. Returning back to its fuel cell days, Ball has designed, built and tested a volume-constrained liquid hydrogen and oxygen tank system for reactant delivery to fuel cells on unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs). Herein past history of Ball technology is described. Testing has been completed on the UUV specific design, which will be described.

Wind and photovoltaic parks raise the issue of a discontinuous electrical generation. As an energy carrier with high volumetric energy density, liquid hydrogen is an inevitable choice for large-scale energy storage. But, since balancing loads or rapidly evolving fluctuations on the grid with just hydrogen is unrealistic due to its slow response, it is necessary to integrate it with an electrical energy storage device that enables rapid response. This approach combines the use of a liquefaction plant for hydrogen, and a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES). Besides, in this case, conventional liquefaction methods are not a viable solution, meaning that a substantial simplification of the process is possible where a regenerator/recuperator is employed and only if temporary/intermediate storage is required. A study is conducted to develop a regenerator (among other parts) for a proof of concept small scale LIQHYSMES system. A 1D model of differential equations is implemented to investigate the regenerator performances, addressing parameters such as regenerator configuration, material and fluid properties, temperature profiles, etc. Results are then analysed and discussed.

Superconducting generators show the potential to reduce the head mass of large offshore wind turbines. A 10 MW offshore superconducting wind turbine has been investigated in the SUPRAPOWER project. The superconducting coils based on MgB₂ tapes are supposed to work at cryogenic temperature of 20 K. In this paper, a novel modular rotating cryostat was presented for one single coil of the superconducting wind turbine. The modular concept and cryogen-free cooling method were proposed to fulfil the requirements of handling, maintenance, reliability of long term and offshore operations. Two stage Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers were used to provide cooling source. Supporting rods made of titanium alloy were selected as support structures of the cryostat in aim of reducing the heat load. The thermal performance in the modular cryostat was carefully investigated. The heat load applied to the cryocooler second stage was 2.17 W@20 K per coil. The corresponding temperature difference along the superconducting coil was only around 1 K.

In order to reduce the atmospheric pollution generated by ships, the International Marine Organization has established Emission Controlled Areas. In these areas, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulates emission is strongly controlled. From the beginning of 2015, the ECA covers waters 200 nautical miles from the coast of the US and Canada, the US Caribbean Sea area, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel. From the beginning of 2020, strong emission restrictions will also be in force outside the ECA. This requires newly constructed ships to be either equipped with exhaust gas cleaning devices or propelled with emission free fuels. In comparison to low sulphur Marine Diesel and Marine Gas Oil, LNG is a competitive fuel, both from a technical and economical point of view. LNG can be stored in vacuum insulated tanks fulfilling the difficult requirements of marine regulations. LNG must be vaporized and pressurized to the pressure which is compatible with the engine requirements (usually a few bar). The boil-off must be controlled to avoid the occasional gas release to the atmosphere. This paper presents an LNG system designed and commissioned for a Baltic Sea ferry. The specific technical features and exploitation parameters of the system will be presented. The impact of strict marine regulations on the system's thermo-mechanical construction and its performance will be discussed. The review of possible flow-schemes of LNG marine systems will be presented with respect to the system's cost, maintenance, and reliability.

Boil-off gas (BOG) generation and its handling are important issues in Liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain because of economic, environment and safety reasons. Several variants of reliquefaction systems of BOG have been proposed by researchers. Thermodynamic analyses help to configure them and size their components for improving performance. In this paper, exergy analysis of reliquefaction system based on nitrogen-driven reverse Brayton cycle is carried out through simulation using Aspen Hysys 8.6^®, a process simulator and the effects of heat exchanger size with and without related pressure drop and BOG compressor exit pressure are evaluated. Nondimensionalization of parameters with respect to the BOG load allows one to scale up or down the design. The process heat exchanger (PHX) requires much higher surface area than that of BOG condenser and it helps to reduce the quantity of methane vented out to atmosphere. As pressure drop destroys exergy, optimum UA of PHX decreases for highest system performance if pressure drop is taken into account. Again, for fixed sizes of heat exchangers, as there is a range of discharge pressures of BOG compressor at which the loss of methane in vent minimizes, the designer should consider choosing the pressure at lower value.

The CryoTel^® DS 1.5 is a split type Stirling cryocooler which was developed by Sunpower for systems requiring compact size, high efficiency, and high reliability. The DS 1.5 has a nominal lift of 1.5 watts at 77 K with 30 watts of input power. The cooler design includes gas bearings on the pistons and displacer for non-contact operation, and achieves low vibration by using dual-opposed pistons inside the wave generator, and a passive balancer on the cold head to offset the displacer motion. The efficiency of the DS 1.5 is ranked highly compared to other cryocoolers at 14.2% Carnot efficiency, but there are many customers who want more lift with the same size and reliability. Therefore, Sunpower performed a study on the feasibility of maximizing the lift of the DS 1.5 without increasing its size. This paper describes the analysis and test results of increasing the cooler power density by using a higher operating frequency and charge pressure. Prototype testing showed good agreement with the model. Testing performed at various frequencies and charge pressures with a few internal component changes resulted in a maximum lift of 2.1 watts with an input power of 43 watts, achieving 13.9% of Carnot. The prototype high-capacity DS 1.5 achieved 0.6 watts more lift with only a slight decrease in efficiency, and with less than 0.2% cooler mass increase. The impact on the cooldown time on a thermal mass system was tested and the cool-down time was 37% faster while consuming less input energy during that time. Sunpower plans to build more units to gain a broader range of performance data and will then decide whether to proceed with a commercial product.

Cryogenic cooling systems for HTS electric power devices require a reliable and efficient high-capacity cryocooler. A Striling cryocooler with a linear compressor can be a good candidate. It has advantages of low vibration and long maintenance cycle compared with a kinematic-driven Stirling cryocooler. In this study, we developed a dual-opposed linear compressor of 12 kW electric input power with two 6 kW linear motors. Electrical performance of the fabricated linear compressor is verified by experimental measurement of thrust constant. The developed Stirling cryocooler has a gamma-type configuration. The piston and displacer are supported with a flexure spring. A slit-type heat exchanger is adopted for the cold and warm-end, and the generated heat is rejected by cooling water. In the cooling performance test, waveforms of voltage, current, displacement and pressure are obtained and their amplitude and phase difference are analysed. The developed cryocooler reaches 47.8 K within 23.4 min. with no-load. Heat load tests shows a cooling capacity of 440 W at 78.1 K with 6.45 kW of electric input power and 19.4 of % Carnot COP.

A novel type of a PZT- based compressor operating at mechanical resonance, suitable for pneumatically-driven Stirling-type cryocoolers was developed theoretically and built practically during this research. A resonance operation at relatively low frequency was achieved by incorporating the piezo ceramics into the moving part, and by reducing the effective piezo stiffness using hydraulic amplification. The detailed concept, analytical model and the test results of the preliminary prototype were reported earlier and presented at ICC17 [2]. A fine agreement between the simulations and experiments spurred development of the current actual compressor designed to drive a miniature Pulse Tube cryocooler, particularly our MTSa model, which operates at 103 Hz and requires an average PV power of 11 W, filling pressure of 40 Bar and a pressure ratio of 1.3. The paper concentrates on design aspects and optimization of the governing parameters. The small stroke to diameter ratio (about 1:10) allows for the use of a composite diaphragm instead of a clearance-seal piston. The motivation is to create an adequate separation between the working fluid and the buffer gas of the compressor, thus preventing possible contamination in the cryocooler. Providing efficiency and power density similar to those of conventional linear compressors, the piezo compressor may serve as a good alternative for cryogenic applications requiring extreme reliability and absence of magnetic field interference.

Theoretical and experimental investigations on the dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of a linear compressor incorporating the thermodynamic characteristics of the inertance tube pulse tube cold finger have been made. Both the compressor and cold finger are assumed as a one-dimensional thermodynamic model. The governing equations of the thermodynamic characteristics of the working gas are summarized, and the effects of the cooling performance on the working gas in the compression space are discussed. Based on the analysis of the working gas, the governing equations of the dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of the compressor are deduced, and then the principles of achieving the optimal performance of the compressor are discussed in detail. Systematic experimental investigations are conducted on a developed moving-coil linear compressor which drives a pulse tube cold finger, which indicate the general agreement with the simulated results, and thus verify the rationality of the theoretical model and analyses.

For the purpose of cooling high-temperature superconductor (HTS) devices, such as superconductor motors, superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and current fault limiters, cryocoolers should be compact in size, light-weight, and have high efficiency and reliability. In order to meet the demand of HTS devices world-wide, the cryocooler needs to have COP efficiency >0.1. We have developed a high power Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (SPTC) with an in-line expander. The experimental results were reported in June 2012[1]. The cooling capacity was 210 W at 77 K and the minimum temperature was 37 K when the compressor input power was 3.8 kW. Accordingly, the COP was about 0.055. To further improve the efficiency, the energy losses in the cryocooler were analyzed. The experimental results and the numerical calculation results are reported in this paper.

Numerical investigation was performed on the temperature control of NIF cryogenic target in order to get a temperature uniformity of 0.1mK on the surface of the capsule. Heat transfer process was discussed to find out major factors in the temperature control, tamping gas heat transfer and free convection of the tamping gas was calculated. Spherically symmetric temperature field is required due to energy released from the tritium decay within the capsule, auxiliary heating is set on the hohlraum to compensate the higher heat loss caused by the lower tamping gas thermal resistance on the mid plane. Free convection effect of the tamping gas is reduced by separating the tamping gas with plastic films and independent temperature control of the cooling arm. This research may provide theoretical foundation and reference for temperature control on the cryogenic target.

Continuous flow cryostats are used to cool samples to a variable temperature level by evaporating a cryogen, e.g. liquid helium (LHe). For this purpose LHe is usually stored outside the cryostat in a mobile dewar and supplied through a transfer line. In general, the complete setup has to be characterised by the lowest possible consumption of LHe. Additionally, a minimum sample temperature can be favourable from an experimental point of view. The achievement of both requirements is determined by the respective cryostat design as well as by the transfer line. In the presented work operating data, e.g. the LHe consumption during cooldown and steady state, the minimum sample temperature, and the outlet quality are analysed to characterise the performance of a reference transfer line. In addition, an experimental transfer line with built-in pressure sensors has been commissioned to examine the pressure drop along the transfer line, too. During the tests LHe impurities occurred which restricted a steady operation.

This paper describes the cryogenic system for the Cryomodule Test Stand (CMTS) at the new Cryomodule Test Facility (CMTF) located at Fermilab. CMTS is designed for production testing of the 1.3 GHz and 3.9GHz cryomodules to be used in the Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLSII), which is an upgrade to an existing accelerator at Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC). This paper will focus on the cryogenic system that extends from the helium refrigeration plant to the CMTS cave. Topics covered will include component design, installation and commissioning progress, and operational plans. The paper will conclude with a description of the heat load measurement plan.

As kicks from fundamental power couplers become a concern for low emittance future accelerators, a design for a symmetric coupler for superconducting accelerating cavities has been started. In this coupler, a rectangular waveguide transforms into a coaxial line inside the beam pipe to feed the cavity. So far the RF design revealed an extremely low transversal kick on which we will elaborate. We will also address concerns about cooling and the thermal stability of the coaxial transition line. Therefore, we will calculate the heat, heat transfer and thermal stability of this coupler and evaluate the risk of quenching due to particle losses on the coupler.

