Thermal Analysis and Investigations on Design Aspects of Aluminum Alloy Based

Liquid Helium Dewar

V. B. Andhale1,2, M.V.Tendolkar1, S.H.Kulkarni1, K.V.Srinivasan2

1
Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, India
2
Tata Institute of Fundamental research, India
andhale.vilas@gmail.com

The present work deals with the analytical study of aluminum alloy based liquid helium
Dewar vessel. The work is carried out by estimating the heat leak components due to
various origins such as Heat leak through the neck tube by apparent solid conduction and
fluid conduction that could be determined from the balance of the heat inputs to the liquid
and vapor columns, funneling radiation heat leak from the neck top flange, radiation heat
leak from the radiation shield, and heat leak by residual gas conduction in the vacuum
space etc. Numerical approach is employed by applying energy balance equations and
the computer program is developed using Scilab® 5.5.2. The mechanical design aspects
of Dewar vessel is done by using ASME boilers and pressure vessel code. The
dimensions of the vessel are estimated by applying mechanical design constraints and it
is further analyzed for effective thermal design. Further, the shield positions along the
neck of the Dewar vessel are finalized by applying the thermal design approach.

Key words: Numerical modeling, Aluminum alloy, Superinsulation

INTRODUCTION by different modes of heat transfer may not be

Various authors have worked since last few
decades towards reducing the weight of a
Dewar by using the cooling capacity of helium
vapours rather than liquid nitrogen cooling [1-
4]. In recent past, the focus is towards
reducing the weight by changing the material
of construction [5-7]. Dewar is the
predominant component of any liquefaction
system. Optimum design of Dewar is critical
because of simultaneous heat in-leaks
through different modes of heat transfer
through the super insulation and Dewar neck,
and very low latent heat of liquid Helium. Heat
in-leak to cryostats, Dewar, and through multi-
layer super insulation is analyzed
experimentally and numerically by various
authors [1-4]. Exact solution for equations
developed towards the heat in-leaks to Dewar
possible. Therefore in the present work,
numerical modelling and computer program
with simplifying assumptions are employed.
MATERIAL SELECTION
Dewar vessels for storage of cryogenic
liquids are most commonly used in various
industrial and research applications.
Presently, Dewar vessels are fabricated
mostly using stainless steel. However, there
are inherent associated limitations such as
increased weight and heat wastage in initial
phase of cooling. Accordingly, material
selection is based on thermal conductivity,
Modulus of elasticity, Density, ultimate tensile
strength, manufacturability and cost. As such,
6061-T6 serves as one of the prominent
candidates for replacement of Dewar inner as
well as outer vessel. Temperature over the control volume
In order to maintain the lowest heat in- is constant for given time period.
leak through apparent solid conduction, Emissivity is assumed constant for
material is chosen based on thermal analysis at 0.03 [10-11].
conductivity, keeping ultimate tensile strength Absorption of radiation occurs at inner
constant. Accordingly, glass fibre (G-10) is the vessel wall. Hence, funnelling
optimized material for neck element amongst possesses minimum value, which is
the available [8]. negligible [12].
Constant heat flux condition and fully
Table 1 Dewar vessel materials properties developed laminar flow of helium
Material Yield Tensile Modulus Density vapour through neck are
strength strength (GPa)
3
(kg/m ) approximated.
(MPa) (MPa) Curve fit equations are developed for
temperature dependent properties of He such
SS304 205 515 200 8030 as thermal conductivity and specific heat
6061-T6 240 290 70 2700 having error within ±0.76% and ±0.042%
respectively [13], whereas that for neck is
6063-T5 214 241 70 2710
developed using [8].
7075-T5 95 220 70 2810
1100-H14 97 110 89 2780
Heat Balance Equations

Figure 1 Thermal Conductivity of Neck

Material [8]

