A highly reliable cryogenic mixing pump with no mechanical moving parts

Cryogenic Engineering Conference 2017

材料科学;物理学

Chen, W.^1 ; Niblick, A.L.^1

Creare LLC, 16 Great Hollow Road, Hanover

NH

03755, United States^1

关键词: Cryogenic propellant;    Design considerations;    Magnetocaloric materials;    Mechanical moving parts;    Mechanical pump;    Operating mechanism;    Pumping chambers;    Thermodynamic process;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/278/1/012001/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/278/1/012001

学科分类：材料科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

This paper presents the design and preliminary test results of a novel cryogenic mixing pump based on magnetocaloric effect. The mixing pump is developed to enable long-term cryogenic propellant storage in space by preventing thermal stratification of cryogens in storage tanks. The mixing pump uses an innovative thermodynamic process to generate fluid jets to promote fluid mixing, eliminating the need for mechanical pumps. Its innovative mechanism uses a solid magnetocaloric material to alternately vaporize and condense the cryogen in the pumping chamber, and thus control the volume of the fluid inside the pumping chamber to produce pumping action. The pump is capable of self-priming and can generate a high-pressure rise. This paper discusses operating mechanism and design consideration of the pump, introduces the configuration of a brassboard cryogenic pump, and presents the preliminary test results of the pump with liquid nitrogen.