In this paper, in order to instruct the next optimization work, a two-dimension Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is developed to simulate temperature distribution and velocity distribution of oscillating fluid in the DPTC by individual phase-shifting. It is found that the axial temperature distribution of regenerator is generally uniform and the temperatures near the center at the same cross setion of two pulse tubes are obviously higher than their near wall temperatures. The wall temperature difference about 0-7 K exists between the two pulse tubes. The velocity distribution near the center of the regenerator is uniform and there is obvious injection stream coming at the center of the pulse tubes from the hot end. The formation reason of temperature distribution and velocity distribution is explained.

In predicting Pulse-Tube Cryocooler (PTC) performance, One-Dimensional (1-D) PTR design and analysis tools such as Gedeon Associates SAGE® typically include models for performance degradation due to thermodynamically irreversible processes. SAGE®, in particular, accounts for convective loss, turbulent conductive loss and numerical diffusion "loss" via correlation functions based on analysis and empirical testing.

In this study, we compare CFD and SAGE® estimates of PTR refrigeration performance for four distinct pulse-tube lengths. Performance predictions from PTR CFD models are compared to SAGE® predictions for all four cases. Then, to further demonstrate the benefits of higher-fidelity and multidimensional CFD simulation, the PTR loss mechanisms are characterized in terms of their spatial and temporal locations.

The new current lead test facility CuLTKa was successfully commissioned in 2014 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. Towards the end of the year the first pair of High Temperature Superconductor current leads (CL) for the Japanese tokamak JT-60SA was tested. These CL have to carry currents of up to 26 kA and are cooled with helium (He) at two different temperature levels, 4.5 K and 50 K, respectively. After commissioning and test of the first pair another 24 CL will be tested until 2017. The facility consists of five cryostats: The first cryostat distributes the He coming from the 2 kW refrigerator to the different experiments in the ITEP. In the second one, with an integrated He-bath, the forced flow He for the CL is cooled down to 4.4 K and the 50 K He is piped through. In a valve box the He at two temperature levels is distributed to two test cryostats housing each one pair of CL. This paper describes the design of the facility from a cryogenic point of view starting from the basic demands. The overall setup is derived and particular details are explained. Some design calculations will be opposed to measured data from its real performance. In addition one major safety aspect is described.

Helium conservation is becoming increasingly important as helium availability is on the decline and prices are on the rise. The Florida State University National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has taken several steps over the past five years to increase the percentage of helium recovered. These include the installation of a standalone purifier, recovery flow meters, contamination meters, and a new piping system. The improvements to the recovery system have reduced the amount of helium purchased by the Mag Lab by 60% while helium usage has increased by roughly 40%. This article will provide details about the recovery system as a whole and describe some of the main components. There will also be some examples of the problems we've had to overcome, and some that we are still working on. Finally, there will be an update on the current status of the recovery system and a description of our plans for the future.

The Super-FRS magnets of the international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) being built at GSI in Germany will be tested at a new cryogenic test facility currently under construction at CERN. During nominal operation the magnets will be cooled with liquid helium to 4.5 K. Over a period of three years in total 57 magnets will be tested of three different types. A study is performed to determine the cryogenic requirements for testing the Super-FRS magnets. The required operational parameters for the cool down, magnet test and warm up phases are determined and the results are discussed in this paper. For pre-cooling the magnets to 90 K with a rate of 1 K·h^-1, a maximum cooling power of 5.6 kW is required. Cooling down the magnets further to 4.5 K and filling will be performed with LHe within 24 h. For warming up the magnets a maximum heater power of 14 kW is needed. It is concluded that the planned test facility currently under construction at CERN fulfills the cryogenic requirements for testing the Super-FRS magnets.

Most large sub-atmospheric helium refrigeration systems incorporate a heat exchanger at the load, or in the distribution system, to counter-flow the sub-atmospheric return with the super-critical or liquid supply. A significant process improvement is theoretically obtainable by handling the exergy loss across the Joule-Thompson throttling valve supplying the flow to the load in a simple but different manner. As briefly outlined in previous publications, the exergy loss can be minimized by allowing the supply flow pressure to decrease to a sub-atmospheric pressure concurrent with heat exchange flow from the load. One practical implementation is to sub-divide the supply flow pressure drop between two heat exchanger sections, incorporating an intermediate pressure drop. Such a test is being performed at Jefferson Lab's Cryogenic Test Facility (CTF). This paper will briefly discuss the theory, practical implementation and test results and analysis obtained to date.

The performance of a two-stage layered AMRR is experimentally investigated. The test apparatus includes two-stage layered AMRs, low temperature superconducting (LTS) magnet which generates maximum magnetic field of 4 T, and the helium gas flow system. The helium compressor with the tandem rotary valve is employed to generate the oscillating flow of the helium gas minimizing the pressure swing effect. The mass flow rate of working fluid is controlled separately at the first and second stages of the AMR by solenoid valves. The mass flow rate of the AMRs is measured by the mass flow meter and the cryogenic hot-film sensor which is calibrated at cryogenic temperature range from 20 K to 77 K. In order to reduce the heat leak by shuttle heat transfer of the working fluid, void volumes have been implemented and connected to the cold ends of the AMR1 and AMR2. The temperature span of the AMR is recorded as 52 K and the performance of the AMR with the variation of the mass flow rate is analysed. The results show that the mass flow rate and the heat leak due to the shuttle heat transfer by oscillating working fluid are crucial factors in the AMR performance.

The Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) cryogenic hydrogen system was completed in April 2008. The proton beam power was gradually increased to 500 kW. A trial 600-kW proton beam operation was successfully completed in April 2015. We achieved long-lasting operation for more than three months. However, thus far, we encountered several problems such as unstable operation of the helium refrigerator because of some impurities, failure of a welded bellows of an accumulator, and hydrogen pump issues. Furthermore, the Great East Japan Earthquake was experienced during the cryogenic hydrogen system operation in March 2011. In this study, we describe the operation characteristics and our experiences with the J-PARC cryogenic hydrogen system.

Supercritical hydrogen with a temperature of less than 20 K and a pressure of 1.5 MPa is used as moderator material at J-PARC. Total nuclear heating of 3.75 kW is generated by three moderators for a 1-MW proton beam operation. We have developed an orifice-type high-power heater for thermal compensation to mitigate hydrogen pressure fluctuation caused by the abrupt huge heat load and to reduce the fluctuation in the temperature of the supply hydrogen to less than 0.25 K. Through a performance test, we confirmed that the developed orifice-type heater could be heated uniformly and showed fast response, as expected. Furthermore, a simulation model that can describe heater behaviors has been established on the basis of the experimental data. The heater control approach was studied using the aforementioned heater simulation model and a dynamic simulation code developed by the authors.

The J-PARC cryogenic hydrogen system provides supercritical cryogenic hydrogen to the moderators at a pressure of 1.5 MPa and temperature of 18 K and removes 3.8 kW of nuclear heat from the 1 MW proton beam operation. We prepared a heater for thermal compensation and an accumulator, with a bellows structure for volume control, to mitigate the pressure fluctuation caused by switching the proton beam on and off. In this study, a 1-D simulation code named DiSC-SH2 was developed to understand the propagation of pressure and temperature propagations through the hydrogen loop due to on and off switching of the proton beam. We confirmed that the simulated dynamic behaviors in the hydrogen loop for 300-kW and 500-kW proton beam operations agree well with the experimental data under the same conditions.

NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) researchers have been working on enhanced and modernized cryogenic liquid propellant handling techniques to reduce life cycle costs of propellant management system for the unique KSC application. The KSC Ground Operation Demonstration Unit (GODU) for liquid hydrogen (LH₂) plans to demonstrate integrated refrigeration, zero-loss flexible term storage of LH₂, and densified hydrogen handling techniques. The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) has partnered with the KSC researchers to develop thermal performance prediction model of the GODU for LH₂. The model includes integrated refrigeration cooling performance, thermal losses in the tank and distribution lines, transient system characteristics during chilling and loading, and long term steady-state propellant storage. This paper will discuss recent experimental data of the GODU for LH₂ system and modeling results.

The overall efficiency of a mixed refrigerant Joule-Thomson (MR J-T) cryocooler is governed by the performance of the recuperative heat exchanger. In the heat exchanger, the hot stream of the mixed refrigerant undergoes condensation at high pressure while the cold stream gets evaporated at low pressure. The pressure drop in the low pressure stream is crucial since it directly influences the achievable refrigeration temperature. However, experimental and theoretical studies related to two-phase pressure drop in mixtures at cryogenic temperatures, are limited. Therefore, the design of an efficient MR J-T cryocooler is a challenging task due to the lack of predictive tools.

In the present work, the existing empirical correlations, which are commonly used for the prediction of pressure drop in the case of pure refrigerants, evaporating at near ambient conditions, are assessed for the mixed refrigerants. Experiments are carried out to measure the overall pressure drop in the evaporating cold stream of the tube-in-tube helically coiled heat exchanger. The predicted frictional pressure drop in the heat exchanger is compared with the experimental data. The suggested empirical correlations can be used to predict the hydraulic performance of the heat exchanger.

Cascade Joule-Thomson Microcoolers have been proposed in literature in which different compressors with low values of pressure ratio of order four using different working fluids are anticipated to drive the microcooler. A cascade of five stages is expected to provide cooling at a load temperature of 150 K. In this study a second-law analysis of such a microcooler is performed to quantify the effect of important design parameters representing the basic components and processes of the microcooler on its performance. The effects of several important design parameters including the effectiveness of all heat exchangers as well as the effect of possible pressure drop in the recuperative heat exchanger on cooling power and the exergetic efficiency of the microcooler are obtained. The inefficiency of the compressors is included using an exergetic efficiency parameter for the compressors. The heat transfer from each stage to other stages is modelled using an effectiveness parameter for the heat exchangers that can be varied to investigate their influence on cooling power and the efficiency of the microcooler.

JT-60SA is a fully superconducting fusion experimental device involving Japan and Europe. The cryogenic system supplies supercritical or gaseous helium to superconducting coils through valve boxes or coil terminal boxes and in-cryostat pipes. There are 86 temperature measurement points at 4 K along the distribution line. Resistance temperature sensors will be installed on cooling pipes in vacuum. In this work, two sensor attachment methods, two types of sensor, two thermal anchoring methods, and two sensor fixation materials have been experimentally evaluated in terms of accuracy and mass productivity. Finally, the verification test of thermometry has been conducted using the sample pipe fabricated in the same way to the production version, which has been decided by the comparison experiments. The TVO sensor is attached by the saddle method with Apiezon N grease and the measurement wires made of phosphor bronze are wound on the pipe with Stycast 2850FT as the thermal anchoring. A Cernox sensor is directly immersed in liquid helium as a reference thermometer during the experiment. The measured temperature difference between the attached one and reference one has been within ±15 mK in the range of 3.40-4.73 K. It has satisfies the accuracy requirement of 0.1 K.

Boil-off isothermal calorimetry of Dewar-Detector Assemblies (DDA) is a routine part of their Acceptance Testing Procedure. In this approach, the cryogenic liquid coolant (typically LN2) is allowed to naturally boil-off from the Dewar well to the atmosphere through a mass flow meter; the parasitic heat load is then evaluated as the product of the latent heat of vaporization and the "last drop" boil-off rate.

An inherent major limitation of this technique is that it may be performed only at the fixed boiling temperature of the chosen liquid coolant. A further drawback is related to the explosive nature of "last drop" boiling, manifesting itself as an uneven flow rate. This especially holds true for advanced High Operational Temperature Dewar-Detector Assemblies, typically featuring short cold fingers and working at 150 K and above.