THERMAL DESIGN
Figure 2 Heat Transfer Model for Neck
As discussed in [1-3], heat in-leak calculations
are not possible by exact solution methods. A Fig 2 shows the schematic of discretization of
numerical model is developed by discretizing neck element for thermal analysis
the neck into number of elements. Finite
Difference Method [1] is employed to solve the For ith element of neck,
heat in-leak calculations and optimize the
shield position. MLI blanket layers are used as Qcond, i 1  Qrad  Qcond,i 1  Qconv (1)
the vapour cooled shields. These are
anchored around the neck by the help of high Applying the appropriate equations for heat
tensile springs. Aluminum conductive tapes flows
are wrapped over neck for uniform distribution
of heat over the neck length. Acn
k n ,i ( t n ,i 1  t n ,i )  Qrad
dy
Assumptions
steady state condition is used for the A
 cn k n ,i 1 ( t n ,i  t n ,i 1 )  hi As ( t n ,i  t f ,i )
analysis dy (2)
 Acn A
k n,1(t n,2  t n,1 )  cf k f,1(t f,2  t f,1 )
Acn dy dy
( t n ,i 1 k n ,i  k n ,i 1 k n ,i 1 )  As hi t f ,i
dy  E1 Ai  mhfg (11)
 Qrad
t n,i 
Acn Convection between helium vapour and
( k n ,i  k n ,i 1 )  As hi
dy (3) Neck[13]
Nu  k
hconv 
For ith element of vapour dh (12)
Nu=4.36,
Qf cond, i 1  Qconv  Qf cond,i 1  Qabs dh = hydraulic diameter
(4)
For super insulation
Acf Heat in-leak through super insulation
k f ,i ( t f ,i 1  t f ,i )  hi As ( t n ,i  t f ,i )  (conduction+radiation) [10]
dy
Acf C r εTR (TH4 .67  TC4 .67 )
k f ,i 1 ( t f ,i  t f ,i 1 )  mCf ,i ( t f ,i  t f ,i 1 ) K eff  N 1.56 Cs (TH  TC ) 
dy (5) N(TH  TC )
(13)
Acf K
( k f ,i t f ,i 1  k f ,i 1 t f ,i 1 E  eff (TH  TC )
dy δ (14)
 hi As t n ,i  mCf ,i t f ,i 1
t f ,i   TR  0.03 , Cs  4.48 1010 , Cr  5.40 10 12
Acf
( k f ,i  k f ,i 1 )  hi As  mCf ,i where,
dy (6) N= no.of layers/cm,
  Superindul ation thickness (mm)
Last element of helium vapour[1] Heat transfer through vaccum alone[11]
(radiation+free molecular conduction)
Qconv,rt  Qconv  Qf,cond,i 1  Qabs (7)
 
hrt Acf (t rt  t f,i )  hi As (t n,i  t f,i )  
heff    (T 2  T 2 )(T  T )
1
Acf 1 1  H C H C
 k f,i 1(t f,i  t f,i 1 )  mCf,i (t f,i  t f,i 1 )    1 
dy   H C 
(8) (15)
 C1 P
Acf
k f,i 1 t f,i 1  hrt t rt Acf  hi As t n,i where,
dy
C1 =2.098, α =accommodation coefficient,
 mCf,i t f,i 1 P = pressure (Pa).
t f,i 
Acf Optimum shield Position
k f,i 1  hrt Acf h i As  mCf,i
dy Shield 1:
(9)
Q rad  ( E2 Ashield  E1 Ai )
(16)

For liquid helium Shield 2 to Shield N

Qn,cond, 1  Qf ,cond ,1  Qrad  Qfg (10) Q rad  ( E j 1  E j ) Ashield

(17)

