• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.551-554
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• 2006

Inhibition of propellant temperature rising in liquid propulsion rocket using cryogenic fluid as a propellant is very important. Especially propellant temperature rising during stand-by after filling and pre-pressurization can bring into cavitation in turbo-pump. One of the method preventing propellant temperature rising in cryogenic feeding system is recirculating propellant through the loop composed of propellant tank, feed pipe, and recirculation pipe. The circulation of propellant is promoted through gas-lift effect by gas injection to lower position of recirculation pipe. In this experiment liquid oxygen and gas helium is used as propellant and injection gas. Under atmospheric and pressurized tank ullage condition, helium injection flow-rate is varied to observe the variation of recirculating flow-rate and propellant temperature in the feed pipe. There is appropriate helium injection flow-rate for gas-lift recirculation system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.82-89
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• 2012

The temperature of cryogenic propellant in the propellant tank increases during flight due to heat input from surroundings. The propellant which temperature rises up over the required condition of turbo-pump remains as unusable propellant at the end of flight. In this paper the estimation method of the heat transfer coefficient at the upper layer of cryogenic propellant was presented. The heat transfer mode at the propellant upper layer was considered as conduction. Temperature distributions near propellant surface obtained from heat transfer coefficient were compared with test data to show the possibility of this method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.709-716
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• 2011

The temperature of cryogenic propellant in the propellant tank increases during flight due to heat input from surroundings. The propellant which temperature rises up over the required condition of turbo-pump remains as unusable propellant at the end of flight. In this paper the estimation method of the heat transfer coefficient at the upper layer of cryogenic propellant was presented. The heat transfer mode at the propellant upper layer was considered as conduction. Temperature distributions near propellant surface obtained from heat transfer coefficient were compared with test data to show the possibility of this method.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2014

For a long-term space mission, filling process of cryogenic liquid propellant is operated on a space vehicle in space. A vent process during transfer and filling of cryogenic propellant is needed to maintain the fuel tank pressure at a safe level due to its volatile characteristic. It is possible that both liquid and vapor phases of the cryogenic propellant are released simultaneously to outer space when the vent process occurs under low gravity environment. As a result, the existing filling process with venting not only accompanies wasting liquid propellant, but also consumes extra fuel to compensate for the unexpected momentum originated from the vent process. No-Vent Fill (NVF) method, a filling procedure without a venting process of cryogenic liquid propellant, is an attractive technology to perform a long-term space mission. In this paper, the preliminary experimental results of the NVF process are described. The experimental set-up consists of a 9-liter cryogenic liquid receiver tank and a supply tank. Liquid nitrogen ($LN_2$) is used to simulate the behavior of cryogenic propellant. The whole situation in the receiver tank during NVF is monitored. The major experimental parameter in the experiment is the mass flow rate of the liquid nitrogen. The experimental results demonstrate that as the mass flow rate is increased, NVF process is conducted successfully. The quality and the inlet temperature of the injected $LN_2$ are affected by the mass flow rate. These parameters determine success of NVF.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.413-418
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• 2008

Flow instability in the rocket turbo pump system can be caused by various reasons such as valve, orifice and venturi, etc. The inception of cavitation, especially in the propellant feeding system, is the primary cause of the mass flow and pressure oscillation due to cyclic formation and depletion of cavitation. Meanwhile, the main propellant in liquid rocket engine is the cryogenic one, which is very sensitive to temperature variation, and the variation of propellant properties caused by thermodynamic effect should be accounted for in the flow analysis. The present study focuses on the formation of cryogenic cavitations by adopting IDM model suggested by Shyy and coworkers. Also, the flow instability was investigated in the downstream of orifice by using a developed numerical code. Calculation results show that cryogenic cavitations can lead to flow instability resulting in mass flow fluctuations due to pressure oscillations. And the prediction of cavitations in cryogenic fluid is of vital importance in designing feeding system of LRE.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.64-69
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• 2014

Measuring an exact amount of remaining cryogenic liquid propellant under microgravity condition is one of the important issues of rocket vehicle. A Pressure-Volume-Temperature (PVT) gauging method is attractive due to its minimal additional hardware and simple gauging process. In this paper, PVT gauging method using liquid nitrogen is investigated under microgravity condition with parabolic flight. A 9.2 litre metal cryogenic liquid storage tank containing approximately 30% of liquid nitrogen is pressurized by ambient temperature helium gas. During microgravity condition, the inside of the liquid tank becomes near-isothermal condition within 1 K difference indicated by 6 silicon diode sensors vertically distributed in the middle of the liquid tank. Helium injection with higher mass flow rate after 10 seconds of the waiting time results in successful measurements of helium partial pressure in the tank. Average liquid volume measurement error is within 11% of the whole liquid tank volume and standard deviation of errors is 11.9. As a result, the applicability of PVT gauging method to liquid propellant stored in space is proven with good measurement accuracy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

In this paper, a calculation method of the thermodynamic parameters of cryogenic propellant is proposed when a cryogenic propellant tank is pressurized by gaseous helium(GHe) bubbling. Temperature of cryogenic propellant and mass of dissolved GHe into propellant were analyzed at the various operation of pressurization of tile liquid oxygen(LOX) and hydrogen($LH_2$) tank using helium bubbling. It was evaluated how the GHe bubbling influences to the thermodynamic parameters of LOX and $LH_2$ with results of the analysis. With the proposed calculation method, It will be able to confirm the feasibility of GHe bubbling as a pressurization system of cryogenic propellant tank and to optimize the pressurization system using GHe bubbling.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.133-144
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• 2005

Enhancements to propellants provide an opportunity to either increase performance of an existing launch vehicle. One of the promising technologies is the use of densified cryogenic propellants such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The main advantage of densified cryogenic propellants is the increase in propellant mass fraction. Increased propellant mass fraction means increased payload mass to orbit. This paper reviews the basic principles and current technology trends for cryogenic propellant densification technologies. Several promising densification methods are presented focused on liquid oxygen densification. Engine and vehicle performance analyses are also presented to quantify the potential performance benefits of densified propellants in an overall system. And suggestions of application scheme for satellite launch vehicle is made.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• v.y2005m4
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• pp.168-175
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• 2005

The pressurization system in a liquid rocket propulsion system provides a controlled gas pressure in the ullage space of the vehicle propellant tanks. It is advantage to employ a hot gas heat exchanger in the pressurization system to increase the specific volume of the pressurant and thereby reduce over-all system weight. A significant improvement in pressurization-system performance can be achieved, particularly in a cryogenic system, where the gas supply is stored inside the cryogenic propellant tank. The temperature characteristic of cryogenic pressurant is very important to develop some components in pressurization system. Numerical modeling and Test data were studied using SINDA/FLUINT Program and PTF(Propellant-feeding Test Facility).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.248-252
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• 2007

This article is related to the possibility for continuous operation of a liquid rocket engine when a portion of cryogenic propellant in the pipeline is vaporized. As a result of experimental studies imitating the formation of vapors in the flow, we confirmed the possibility of full gas-phase condensation in case temperature of cryogenic liquid is lower than it's saturation temperature in the pipeline. Empirical equation allowing to calculate a nonequilibrium condensation region in the steady flow of cryogenic liquid was obtained as a non-dimensional form and the fields of practical application were suggested.