In this work, we adapt the well-known technique of dual-slope calorimetry and show how accurate heat load evaluation may be performed by comparing the slopes of the warm-up thermal transients under different trial added heat loads. Because of the simplicity, accuracy and ability to perform calorimetry literally at any temperature of interest, this technique shows good potential for replacing traditional boil-off calorimetry.

A cryogenic advanced propellant loading system is currently being developed at NASA. A wide range of applications and variety of loading regimes call for the development of computer assisted design and optimization methods that will reduce time and cost and improve the reliability of the APL performance. A key aspect of development of such methods is modeling and optimization of non-equilibrium two-phase cryogenic flow in the transfer line. Here we report on the development of such optimization methods using commercial SINDA/FLUINT software. The model is based on the solution of two-phase flow conservation equations in one dimension and a full set of correlations for flow patterns, losses, and heat transfer in the pipes, valves, and other system components. We validate this model using experimental data obtained from chilldown and loading of a cryogenic testbed at NASA Kennedy Space Center. We analyze sensitivity of this model with respect to the variation of the key control parameters including pressure in the tanks, openings of the control and dump valves, and insulation. We discuss the formulation of multi-objective optimization problem and provide an example of the solution of such problem.

To gain confidence in developing analytical models of the purging process for the cryogenic main propulsion systems of the upper stage, two test series were conducted. The test article, 3.35 m long with a 20-cm-diameter incline line, was filled with liquid or gaseous hydrogen and then purged with gaseous helium (GHe). A total of 10 tests were conducted. The influences of GHe flow rates and initial temperatures were evaluated. The Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP), an in-house general purpose fluid system analyzer computer program, was utilized to model and simulate selective tests. The test procedures, modelling descriptions, and the results are presented in the accompanying text.

Amongst the mechanical cryocoolers in use, Stirling cycle cryocoolers exhibit the desirable features such as high efficiency, low specific power consumption, small size and mass and large mean time before failure. Stirling cycle cryocooler of Alpha configuration exhibits better theoretical performance as compared to Gamma. However, the theory could not be put into practice due to unavailability of compatible drive mechanism for Alpha cryocooler providing large stroke to diameter ratio. The concept of novel compact drive mechanism can be made functional to operate miniature Alpha Stirling cryocoolers. It allows the use of multicylinder system while converting rotary motion to reciprocating. This permits the drive mechanism to be employed for driving different configurations of Stirling cryocooler simultaneously. This drive is capable of providing large stroke to diameter ratio compared to other drive mechanisms generally in use for the purpose. A stroke to diameter ratio of three is chosen in the present work and the drive dimensions are calculated for four piston-cylinder arrangements with 90° phase difference between adjacent arrangements providing two Alpha Stirling cryocoolers working simultaneously. It has to be noted that the coolers operate at half the frequency of the motor used. As the two coolers operate at phase difference of 180°, during compression stroke of one unit, the suction stroke occurs for the other unit. Due to power output of second unit, the combined peak torque requirement falls by 26.81% below the peak torque needed when one unit is operated separately. This allows for use of a comparatively lower torque motor. The practicability of the drive ensuring smooth operation of the system is decided based on comparison between torque availability from the motor and torque requirement of the complete unit.

The second order method of cyclic (or thermodynamic) analysis provides a simple computational procedure useful for the design of Stirling cryocooler and is adopted for the present theoretical investigations. An appropriate choice of the equations to compute different losses, from available co-relations, is made in accordance with the conditions existing in the present system. The effects of operating frequency and phase angle between compressor and expander pistons are presented in this paper. The cryocooler performance enhances with increase in operating frequency. However, cryocooler operation at 24 Hz (motor operation at 48 Hz) is considered for theoretical performance prediction. The maximum net refrigeration effect as well as COP is available at phase angle of 81° However, it is essential to fix the phase angle at 90° for both the cryocoolers for the positive functioning of drive mechanism.

In order to achieve a wide refrigerating temperature range in magnetic refrigeration, it is effective to layer multiple materials with different Curie temperatures. It is crucial to have a detailed understanding of physical properties of materials to optimize the material selection and the layered structure. In the present study, we discuss methods for estimating a change in physical properties, particularly the Curie temperature when some of the Gd atoms are substituted for non-magnetic elements for material design, based on Gd as a ferromagnetic material which is a typical magnetocaloric material. For this purpose, whilst making calculations using the S=7/2 Ising model and the Monte Carlo method, we made a specific heat measurement and a magnetization measurement of Gd-R alloy (R = Y, Zr) to compare experimental values and calculated ones. The results showed that the magnetic entropy change, specific heat, and Curie temperature can be estimated with good accuracy using the Monte Carlo method.

The ITER current leads will transfer large currents of up to 68 kA into the biggest superconducting magnets ever built. Following the development of prototypes and targeted trials of specific manufacturing processes through mock-ups, the ASIPP (Chinese Institute of Plasma Physics) is preparing for the series fabrication. A key component of the ITER HTS current leads are the resistive heat exchangers. Special R&D was conducted for these components at CERN and ASIPP in support of their designs. In particular several mock-ups were built and tested in room temperature gas to measure the dynamic pressure drop and compare to 3D CFD models.

This paper considers the use of a solid cryogen as a means to stabilize, both mechanically and thermally, magnesium diboride (MgB₂) superconducting strands within a dual-channel cable-in-conduit (CIC) cable for use in AC applications, such as a generator stator winding. The cable consists of two separate channels; the outer channel contains the superconducting strands and is filled with a fluid (liquid or gas) that becomes solid at the device operating temperature. Several options for fluid will be presented, such as liquid nitrogen, hydrocarbons and other chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that have a range of melting temperatures and volumetric expansions (from solid at operating temperature to fixed volume at room temperature). Implications for quench protection and conductor stability, enhanced through direct contact with the solid cryogen, which has high heat capacity and thermal conductivity (compared with helium gas), will be presented. Depending on the cryogen, the conductor will be filled initially either with liquid at atmospheric conditions or a gas at high pressure (∼100 atm). After cooldown, the cryogen in the stranded-channel will be solid, essentially locking the strands in place, preventing strand motion and degradation due to mechanical deformation while providing enhanced thermal capacity for stability and protection. The effect of cryogen porosity is also considered. The relatively high heat capacity of solid cryogens at these lower temperatures (compared to gaseous helium) enhances the thermal stability of the winding. During operation, coolant flow through the open inner channel will minimize pressure drop.

Theoretical studies show that neon can influence the phase diagram of nitrogen, lowering its triple-point temperature. The use of a neon-nitrogen mixture that could remain liquid at temperatures below the triple-point of nitrogen (63.15 K) could solve some problems in the temperature range from 44 to 54 K, where no pure cryogenic liquids exist at all. This work consists of a preliminary study of mixtures of neon and nitrogen at low temperatures, in order to assess whether a liquid neon-nitrogen mixture below 63.15 K can be obtained. Indications that there may be a process of neon dilution in solid and liquid nitrogen are shown, as well as evidence of changes in the phase diagram of nitrogen due to the introduction of neon, in comparison to a model that supposes no interaction between the two substances. Evidences of a change in the nitrogen triple-point temperature from 63.15 to 62.5 K are presented and discussed.

Non-flammable mixed refrigerant (NF-MR) Joule Thomson (J-T) refrigerators have desirable characteristics and wide cooling temperature range compared to those of pure J-T refrigerators. However, the operating challenge due to freezing is a critical issue to construct this refrigerator. In this paper, the solid-liquid phase equilibria (i.e. freezing point) of the NF-MR which is composed of Argon, R14 (CF₄), and R218 (C₃F₈), has been experimentally investigated by a visualized apparatus. Argon, R14 and R218 mixtures are selected to be effectively capable of reaching 100 K in the MR J-T refrigerator system. Freezing points of the mixtures have been measured with the molar compositions from 0.1 to 0.8 for each component. Each test result is simultaneously acquired by a camcorder for visual inspection and temperature measurement during a warming process. Experimental results show that the certain mole fraction of Argon, R14, and R218 mixture can achieve remarkably low freezing temperature even below 77 K. This unusual freezing point depression characteristic of the MR can be a useful information for designing a cryogenic MR J-T refrigerator to reach further down to 77 K.

The 27 km circumference LHC underground tunnel is a space in which the helium cooled LHC magnets are installed. The vacuum enclosures of the superconducting magnets are protected by over-pressure safety relief devices that open whenever cold helium escapes either from the magnet cold enclosure or from the helium supply headers, into this vacuum enclosure. A 3-m long no stay zone around these devices is defined based on scale model studies, protecting the personnel against cold burns or asphyxia caused by such a helium release event. Recently, several simulation studies have been carried out modelling the propagation of the helium/air mixture, resulting from the opening of such a safety device, along the tunnel. The released helium flows vary in the range between 1 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. To validate these different simulation studies, real life mock-up tests have been performed inside the LHC tunnel, releasing helium flow rates of 1 kg/s, 0.3 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. For each test, up to 1000 liters of liquid helium were released under standard operational tunnel conditions. The data recorded include oxygen concentration, temperature and flow speed measurements, and video footage used to assess qualitatively the visibility. These measurements have been made in the up- and downstream directions, with respect to the air ventilation flow, of the spill point.

This paper presents the experimental set-up under which these release tests were made, the effects of these releases on the atmospheric tunnel condition as a function of the release flow rate. We discuss the modification to the personnel access conditions to the LHC tunnel that are presently implemented as a result of these tests.

The Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory (ARIEL) is a major expansion of the Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC) facility at TRIUMF. A key part of the ARIEL project is a 10 mA 50 MeV continuous-wave superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) electron linear accelerator (e-linac). The 1.3 GHz SRF cavities are operated at 2 K. HELIAL LL helium liquefier by Air Liquide Advanced Technologies (ALAT) with a tuneable liquid helium (LHe) production was installed and commissioned in Q4'2013 [1]. It provides 4 K liquid helium to one injector and one accelerator cryomodules that were installed and tested in 2014. The 4 K to 2 K liquid helium transition is achieved on-board of each cryomodule. The cryoplant, LHe and LN2 distributions, sub-atmospheric (S/A) system and cryomodules were successfully commissioned and integrated into the e-linac cryogenic system. Required pressure regulation for both 4 K cryoplant in the Dewar and 2 K with the S/A system was achieved under simulated load. Final integration tests confirmed overall stable performance of the cryogenic system with two cryomodules installed. The paper presents details of the cryogenic system commissioning tests as well as highlights of the initial operational experience.

The new 4.5 K refrigerator system at the Jefferson Lab (JLab) Central Helium Liquefier (CHL-2) for the 12 GeV upgrade was commissioned in late spring of 2013, following the commissioning of the new compressor system, and has been supporting 12 GeV LINAC commissioning since that time. Six design modes were tested during commissioning, consisting of a maximum capacity, nominal capacity, maximum liquefaction, maximum refrigeration, maximum fill and a stand-by/reduced load condition. The maximum capacity was designed to support a 238 g/s, 30 K and 1.16 bar cold compressor return flow, a 15 g/s, 4.5 K liquefaction load and a 12.6 kW, 35-55 K shield load. The other modes were selected to ensure proper component sizing and selection to allow the cold box to operate over a wide range of conditions and capacities. The cold box system is comprised of two physically independent cold boxes with interconnecting transfer-lines. The outside (upper) 300-60 K vertical cold box has no turbines and incorporates a liquid nitrogen pre-cooler and 80-K beds. The inside (lower) 60-4.5 K horizontal cold box houses seven turbines that are configured in four expansion stages including one Joule-Thompson expander and a 20-K bed. The helium compression system has five compressors to support three pressure levels in the cold box. This paper will summarize the analysis of the test data obtained over the wide range of operating conditions and capacities which were tested.

The new compressor system at Jefferson Lab (JLab) for the 12 GeV upgrade was commissioned in the spring of 2013 and incorporates many design changes, discussed in previous publications, to improve the operational range, efficiency, reliability and maintainability as compared to previous compressor skids used for this application. The 12 GeV helium compression system has five compressors configured with four pressure levels supporting three pressure levels in the new cold box. During compressor commissioning the compressors were operated independent of the cold box over a wide range of process conditions to verify proper performance including adequate cooling and oil removal. Isothermal and volumetric efficiencies over these process conditions for several built-involume ratios were obtained. This paper will discuss the operational envelope results and the modifications/improvements incorporated into the skids.

The helium cryogenic system at Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) provides cooling to 81 superconducting radio frequency cavities. During the first ten years of operation, much operational experience and lessons learned have been gained. The lessons learned include integrated system issues as well as component failures in the areas of mechanical, electrical and controls. Past issues that have been corrected as well as current issues in the system will be detailed in this paper. In 2009, a Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (PFMEA) was completed as a way to identify high risk items and prioritize efforts. Since 2009, the progress on mitigating the identified high risk items has been tracked. The results of the PFMEA and the progress made in reducing risk to the cryogenic system operation will be detailed in this paper.

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) linear accelerator (LINAC) consists of 81 superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities cooled to 2.1 K by a cryogenic refrigeration system. The 2-K cold box consists of four stages of cold compressors with liquid nitrogen cooled variable speed motors. Transitioning from 4.5-K operation to 2.1-K operation in the cryomodules involves pumping the cryomodules down from approximately 1 bar to 0.040 bar. This effort is conducted through the use of several sequences developed as a collaborative effort between Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) and SNS personnel during the original commissioning of the SNS cryogenic system. Over the last ten years, multiple lessons have been learned about VFD behavior, thermal stability, procedural development and refining the sequences. From 2012 to 2014, there were multiple pump down iterations that were not successful. Studies have been conducted to determine the cause of these unsuccessful iterations. The results of these studies including components replaced and aspects that have not yet been solved are presented in this paper. Future plans to refine the sequence and determine the cause of unsuccessful pump downs will also be presented.

The James Webb Space Telescope will operate in space at temperatures lower than 50 K. To test the major parts of the telescope and instruments on the ground requires a very large thermal vacuum chamber with a helium-cooled shroud operating below 20 K. This chamber and shroud are being subjected to a series of 4 preliminary tests to characterize the chamber and the ground support equipment before the telescope and instruments are tested. We have made measurements in the first of these preliminary tests using simple radiometers, which are located in the chamber and are pointed at various locations and items of interest within the chamber. The radiometers, which have been previously described[1], consist of a Cernox thermometer attached to an absorber suspended behind a Winston cone with an acceptance half-angle of 11 degrees. 9 of these radiometers were anchored to the chamber at temperatures between 17 and 25 K and were able to resolve 2 mW over an area of one m². This level of sensitivity corresponds to a 60 K blackbody, which spans the radiometer field of view, changing in temperature by 0.04 K. The results of this test and plans for future tests will be described.

A 6 L liquid hydrogen fuel tank has been designed, fabricated and tested to optimize boil-off rate and minimize weight for a 200 W light weight fuel cell in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The 200 W fuel cell required a maximum flow rate of 2.3 SLPM or less liquid hydrogen boil-off from the fuel tank. After looking at several different insulation schemes, the system was optimized as two concentric lightweight aluminum cylinders with high vacuum and multi-layer insulation in between. MLI thickness and support structures were designed to minimize the tank weight. For support, filling and feed gas to a fuel-cell, the system was designed with two G-10 CR tubes which connected the inner vessel to the outer shell. A secondary G10-CR support structure was also added to ensure stability and durability during a flight. After fabrication the fuel tank was filled with liquid hydrogen. A series of boil-off tests were performed in various operating conditions to confirm thermal performance of the fuel tank for a 200 W fuel cell.

The Stratospheric TeraHertz Observatory (STO) is a NASA funded, Long Duration Balloon experiment designed to address a key problem in modern astrophysics: understanding the Life Cycle of the Interstellar Medium. STO surveys a section of the Galactic plane in the dominant interstellar cooling line at 1.9 THz and the important star formation tracer at 1.46 THz, at ∼1 arc minute angular resolution, sufficient to spatially resolve atomic, ionic, and molecular clouds at 10 kpc. The STO instrument package uses a liquid helium cryostat to maintain the THz receiver at < 9 K and to cool the low noise amplifiers to < 20 K. The first STO mission (STO-1) flew in January of 2012 and the second mission (STO-2) is planned for December 2015. For the STO-2 flight a cryocooler will be added to extend the mission lifetime. This paper discusses the integration of the STO instrument into an existing cryostat and the cryogenic aspects of the launch and operation of the STO balloon mission in the challenging Antarctic environment.

The use of mixed gas working fluids has become common in Joule-Thomson (JT) type cryocoolers for a variety of applications operating in temperatures ranging from 80 to 230 K. The thermal efficiency of mixed gas JT cryocoolers is dependent on the optimization of the gas mixture composition. Most optimization methodologies focus on thermodynamic criteria of the cycle because there are very little data or theory currently available regarding the heat transfer coefficients associated with these multi-component mixtures in two-phase regimes at cryogenic temperatures. A generally accepted correlation to predict the local heat transfer coefficient (htc) for mixtures during the boiling process does not exist. Little [1] proposed a correlation to be used on horizontal tubes that shows good agreement with Nellis et al. [2] experimental data of nitrogen-hydrocarbon mixtures. However, it is not clearly shown how the correlation is obtained and how it should be applied. This paper provides a more complete description of the Little correlation and also expands its validation using the experimental data provided by Barraza [3]. The new experimental data include measurements of the local heat transfer coefficient for mixtures comprising 2 component (binary) up to 5 components in the temperature range between 100 K and room temperature. These mixtures are formed from nitrogen-hydrocarbon and argon-fluorocarbon mixtures and evaporate in horizontal tubes with diameters from 0.5 to 3.0 mm for different heat flux, mass flux, evaporating pressure, and composition.

Mixed refrigerant (MR) working fluids can significantly increase the cooling capacity of a Joule-Thomson (JT) cycle. The optimization of MRJT systems has been the subject of substantial research. However, most optimization techniques do not model the recuperator in sufficient detail. For example, the recuperator is usually assumed to have a heat transfer coefficient that does not vary with the mixture. Ongoing work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has shown that the heat transfer coefficients for two-phase flow are approximately three times greater than for a single phase mixture when the mixture quality is between 15% and 85%. As a result, a system that optimizes a MR without also requiring that the flow be in this quality range may require an extremely large recuperator or not achieve the performance predicted by the model. To ensure optimal performance of the JT cycle, the MR should be selected such that it is entirely two-phase within the recuperator. To determine the optimal MR composition, a parametric study was conducted assuming a thermodynamically ideal cycle. The results of the parametric study are graphically presented on a contour plot in the parameter space consisting of the extremes of the qualities that exist within the recuperator. The contours show constant values of the normalized refrigeration power. This 'map' shows the effect of MR composition on the cycle performance and it can be used to select the MR that provides a high cooling load while also constraining the recuperator to be two phase. The predicted best MR composition can be used as a starting point for experimentally determining the best MR.

A novel Gifford-McMahon (GM) cycle, called an asymmetric GM cycle, is proposed. In an asymmetric GM cycle, the displacer moves slowly when it is adjacent to the upper dead point but moves rapidly when it is adjacent to the lower dead point. Therefore, the expansion process is longer, while the discharging process is shorter than in a conventional GM cycle. Meanwhile, the duration of the charging process can be kept the same as that in a conventional GM cycle. Accordingly, the phase shift between the pressure and the displacement can be improved, and the mass flow rate into the expansion space can also be increased. Therefore, the P-V work and the cooling capacity can be increased. To implement the GM cycle, a novel Scotch yoke was invented. In the Scotch yoke, there is a concave part at the upper center of the slide groove and a convex part at the lower center of the slide groove. The effect of the Scotch yoke has been confirmed by numerical simulation and experimental investigation. With a conventional Scotch yoke, the cooling capacity was 44 W at 37.4 K at the first stage and 1.0 W at 3.94 K at the second stage. With a novel Scotch yoke, the cooling capacity was 44 W at 35.9 K at the first stage and 1.0 W at 3.96 K at the second stage. The cooling capacity at the first stage at 40 K was improved by about 10%, from 51.5 W to 57.3 W.

High cooling power 4 K cryocoolers are in high demand given their broad applications in such fields as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and low temperature superconductors. ARS has recently designed and developed a high cooling power 4 K pneumatic-drive GM cryocooler which achieves a typical cooling power of 1.75 W/4.2 K. Steady input power of our newly developed helium compressor supplied to the cold head is 11.8 kW at 60 Hz. The operational speed of the cold head is 30 RPM. The effects of geometries and operational conditions on the cooling performance of this 4 K GM cryocooler are also experimentally tested.

To meet the growing demand for a compact cooling solution for superconducting electronic devices, we developed a two-stage 2 K GM cryocooler and a cryostat system, which can reach 46.3 K / 2.2 K on the first and second stages under no-load conditions. Nevertheless, with several innovative technologies applied, the total length of the expander cylinder is reduced to under 70% of the smallest conventional 4 K GM cryocooler. In this paper we will present the design method, including material selection and structure design with detailed explanation, which has been confirmed by both simulation and experiment.

4 K Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers suffer from inherent temperature oscillations which can be a problem for certain attached electronic instrumentation. Sumitomo Heavy Industries has exploited the high volumetric specific heat of super-critical He to quell these oscillations (approx. 10 dB) by strongly thermally linking a separate vessel of He to the second stage; no significant thermal resistance is added between the payload and the working gas of the cryocooler. A noticeable effect of the helium damper is to increase the cool-down time of the second stage below 10 K. For the operation of niobium-based superconducting electronics (NbSCE), a common practice is to warm the circuits above the critical temperature (∼9 K) and then cool to the operating point in order to redistribute trapped magnetic fluxons, so for NbSCE users, the time to cool from 10 K is important. The gas in the helium damper is shared between a room-temperature buffer tank and the 2nd stage vessel, which are connected by a capillary tube. We show that the total cool-down time below 10 K can be substantially reduced by introducing a combination of thermal linkages between the cryocooler and the capillary tube and in-line relief valves, which control the He mass distribution between the warm canister and cold vessel. The time to reach operating temperature from the superconducting transition has been reduced to <25% of the time needed without these low-cost modifications.

The European XFEL project is under construction at DESY in Germany. The superconducting XFEL linac is supplied by the XFEL helium refrigerator plant. This plant consists of two existing refrigerators, which were in service for the HERA storage ring until 2007. Since the XFEL linear accelerator requires cryogenic cooling at 2K, the existing cryogenic infrastructure had to be modified. Two of the three existing HERA helium refrigerators were required to cover the design heat load of the XFEL-linac. The refrigerator infrastructure was extended by a 2 K cooling loop, whose main component consists of a string of four cold compressors generating approximately 1.7 kW isothermal cooling capacity at 2K. The step by step commissioning and extension of the accelerator as well as the future upgrade option of the heat load demanded an extremely high turn down ability, a particular challenge for 2K cold compressor strings. The commissioning of the helium refrigerator infrastructure is underway and should be completed soon. The current status of this project, commissioning results and particular challenges are presented.

In order to produce pulsed electron beam with the energy of 17.5 GeV, the XFEL linear accelerator is under construction. After the assembly but before being installed in the accelerator tunnel, 100 accelerator modules have to be tested in Accelerator Module Test Facility (AMTF). Two vertical cryostats and three horizontal test benches are devoted to the testing of cavities and cryomodules as well as two other cold boxes and liquid helium (LHe) storage tank are installed to enable their operation. This paper describes our experience with cryogenic operation of AMTF after two years of operation.

CERN operates and maintains the world largest cryogenic infrastructure ranging from ageing installations feeding detectors, test facilities and general services, to the state-of-the-art cryogenic system serving the flagship LHC machine complex. After several years of exploitation of a wide range of cryogenic installations and in particular following the last two years major shutdown to maintain and consolidate the LHC machine, we have analysed and reviewed the maintenance activities to implement an efficient and reliable exploitation of the installations. We report the results, statistics and lessons learned on the maintenance activities performed and in particular the required consolidations and major overhauling, the organization, management and methodologies implemented.

Since 2009, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is in operation at CERN. The LHC superconducting magnets distributed over eight sectors of 3.3-km long are cooled at 1.9 K in pressurized superfluid helium. The nominal operating temperature of 1.9 K is produced by eight 1.8-K refrigeration units based on centrifugal cold compressors (3 or 4 stages depending to the vendor) combined with warm volumetric screw compressors with sub-atmospheric suction. After about 5 years of continuous operation, we will present the results concerning the availability for the final user of these refrigeration units and the impact of the design choice on the recovery time after a system trip. We will also present the individual results for each rotating machinery in terms of failure origin and of Mean Time between Failure (MTBF), as well as the consolidations and upgrades applied to these refrigeration units.

A Thermosiphon cooling scheme is a productive way of cooling large scale superconducting magnets. The absence of active pumping and the availability of the higher heat capacity parameter "latent heat" make this an attractive cooling method. Nevertheless, the design of such a system demands a well-organized study of the effect of various flow parameters, such as, mass flow rates, flow quality, etc., and also a robust mechanical design of the various components of the system. This paper presents an analytical approach to designing a thermosiphon cooling scheme based on homogeneous flow conditions as well as separated flow conditions. The design of the mechanical components such as the piping is also discussed. The design approach presented here has been applied to the reference design of two large superconducting solenoids, the Production Solenoid and the Detector Solenoid of the Mu2e experiment at Fermilab.

In order to determine long term performance of plasma facing components such as diverters and first walls for fusion devices, next generation plasma generators are needed. A Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) has been proposed to address this need through the generation of plasmas in front of the target with electron temperatures of 1-15 eV and electron densities of 10²⁰ to 10²¹ m^-3. Heat fluxes on target diverters could reach 20 MW/m². To generate this plasma, a unique radio frequency helicon source and heating of electrons and ions through Electron Bernstein Wave (EBW) and Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) has been proposed. MPEX requires a series of magnets with non-uniform central fields up to 2 T over a 5-m length in the heating and transport region and 1 T uniform central field over a 1-m length on a diameter of 1.3 m. Given the field requirements, superconducting magnets are under consideration for MPEX. In order to determine the best construction method for the magnets, the cryogenic refrigeration has been analyzed with respect to cooldown and operational performance criteria for open-cycle and closed-cycle systems, capital and operating costs of these system, and maturity of supporting technology such as cryocoolers. These systems will be compared within the context of commercially available magnet constructions to determine the most economical method for MPEX operation. The current state of the MPEX magnet design including details on possible superconducting magnet configurations is presented.

Cryogen-free superconducting magnet systems (CFMS) have become popular over the last two decades for the simple reason that the use of liquid helium is rather cumbersome and that helium is a scarce resource. Some available CFMS use a mechanical cryocooler as the magnet's cold source. However, the variable temperature insert (VTI) for some existing CFMS are not strictly cryogen-free as they are still based on helium gas circulation through the sample space. We designed a prototype of a gas gap heat switch (GGHS) that allows a thermal management of a completely cryogen-free magnet system, with no helium losses. The idea relies on a parallel cooling path to a variable temperature insert (VTI) of a magnetic properties measurement system under development at Inter-University Accelerator Centre. A Gifford-McMahon cryocooler (1.5 W @ 4.2 K) would serve primarily as the cold source of the superconducting magnet, dedicating 1 W to this cooling, under quite conservative safety factors. The remaining cooling power (0.5 W) is to be diverted towards a VTI through a controlled GGHS that was designed and built with a 80 μm gap width. The built GGHS thermal performance was measured at 4 K, using helium as the exchange gas, and its conductance is compared both with a previously developed analytical model and a finite element method. Lessons learned lead to a new and more functional prototype yet to be reported.

The 40 T hybrid magnet under construction at High Magnetic Field Laboratory of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CHMFL) consists of an 11 T superconducting outsert with clear bore of 800 mm and a resistive insert with clear bore of 32 mm. The outsert made of Nb₃Sn CICC is cooled with 4.5 K forced flow helium. The main cryogenic system includes a helium refrigerator (360 W at 4.5 K) and a helium distribution system for the cooling of coils, structures, transfer line and current leads. The helium refrigerator was successfully commissioned and put into operation in 2012. The helium distribution system installation will be completed in December 2015. This paper discusses the design of cryogenic system and recent progress in construction.

A cryocooler-cooled superconducting undulator (SCU0) has been operating in the Advanced Photon Source (APS) storage ring since January of 2013. Based on lessons learned from the construction and operation of SCU0, a second superconducting undulator (SCU1) has been built and cold tested stand-alone. An excess cooling capacity measurement and static heat load analysis show a large improvement of cryogenic performance of SCU1 compared with SCU0. ANSYS-based thermal analysis of these cryomodules incorporating all the cooling circuits was completed. Comparisons between measured and calculated temperatures at the three operating conditions of the cryomodule (static, beam heat only, beam heat and magnet current) will be presented.

The HELIOS facility at CEA Grenoble is a supercritical helium (SHe) loop which is being used to investigate the effects on the cryogenic cooling system of the pulsed heat loads which are typical of superconducting tokamak operation. In the standard configuration, the magnet heat load is simulated by electrical heaters wrapped around a section of cryoline. In the present work, the resistively heated section is substituted in the HELIOS model of the 4C code, already validated for the standard configuration of HELIOS, by a sub-size winding structure made of JT-60SA Cable-In-Conduit Conductors (CICCs). The new model is then used to highlight the differences in the circuit behaviour when the heated pipe is substituted by an actual magnet wound with CICCs, checking the representativeness of the control strategies developed for the present HELIOS configuration. The use of CICCs will be shown to produce an intrinsic smoothing of the temperature profiles which is not affecting the capability of the control strategies to smooth the heat loads to the cryoplant.

During ITER plasma operation, large thermal loads are generated in the stainless steel Toroidal Field (TF) coil casing. To minimize the impact on the temperature of the TF Cable in Conduit Conductor (CICC), these heat loads are intercepted by case cooling channels which are implemented at the interface to the winding pack. One of the design options for the case cooling channels consists of a stainless steel pipe inserted in a rectangular groove which is machined in the casing and filled by a charged resin of high thermal conductivity. A higher number of cooling pipes is arranged at the plasma facing wall of the case, thus providing a better shielding to the TF conductor at high field. To assess the efficiency of the cooling pipes and their thermal coupling with the charged resin, experimental characterizations have been performed. First of all, the thermal resistance vs temperature of some of the individual components of a TF coil has been measured on representative samples in a cryogenic bench. Further characterizations have been performed on an integrated mock-up of the TF cooling scheme at cryogenic temperature in HELIOS test facility at CEA Grenoble. The mock-up consists of a piece of TF casing that can be heated uniformly on its surface, one cooling channel implemented in the groove which is filled with the charged resin, the filler, the ground insulation, the radial plate and one insulated CICC. The cooling pipe and the CICC are cooled by supercritical helium at 4.4 K and 5 bar; the instrumentation consists of temperature, pressure and mass flow sensors. Both stationary and transient operating modes have been investigated to assess the thermal efficiency of the case cooling design. The experimental tests are presented and the first results are discussed and analyzed in this document.

In superconducting tokamaks, cryoplants provide the helium needed to cool the superconducting magnet systems. The evaluation of the heat load from the magnets to the cryoplant is fundamental for the design of the latter and the assessment of suitable strategies to smooth the heat load pulses induced by the pulsed plasma scenarios is crucial for the operation. Here, a simplified thermal-hydraulic model of an ITER Toroidal Field (TF) magnet, based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), is developed and inserted into a detailed model of the ITER TF winding and casing cooling circuits based on the state-of-the-art 4C code, which also includes active controls. The low computational effort requested by such a model allows performing a fast parametric study, to identify the best smoothing strategy during standard plasma operation. The ANNs are trained using 4C simulations, and the predictive capabilities of the simplified model are assessed against 4C simulations, both with and without active smoothing, in terms of accuracy and computational time.

The two Michigan State University (MSU) cyclotron gas-stopper magnet superconducting-coils were designed to be cooled down and to be kept cold using three pulse-tube coolers per coil cryostat. These coolers are designed to produce from 1.3 to 1.7 W per cooler when the cooler first-stage is at 40 K. The cyclotron gas stopper coils can be separated while cold, but unpowered. The two coil cryostats were cooled down separately in 2014, and room temperature helium gas was liquefied into the coil cryostats. The magnet temperature at the end of the cool-down was 4.55 K for one coil and 4.25 K for the other with and added 1.6 W of heat. The coil-down time for the coils was three and a half times longer than expected. The time to liquefy the helium was also much longer. The reasons for the disparity between the calculated cool-down time and measured cool-down time are discussed in the paper.

The superconducting solenoid of the PANDA experiment at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt (Germany) is designed to provide a magnetic field of 2 T over a length of about 4 m in a bore of 1.9 m. To allow a warm target feed pipe oriented transversely to the solenoid axis and penetrating through the cryostat and solenoid cold mass, the magnet is split into 3 inter-connected coils fitted in a common support cylinder. During normal operation, cooling of the cold mass to the working temperature of 4.5 K will be achieved through the circulation by natural convection of two-phase helium in cooling pipes attached to the Al-alloy support cylinder. Pure aluminium strips acting as heat drains and glued to the inner surface of the three coils and thermally bonded to the cooling pipes allow minimizing the temperature gradient across the 6-layers coils. In this paper the thermal design of the cold mass during normal operation and current ramps up and down is validated using an analytical approximation and numerical simulation.

The Mu2e Transport Solenoid (TS) is an S-shaped magnet formed by two separate but similar magnets, TS-u and TS-d. Each magnet is quarter-toroid shaped with a centerline radius of approximately 3 m utilizing a helium cooling loop consisting of 25 to 27 horizontal-axis rings connected in series. This cooling loop configuration has been deemed adequate for cooling via forced single phase liquid helium; however it presents major challenges to forced two-phase flow such as "garden hose" pressure drop, concerns of flow separation from tube walls, difficulty of calculation, etc. Even with these disadvantages, forced two-phase flow has certain inherent advantages which make it a more attractive option than forced single phase flow. It is for this reason that the use of forced two-phase flow was studied for the TS magnets. This paper will describe the analysis using helium-specific pressure drop correlations, conservative engineering approach, helium properties calculated and updated at over fifty points, and how the results compared with those in literature. Based on the findings, the use of forced-two phase helium is determined to be feasible for steady-state cooling of the TS solenoids.

Much of the work to develop internationally recognized temperature scales over the past 50 years was performed with thermometers whose sensing elements were constructed from platinum wire, rhodium-iron wire, or doped germanium elements. For high stability, the best results were obtained when the sensing element was strain-free mounted which reduced the effects of temperature-induced mechanical stress and deformation. Unfortunately, the devices were still highly susceptible to mechanical damage, and, barring a catastrophic mechanical shock, damage to the temperature sensors could go unnoticed as it could continue to operate with degraded accuracy. While not at the same level of stability as standards grade thermometers, many of the most commonly used cryogenic thermometers today are far more resistant to mechanical handling. This work examines the calibration offsets on three models of cryogenic temperature sensors resulting from mechanical shock and vibration. The models tested in this work were all obtained from Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc., and included Cemox™ resistance thermometer models CX-1050-SD and CX-1050-AA, and a diode temperature sensor model DT-670-SD. Mechanical treatments were performed via a simple drop test (heights 20 cm, 50 cm, 1 m, and 4 m), random vibration per MIL-STD-202, Method 214, Table 2, Condition H, and mechanical shock per MIL-STD-883, Method 2002, Condition B. Each sensor was calibrated pre- and post-mechanical treatment and the effect of the treatment on each test sensor was quantified in terms of the equivalent temperature calibration shift. This work details the calibration shift of each sensor type following each treatment type over the 1.4 K to 325 K temperature range. No effects from the testing were discemable for Cemox and diode sensors packaged in the -SD package, a flat, hermetically sealed package, while small calibration offsets of less than 0.15% of temperature at higher temperatures were observed for Cemox sensors packaged in the -AA package, a gold-plated copper can.

The sensor characteristics of a coated Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) thermal sensor for cryogenic temperatures depends mainly on the coating materials. The sensitivity of the coated FBG can be improved by enhancing the effective thermal strain transfer between the different layers and the bare FBG. The dual coated FBG's has a primary layer and the secondary layer. The primary coating acts as an intermediate buffer between the secondary coating and the bare FBG. The outer secondary coating is normally made of metals with high thermal expansion coefficient. In this work, a detailed study is carried out on chromium and titanium intermediate buffer layers with various coating thicknesses and combinations. To improve the sensitivity, the secondary coating layer was tested with Indium, Lead and Tin. The sensors were then calibrated in a cryogenic temperature calibration facility at Institute of Technical Physics (ITEP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The sensors were subjected to several thermal cycles between 4.2 and 80 K to study the sensor performance and its thermal characteristics. The sensor exhibits a Bragg wavelength shift of 13pm at 20K. The commercially available detection equipment with a resolution of 1pm can result in a temperature resolution of 0.076 K at 20K.

In the framework of the ITER project, the CEA-SBT has been contracted to supply 277 venturi tube flowmeters to measure the distribution of helium in the superconducting magnets of the ITER tokamak. Six sizes of venturi tube have been designed so as to span a measurable helium flowrate range from 0.1 g/s to 400g/s. They operate, in nominal conditions, either at 4K or at 300K, and in a nuclear and magnetic environment. Due to the cryogenic conditions and the large number of venturi tubes to be supplied, an individual calibration of each venturi tube would be too expensive and time consuming. Studies have been performed to produce a design which will offer high repeatability in manufacture, reduce the geometrical uncertainties and improve the final helium flowrate measurement accuracy. On the instrumentation side, technologies for differential and absolute pressure transducers able to operate in applied magnetic fields need to be identified and validated. The complete helium mass flow measurement chain will be qualified in four test benches: - A helium loop at room temperature to insure the qualification of a statistically relevant number of venturi tubes operating at 300K.- A supercritical helium loop for the qualification of venturi tubes operating at cryogenic temperature (a modification to the HELIOS test bench). - A dedicated vacuum vessel to check the helium leak tightness of all the venturi tubes. - A magnetic test bench to qualify different technologies of pressure transducer in applied magnetic fields up to 100mT.

To establish the worldwide storage and marine transport of hydrogen, it is important to develop a high-precision and long level sensor, such as a superconducting magnesium diboride (MgB₂) level sensor for large liquid hydrogen (LH₂) tanks on board ships. Three 1.7- m-long MgB₂ wires were fabricated by an in situ method, and the superconducting characteristics of twenty-four 20-mm-long MgB₂ wires on the 1.7-m-long wires were studied. In addition, the static level-detecting characteristics of five 500-mm-long MgB₂ level sensors were evaluated under atmospheric pressure.

Heat switches are critical to many low temperature applications, where control of heat flow and selective thermal isolation are required. Their designs tend to be driven by the need for the lowest possible off-state conductance, while meeting requirements for on-state conduction. As a result, heat switches tend to be designed as close as possible to the limits of material strength and machinability, using materials that have the lowest thermal conductivity to strength ratio. In addition, switching speed is important for many applications, and many designs and switch types require a compromise between the power used for actuation and on/off transition times. We present a design for an active gas-gap heat switch, developed for the Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the Japanese Astro-H mission, that requires less than 0.5 mW of power to operate, has on/off transition times of < 1 minute, and that achieves a conductance of > 50 mW/K at 1 K with a heat leak of < 0.5 μW from 1 K to very low temperature. Details of the design and performance will be presented.

Power generation in the next decades could be provided by thermo-nuclear fusion reactors like tokamaks. There inside, the fusion reaction takes place thanks to the generation of plasmas at hundreds of millions of degrees that must be confined magnetically with superconductive coils, cooled down to 4.4K. The plasma works cyclically and the coil system is subjected to pulsed heat load which has to be handled by the refrigerator. By smoothing the variable loads, the refrigerator capacity can be set close to the average power; optimizing investment and operational costs. Within the "Broader Approach agreement" related to ITER project, CEA (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives) is in charge of providing the cryogenic system for the Japanese tokamak (JT-60SA), that is currently under construction in Naka. The system has been designed to handle the pulsed heat loads. To prepare the acceptance tests of the cryogenic system foreseen in 2016, both dynamic modelling and experimental tests on a scaled down mock-up are of high interest for assessing pulsed load smoothing control. After explaining HELIOS (HElium Loop for hIgh lOad Smoothing) operating modes, a dynamic model is presented, with results on the pulsed heat load scenarios. All the simulations have been performed with EcosimPro® and the associated cryogenic library CRYOLIB.

A superconducting linac will provide electron bunches of 17.5 GeV beam energy for the operation of the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) at DESY. 800 superconducting niobium 1.3 GHz nine cell cavities and 100 superconducting magnet packages will be cooled in a liquid helium II cooling bath at 2.0K temperature. Liquid helium II bath cooling at 2.0K is established by means of a 4 stages cold compressor system. For the stable operation of cold compressors sudden load changes should be avoided. Electrical heaters in the helium II bath will compensate dynamic heat load changes caused by the radio frequency (RF) operation of the cavities in the XFEL linac. The complementary load operation of electrical heaters is studied at the existing facilities at DESY. Measurements performed at Cryo Module Test Bench (CMTB), Accelerator Module Test Facility (AMTF) and FLASH accelerator are reported.

Modern physics laboratories require very large amounts of cryogenics fluids. Often the fluid must be transported along the tunnels or stored in the underground cavities. Currently, there are several ongoing projects where very large amounts of liquid (LAr) or gaseous Argon (GAr) will be used. One of them is a part of the LAGUNA-LBNO (Large Apparatus studying Grand Unification and Neutrino Astrophysics and Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillations) design study, where the GLACIER (Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging ExpeRiment) neutrino detector is considered. In order for it to properly operate, it requires the appropriate environment (it must be located in a deep, underground cavity) and approximately 150,000 tons of LAr. This huge amount of cryogen must be transported down the tunnel in cryogenic-tank trucks or by using pipelines. In both cases, there is a risk of uncontrolled LAr or GAr leakage into the tunnel, which can be dangerous for people, as well as during the installation itself. The presented work focuses on the risk analysis and consequences of unexpected Argon leakage into the tunnel. It shows the mathematical model and numerical tools which can serve to model the Argon cloud propagation, temperature distribution, and Oxygen deficiency. The results present a series of numerical experiments for Argon leakage into the tunnel with different external conditions (e.g. different ventilation regimes).

The sizing of cryogenic safety relief devices requires detailed knowledge on the evolution of the pressure increase in cryostats following hazardous incidents such as the venting of the insulating vacuum with atmospheric air. Based on typical design and operating conditions in liquid helium cryostats, the new test facility PICARD, which stands for Pressure Increase in Cryostats and Analysis of Relief Devices, has been constructed. The vacuum-insulated test stand has a cryogenic liquid volume of 100 liters and a nominal design pressure of 16 bar(g). This allows a broad range of experimental conditions with cryogenic fluids. In case of helium, mass flow rates through safety valves and rupture disks up to about 4kg/s can be measured. Beside flow rate measurements under various conditions (venting diameter, insulation, working fluid, liquid level, set pressure), the test stand will be used for studies on the impact of two-phase flow and for the measurement of flow coefficients of safety devices at low temperature. This paper describes the operating range, layout and instrumentation of the test stand and presents the status of the commissioning phase.

Helium inventory in big cryogenic systems may be of the order of hundred tons. During the warm up of the machine the helium has to be stored in warm pressurized tanks. A potential rupture of the tank may create a danger to adjacent objects. In order to formulate recommendations concerning storage of compressed gases in close vicinity of nuclear installations, a thermodynamic model of physical blast has been formulated. The model has been experimentally verified in a laboratory scale test rig. To simulate rupture of compressed gas storage tanks, plastic tanks have been used. Scaling of the results to real cases like ITER compressed gas inventory requires good understanding of potential rupture of high volume gas storage tanks. Numerical model of tanks rupture have been elaborated and verified against experimental results. The model allows scaling of thermodynamic simplified description to real gas storage installations.

Microgravity experiments of He II boiling were carried out using a drop tower. The process of bubble shrinking in He II in microgravity was observed by a high speed camera. The time duration of the microgravity environment less than 1 mg was about 1.3 sec. First, a large spherical bubble of about 10 mm in diameter was created by a short wire heater (Diameter 0.05 x Length 2.82 mm) for a heating time of 0.4 sec. The subsequent bubble shrinking was visualized after the heater was switched off. The time variation of the volume of bubble was estimated by image analysis. The shrinking speed of bubble was calculated from these time variation data. The shrinking speed depends on the heat flux across the liquid-vapor interface. It is found that the heat flux across the interface in microgravity can be explained by the kinetic theory with a pressure difference due to surface tension.

Oscillating Superleak Transducers (OSTs) can be used to localize quenches of superconducting radio-frequency cavities. Local hot spots at the cavity surface initiate temperature waves in the surrounding superfluid helium that acts as cooling fluid at typical temperatures in the range of 1.6 K to 2 K. The temperature wave is characterised by the properties of superfluid helium such as the second sound velocity. For high heat load densities second sound velocities greater than the standard literature values are observed. This fast propagation has been verified in dedicated small scale experiments. Resistors were used to simulate the quench spots under controlled conditions. The three dimensional propagation of second sound is linked to OST signals. The aim of this study is to improve the understanding of the OST signal especially the incident angle dependency. The characterised OSTs are used as a tool for quench localisation on a real size cavity. Their sensitivity as well as the time resolution was proven to be superior to temperature sensors glued to the surface of the cavity.

We studied boiling phenomena in He II based on the flow velocity measurement data by using a PIV (Particle Image Velocimeter). Noisy and silent film boiling modes together with non-boiling state were generated on/around a horizontal planar or a cylindrical heater. For PIV tracer particles, we used H₂-D₂ solid particles that were neutrally buoyant in He II. Video images showing the development and collapse of vapour bubble or film and the motions of tracer particles were PIV-analysed. We found the PIV velocity field was composed of AC and DC velocity components of the normal fluid. The AC component follows the dynamic behaviour of vapour, and the DC results primarily from the thermal counter flow and secondarily is induced by the asymmetric vapour bubble motion. We also investigated unsteady velocity component. The objective of this series of study is to compare the characteristic features of the flow field of He II film boiling states and peculiar He I boiling state in He II and to make clear the difference in the heat transfer performance of each boiling mode.

The cryogenic design of the next generation of superconducting accelerator magnets depends on our ability to simulate the helium heat and mass transfer in the internal structure of these magnets. For that matter accurate tools must be developed such as numerical codes integrating the thermodynamic behavior and phase transition in superfluid helium. We have implemented in 2D and 3D, the He II conservation equations in Fluent© CFD software corresponding to a simplified two-fluid model. It consists of a conventional continuity equation, a modified momentum equation for the total fluid and an energy equation including the Gorter-Mellink internal convection term modeling the turbulence regime. The code is mainly suited to simulate transient and steady-state flow configurations. In addition, a new method has been developed to simulate the He II / He I transition in 2D based on a modified Volume Of Fluid method (VOF). The interface between the two states of liquid helium has been locally recreated in the corresponding cells to properly mimic the second order phase transition (no latent heat). Both steady and unsteady numerical simulation have been performed and compared with different experimental results.

A precooled Joule-Thomson (J-T) cooler refrigerates at liquid helium temperature. Its third stage heat exchanger works below 20 K. Hot fluid cannot be sufficiently cooled due to nonidealism of the heat exchanger and helium-4 properties. In a J-T cycle of low pressure ratio, the heat exchanger with bypass and throttling improves the refrigeration capacity. Bypass and throttling reduces the temperature difference and entropy generation within the heat exchanger.

Cryogenic temperatures are obtained with Joule-Thomson (J-T) cryocoolers in an easier way as compared to other cooling techniques. Miniature J-T cryocoolers are often employed for cooling of infrared sensors, cryoprobes, biological samples, etc. A typical miniature J-T cryocooler consists of a storage reservoir/compressor providing the high pressure gas, a finned tube recuperative heat exchanger, an expansion valve/orifice, and the cold end. The recuperative heat exchanger is indispensable for attaining cryogenic temperatures. The geometrical parameters and the operating conditions of the heat exchanger drastically affect the cryocooler performance in terms of cool down time and cooling effect. In the literature, the numerical models for the finned recuperative heat exchanger have neglected the distributed J-T effect. The distributed J-T effect accounts for the changes in enthalpy of the fluid due to changes of pressure in addition to those due to changes of temperature. The objective of this work is to explore the distributed J-T effect and study the performance of a miniature J-T cryocooler with and without the distributed J-T effect. A one dimensional transient model is employed for the numerical analysis of the cryocooler. Cases with different operating conditions are worked out with argon and nitrogen as working fluids.

Sorption-based Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocoolers usually operate with pure gases. A sorption-based compressor has many benefits; however, it is limited by the pressure ratios it can provide. Using a mixed-refrigerant (MR) instead of a pure refrigerant in JT cryocoolers allows working at much lower pressure ratios. Therefore, it is attractive using MRs in sorption- based cryocoolers in order to reduce one of its main limitations. The adsorption of mixed gases is usually investigated under steady-state conditions, mainly for storage and separation processes. However, the process in a sorption compressor goes through various temperatures, pressures and adsorption concentrations; therefore, it differs from the common mixed gases adsorption applications. In order to simulate the sorption process in a compressor a numerical analysis for mixed gases is developed, based on pure gas adsorption characteristics. The pure gas adsorption properties have been measured for four gases (nitrogen, methane, ethane, and propane) with Norit-RB2 activated carbon. A single adsorption model is desired to describe the adsorption of all four gases. This model is further developed to a mixed-gas adsorption model. In future work more adsorbents will be tested using these four gases and the adsorption model will be verified against experimental results of mixed-gas adsorption measurements.

METIS, the Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph, is one of the proposed instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) that will cover the thermal/mid-infrared wavelength range from 3-14 m. Its detectors and optics require cryogenic cooling at four temperature levels, 8 K for the N-band detectors, 25 K for the N-band imager, 40 K for the L/M-band detectors and 70 K for the optics. To provide cooling below 70 K, a vibration-free cooling technology based on sorption coolers is developed at the University of Twente in collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands B.V. (former Dutch Space B.V.). We propose a sorption-based cooler with three cascaded Joule-Thomson (JT) coolers of which the sorption compressors are all heat sunk at the 70 K platform. A helium-operated cooler is used to obtain the 8 K level with a cooling power of 0.4 W. Here, three pre-cooling stages are used at 40 K, 25 K and 15 K. The latter two levels are provided by a hydrogen-based cooler, whereas the 40 K level is realized by a neon-based sorption cooler. To validate the designs, three demonstrators were built and tested: 1. Full-scale 8 K helium JT cold stage; 2. Scaled helium sorption compressor; 3. Scaled 40 K neon sorption JT cooler. In this paper, we present the design of these demos. We discuss the experiment results obtained so far, the lessons that were learned from these demos and the future development towards a real METIS cooler.

In this article, we present a new Simulink library of cryogenics components (such as valve, phase separator, mixer, heat exchanger...) to assemble to generate model-based control schemes. Every component is described by its algebraic or differential equation and can be assembled with others to build the dynamical model of a complete refrigerator or the model of a subpart of it. The obtained model can be used to automatically design advanced model based control scheme. It also can be used to design a model based PI controller. Advanced control schemes aim to replace classical user experience designed approaches usually based on many independent PI controllers. This is particularly useful in the case where cryoplants are submitted to large pulsed thermal loads, expected to take place in future fusion reactors such as those expected in the cryogenic cooling systems of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) or the Japan Torus-60 Super Advanced Fusion Experiment (JT- 60SA). The paper gives the example of the generation of the dynamical model of the 400W@1.8K refrigerator and shows how to build a Constrained Model Predictive Control for it. Based on the scheme, experimental results will be given. This work is being supported by the French national research agency (ANR) through the ANR-13-SEED-0005 CRYOGREEN program.

In the development of a helium refrigerator, the control of load temperature stability is an important requirement. We usually use multistage control strategies to achieve the precise control of it. Each level has its strict control logic. PID controllers are the core control module in the process. Therefore, a research of its principle and parameters' setting occupies an important position in the development work. This paper detailed describes the PID control principle used in a large scale helium refrigerator of 10kW@20K, as well as several improvements on PID parameters' setting, by using simulations and experiments in combination. The temperature is eventually controlled more precise.

In order to produce pulsed electron beam with the energy of 17.5 GeV, the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) linear accelerator is under construction. The XFEL accelerator will contain the linear accelerator (linac) and the injector. The XFEL cryogenic distribution system supplies the linac and the injector with cooling helium. The cryogenic supply of the linac is separated in parallel cryogenic sections called 'strings'.

Operation of the XFEL cryogenic distribution system is under the process control system for Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS). A complementary component of EPICS is the Open Source software suit CSS (Control System Studio) providing an integrated engineering, maintenance and operating tools for EPICS as well as human machine interface. Cryogenic instrumentation used for operation and diagnostic is connected to PROFIBUS. More than 300 PROFIBUS nodes control the XFEL cryogenic system. DESY introduced the monitoring system based on Field Device Tool (FDT). FDT framework contains Data Tool Management (DTM) applications to examine the correct installation and configuration of all PROFIBUS nodes in real time.

This paper describes the control system for the XFEL cryogenic distribution system including all steps from engineering to the pre-service tests.

The Muon Campus (MC) is able to measure Muon g-2 with high precision and comparing its value to the theoretical prediction. The MC has four 300 KW screw compressors and four liquid helium refrigerators. The centerpiece of the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab is a large, 50-foot-diameter superconducting muon storage ring. This one-of-a-kind ring, made of steel, aluminum and superconducting wire, was built for the previous g-2 experiment at Brookhaven. Because each subsystem has to be far away from each other and be placed in the distant location, Siemens Process Control System PCS7-400, Automation Direct DL205 & DL05 PLC, Synoptic and Fermilab ACNET HMI are the ideal choices as the MC g-2 cryogenic distribution real-time and on-Line remote control system.

This paper presents a method which has been successfully used by many Fermilab distribution cryogenic real-time and On-Line remote control systems.

Film boiling heat transfer coefficients in liquid hydrogen were measured for the heater surface superheats to 300 K under pressures from 0.4 to 1.1 MPa, liquid subcoolings to 11 K and flow velocities to 8 m/s. Two test wires were both 1.2 mm in diameter, 120 mm and 200 mm in lengths and were made of PtCo alloy. The test wires were located on the center of 8 mm and 5 mm diameter conduits of FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastics). Furthermore film boiling heat transfer coefficients in liquid nitrogen were measured only for the 200 mm long wire. The film boiling heat transfer coefficients are higher for higher pressure, higher subcooling, and higher flow velocity. The experimental data were compared with a conventional equation for forced flow film boiling in a wide channel. The data for the 8 mm diameter conduit were about 1.7 times and those for the 5 mm conduit were about 1.9 times higher than the predicted values by the equation. A new equation was presented modifying the conventional equation based on the liquid hydrogen and liquid nitrogen data. The experimental data were expressed well by the equation.

Forced flow heat transfer of hydrogen from a round wire in a vertically-mounted pipe was measured at pressure of 1.5 MPa and temperature of 21 K by applying electrical current to give an exponential heat input (Q=Q₀exp(t/τ),τ=10 s) to the round wire. Two round wire heaters, which were made of Pt-Co alloy, with a diameter of 1.2 mm and lengths of 54.5 and 120 mm were set on the central axis of a flow channel made of FRP with inner diameter of 5.7 and 8.0 mm, respectively. Supercritical hydrogen flowed upward in the channel. Flow velocities were varied from 1 to 12.5 m/s. The heat transfer coefficients of supercritical hydrogen were compared with the conventional correlation presented by Shiotsu et al. It was confirmed that the heat transfer coefficients for a round wire were expressed well by the correlation using the hydraulic equivalent diameter.

Transient heat transfers from Pt-Co wire heaters inserted into vertically-mounted pipes, through which forced flow subcooled liquid hydrogen was passed, were measured by increasing the exponential heat input with various time periods at a pressure of 0.7 MPa and inlet temperature of 21 K. The flow velocities ranged from 0.3 to 7 m/s. The Pt-Co wire heaters had a diameter of 1.2 mm and lengths of 60 mm, 120 mm and 200 mm and were inserted into the pipes with diameters of 5.7mm, 8.0 mm, and 5.0 mm, respectively, which were made of Fiber reinforced plastic due to thermal insulation. With increase in the heat flux to the onset of nucleate boiling, surface temperature increased along the curve predicted by the Dittus-Boelter correlation for longer period, where it can be almost regarded as steady-state. For shorter period, the heat transfer became higher than the Dittus-Boelter correlation. In nucleate boiling regime, the heat flux steeply increased to the transient CHF (critical heat flux) heat flux, which became higher for shorter period. Effect of flow velocity, period, and heated geometry on the transient CHF heat flux was clarified.

Recently, a new, compact Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocooler for cooling superconducting single photon detectors (SSPD) has been developed at Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (SHI) [1, 2]. The objective is to reduce the total height of the expander by 33% relative to the existing RDK-101 GM expander and to reduce the total volume of the compressor unit by 50% relative to the existing CNA-11 compressor. In addition, considering the targeted cooling application, we set the design temperature targets of the first and the second stages to 1 W and 20 mW of heat load at 60 K and 2.3 K, respectively. Although optimization of the internal components is one way to miniaturize the volume of the compressor unit, major design changes are required because the volume of the adsorber and the oil separator is almost the same as the volume of the compressor capsule. Thus, one approach is to develop a non-lubricated compressor, such as a valved linear compressor. An experimental unit of a valved linear compressor was designed and built, and preliminary experiments were conducted. Under no-load condition, a low temperature of 2.19 K has been achieved. With 1 W and 14 mW heat load, the temperature is 48 K at the first stage and 2.3 K at the second stage, with an input power of about 1.2 KW. The detailed experimental results will be discussed in this paper.

Cryogenic turboexpanders are an essential part of liquefaction and refrigeration plants. The thermodynamic efficiency of these plants depends upon the efficiency of the turboexpander, which is the main cold generating component of these plants, and therefore, they should be designed for high thermodynamic efficiencies. Balje's [1] n_sd_schart, which is a contour of isentropic efficiencies plotted against specific speed and specific diameter, is commonly used for the preliminary design of cryogenic turboexpanders. But, these charts were developed based on calculations for a specific heat ratio (γ) of 1.4, and studies show that care should be taken while implementing the same for gases which have a higher γ of 1.67. Hence there is a need to investigate the extent of applicability of n_sd_s diagram in designing expansion turbines for higher specific heat ratios. In this paper, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of cryogenic turboexpanders was carried out using Ansys CFX®. The turboexpanders were designed based on the methodologies prescribed by Kun and Sentz [2] following the n_sd_s diagram of Balje and Hasselgruber's technique for generating blade profile. The computational results of the two cases were analysed to investigate the applicability of Balje's n_sd_s diagram for the design of turboexpanders for refrigeration and liquefaction cycles.

For low cost, high thrust, space missions with high specific impulse and high reliability, inert weight needs to be minimized and thereby increasing the delivered payload. Turbopump feed system for a liquid propellant rocket engine (LPRE) has the highest power to weight ratio. Turbopumps are primarily equipped with an axial flow inducer to achieve the high angular velocity and low suction pressure in combination with increased system reliability. Performance of the turbopump strongly depends on the performance of the inducer. Thus, for designing a LPRE turbopump, demands optimization of the inducer geometry based on the performance of different off-design operating regimes. In this paper, steady-state CFD analysis of the inducer of a liquid oxygen (LOX) axial pump used as a booster pump for an oxygen rich staged combustion cycle rocket engine has been presented using ANSYS^® CFX. Attempts have been made to obtain the performance characteristic curves for the LOX pump inducer. The formalism has been used to predict the performance of the inducer for the throttling range varying from 80% to 113% of nominal thrust and for the different rotational velocities from 4500 to 7500 rpm. The results have been analysed to determine the region of cavitation inception for different inlet pressure.

Turn-key superconducting magnet systems are increasingly conduction-cooled by cryogenerators. Gifford-McMahon systems are reliable and cost effective, but require annual maintenance. A usual method of servicing is replacing the cold head of the cryocooler. It requires a complicated design with a vacuum chamber separate from the main vacuum of the cryostat, as well as detachable thermal contacts, which add to the thermal resistance of the cooling heat path and reduce the reliability of the system. We present a rapid warm-up scheme to bring the cold head body, which remains rigidly affixed to the cold mass, to room temperature, while the cold mass remains at cryogenic temperature. Electric heaters thermally attached to the cold head stations are used to warm them up, which permits conventional cold head maintenance with no danger of contaminating the inside of the cold head body. This scheme increases the efficiency of the cooling system, facilitates annual maintenance of the cold head and returning the magnet to operation in a short time.

A pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) can not achieve Carnot efficiency because the expansion work must be dissipated at the warm end of the pulse tube. How to recover this amount of dissipated work is a key for improving the PTC efficiency. A cascade PTC consists of PTCs those are staged by transmission tubes in between, these can be a two-stage or even more stages, each stage is driven by the recovered work from the last stage by a well-designed long transmission tube. It is shown that the more stages it has, the closer the efficiency will approach the Carnot efficiency. A two-stage cascade pulse tube cooler consisted of a primary and a secondary stage working at 233 K is designed, fabricated and tested in our lab. Experimental results show that the efficiency is improved by 33% compared with the single stage PTC.

A two-stage pulse tube refrigerator with step displacer is discussed by numerical simulation. There is an optimum swept volume ratio of displacer over compressor and optimum phase angle difference between the displacer and the compressor. The volume of connecting tube between the pulse tube and the displacer can be used as a parameter to separate the mixing of the phase shifter effect and work distribution effect of the step displacer.

The performance of the Stirling type pulse tube cryocooler depends strongly on the design of the inertance tube. The phase angle produced by the inertance tube is very sensitive to its diameter and length. Recent developments are reported here regarding an adjustable inertance device that can be adjusted in real time. The inertance passage is formed by the root of a concentric cylindrical threaded device. The depth of the threads installed on the outer screw varies. In this device, the outer screw can be rotated four and half turns. At the zero turn position the length of the passage is 1.74 m and the hydraulic diameter is 7 mm. By rotating the outer screw, the inner threaded rod engages with additional, larger depth threads. Therefore, at its upper limit of rotation, the inertance passage includes both the original 1.74 m length with 7mm hydraulic diameter plus an additional 1.86 m length with a 10 mm hydraulic diameter. A phase shift change of 24° has been experimentally measured by changing the position of outer screw while operating the device at a frequency of 60 Hz. This phase angle shift is less than the theoretically predicted value due to the presence of a relatively large leak through the thread clearance. Therefore, the distributed component model of the inertance tube was modified to account for the leak path causing the data to agree with the model. Further, the application of vacuum grease to the threads causes the performance of the device to improve substantially.

To expand CERN testing capability to superconducting devices that cannot be installed in existing test facilities because of their size and/or mass, CERN is building a new cryogenic test facility for large and heavy devices. The first devices to be tested in the facility will be the S-FRS superconducting magnets for the FAIR project that is currently under construction at the GSI Research Center in Darmstadt, Germany. The facility will include a renovated cold box with 1.2 kW at 4.5 K equivalent power with its compression system, two independent 15 kW liquid nitrogen precooling and warm-up units, as well as a dedicated cryogenic distribution system providing cooling power to three independent test benches. The article presents the main input parameters and constraints used to define the cryogenic system and its infrastructure. The chosen layout and configuration of the facility is presented and the characteristics of the main components are described.

In the last two decades, HTS cables have been successfully demonstrated around the world, preparing HTS power cables for a full commercial introduction. Among the demonstration projects, circulating subcooled liquid nitrogen to maintain the HTS cable at operating temperature is a widely adopted approach. In this approach, the cooling systems are absolutely critical to the successful operation of the HTS cables. This paper describes the progress and status of the cryogenic refrigeration system designed and manufactured for project Hydra, which is a project jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, American Superconductor and Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. American Superconductor is leading the team supported by Con Edison, Ultera, Altran Solutions, and DH Industries. The cable is an inherently fault current limiting HTS cable, approximately 200 m long and designed to carry 96 MVA at a distribution level voltage of 13.8 kV. The cable will be installed and energized near New York City. The refrigeration system was designed and manufactured by DH Industries. This paper provides details on the successful factory acceptance testing completed in November 2014.

Recently, CEA Grenoble SBT has designed, built and tested three liquid helium facilities dedicated to turbulence studies. All these experiments can operate either in HeI or HeII within the same campaign. The three facilities utilize moving parts inside liquid helium. The SHREK experiment is a von Kármán swirling flow between 0.72 m diameter counterrotating disks equipped with blades. The HeJet facility is used to produce a liquid helium free jet inside a 0.200 m I.D., 0.47 m length stainless steel cylindrical testing chamber. The OGRES experiment consists of an optical cryostat equipped with a particle injection device and an oscillating grid. We detail specific techniques employed to accommodate these stringent specifications. Solutions for operating these facilities without bubbles nor boiling/cavitation are described. Control parameters as well as Reynolds number and temperature ranges are given.

The cryocooler technology is advancing in different ways at a considerable pace to explore cooler applications in diversified field. Stirling cryocoolers are capable to satisfy the contemporary requirements of a low-capacity cooler. A compact mechanism that can drive Stirling cryocooler with larger stroke and thus enhance the cooler performance is the need of the hour. The increase in the stroke will lead to a higher volumetric efficiency. Hence, a cryocooler with larger stroke will experience higher mass flow rate of the working fluid, thereby increasing its ideal cooling capacity. The novel compact drive mechanism that fulfils this need is a promising option in this regards. It is capable of operating more than one cryocoolers of different Stirling configurations simultaneously. This arrangement makes it possible to compare different Stirling cryocoolers on the basis of pressure ratio obtained experimentally. The preliminary experimental results obtained in this regard are presented here. The initial experimentation is carried out on two Alpha Stirling units driven simultaneously by the novel compact mechanism. The pressure ratio obtained during the initial stages is 1.3538, which is enhanced to 1.417 by connecting the rear volumes of the compressor pistons to each other. The fact that annular leak across the expander pistons due to high pressure ratio affects the cryocooler performance, generates the need to separate the expansion space from bounce space. This introduces a Gamma configuration that is operated simultaneously with one of the existing Alpha units by same drive mechanism and having identical compression space volume. The results obtained for pressure ratio in both these units prove the concept that cooling capacity of Alpha configuration exceeds that of Gamma under similar operating conditions. This has been observed at 14 bar and 20 bar charge pressures during the preliminary experimentation. These results are presented in this paper. Thus, the theoretical predictions regarding pressure ratio and hence the cooling capacity of Alpha and Gamma configurations for low-capacity units are confirmed experimentally in the present work.

We have developed a cryogen recycler using a 4 K pulse tube cryocooler for recondensing helium and nitrogen in a NMR magnet. The liquid helium cooled NMR magnet has a liquid nitrogen cooled radiation shield. The magnet boils off 0.84 L/day of liquid helium and 6 L/day of liquid nitrogen. The recycler is designed with both a liquid helium return tube and a liquid nitrogen return tube, which are inserted into the fill ports of liquid helium and nitrogen. Therefore the recycler forms closed loops for helium and nitrogen. A two-stage 4 K pulse tube cryocooler, Cryomech model PT407 (0.7W at 4.2 K), is selected for the recycler. The recycler was first tested with a Cryomech's test cryostat and resulted in the capacities of recondensing 8.2 L/day of nitrogen and liquefying 4 L/day of helium from room temperature gas. The recycler has been installed in the NMR magnet at University of Sydney since August, 2014 and continuously maintains a zero boil off for helium and nitrogen.

Dynamic visualization is of great significance in the research of flow conditions and mass transfer process of cryogenic fluids. In this paper, two common ways to measure the concentration of cryogenic fluids are introduced and compared. To improve the real-time monitoring of cryogenic fluid, a non-contact dynamic optical measurement system using laser interferometry is designed, which is sensitive to subtle changes of fluid concentration. A precise and dynamic interference pattern can be obtained using this system. Two-dimensional concentration distribution of the fluid can be calculated from the interference pattern. Detailed calculation process is presented in the paper.

A thermal Energy Storage Unit (ESU) using liquid hydrogen has been developed as a solution for absorbing the heat peaks released by the recycling phase of a 300 mK cooler that is a part of the cryogenic chain of one of ESA's new satellites for science missions. This device is capable of storing 400 J of thermal energy between 15 and 16 K by taking advantage of the liquid-to-vapor latent heat of hydrogen in a closed system. This paper describes some results obtained with the development model of the ESU under different configurations and using two types of hydrogen storage: a large expansion volume for ground testing and a much more compact unit, suitable for space applications and that can comply with ESA's mass budget.