MECHANICAL DESIGN
Mechanical design is done for 100 liters
capacity considering 10 % ullage space is
done by adopting ASME Boiler and Pressure
Vessel Code, Section II, Part D, and Section
VIII Division-1. Design pressure is selected as
3 bar, since it is adopted in major designs
worldwide [16-17]. Accordingly, it results in
cylindrical inner vessel of 4 mm thickness and
450 mm outer diameter, having overall length
of 717 mm with ASME standard torispherical
head of 5 mm thickness. Similarly outer vessel
is designed with 4 mm thickness having
overall length of 1150 mm and ASME
standard torispherical head of 5 mm
thickness. . Inner neck of 45 mm ID and 55
mm OD having 400 mm length is selected
from available literature [16-17].Thermal
shields are anchored to neck directly at
optimized position by the help of high tensile
spring. 20 layers of MLI blanket are used with
every 5th layers anchored. Superinsulation
considered for the present analysis is DAM/3-
SN with 20 layers/cm as layer density [10].
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Model Validation
The present model is validated by comparing
results reported in [1] with 1 VCS and 50
layers of superinsulation. The analysis is done
for heat in-leak to LHe Dewar, with single
thermal shield having 20 layers between outer
vessel and shield, and 30 layers between
shields and LHe.
Figure 3 Validation of Theoretical Model with
[1]
It is found that the results show
appreciable agreement, and the model could
be further extended for different materials by
replacing the temperature dependent thermal
conductivity of other materials. Fig.3 shows
the results towards validation of the present
model with [1].
Different Cases For SS304 Based Dewar
Three typical cases, based on practical
operating conditions, are considered so as to
obtain more realistic predication from the
theoretical model. These cases are described
below
Table 2 Heat in-leak (liters/day) to LHe
Dewar, with Two Thermal Shields,
20 layers between Outer Vessel and Shield-2,
20 Layers between Shield-2 and Shield-1,
10 Layers between Shield-1 and LHe,
Shield-1 at 150 mm.
Conduction Radiation Total
Case 1 2.9108775 0.6004 3.51127
Case 2 1.4274093 3.50538 4.93279
Case 3 3.1020662 0.7007065 3.8027728
Case1- Always vacuum space provided in
between VCS and MLI blanket & VCS and
outer vessel
Case2- No vacuum space (i.e. temperature of
VCS is same as that of outermost layer of
superinsulation blanket)
Case3- Comparison between heat in-leaks
through VCS with superinsulation and without
superinsulation (i.e. Vacuum alone).
Table 2 describes the results for the 3 cases
as mentioned.
From the above comparison maximum
and minium possible heat in-leak could be
computed which specifies the range and
offers better insight for further design.
Extension of Model for Aluminium
Extending the same model, as discussed in
the previous section, the heat in-leak for
aluminium alloy Dewar is evaluated. Table 3
summarises the results for total heat in-leak to
the Dewar vessel under the conditions
mentioned.
This is attributed to the increased area of
inner vessel. The effect is also coupled with
decrease in conduction due to low thermal
conductivity of neck material.
Table 3 Heat in-leak to LHe Dewar
(litters per day of LHe) with No Intermediate
Thermal Shields,
50 Layers of Superinsulation.
Material by By Total
Conduction Radiation
SS304 0.6808911 29.546359 30.22
6061-T6 0.000182 35.500995 32.501
Fig 4 depicts the comparison of heat in-leak
(litres/day) for aluminium alloy based Dewar
and SS304 based Dewar under the conditions
mentioned, keeping location of shield-1 same.
The comparison is done by changing the
shield-2 position and keeping all other
parameter constant such as inner diameter,
thickness and length of neck. The boundary
conditions are applied for neck and
superinsulation.
It could be cleared observed from Fig.4 that
the total heat in-leak for aluminium alloy
based Dewar is less as compared to that of
SS304 under the given condition.
Figure 4 Comparison of Heat In-leaks for
SS304 and 6061-T6 based Dewar for different
positions of
Shield-2 with 50 Layers of Superinsulation,
having 20 Layers between OV and Shield-2,
20 Layers between Shield-1 and Shield-2,
10 Layers between Shield-1 and Inner Vessel,
Shield-1 at 150 mm.
Both losses, due to conduction and radiation
become strong function of shield position. The
thermal conductivity of G10 (WR) is much
lesser than that of SS304. Accordingly, for a
fixed shield, farther the immediate next one
results in reduced conduction losses and
increased radiation losses.
Figure 5 Heat in-Leak to LHe Dewar, 20
layers of superinsulation having 4 layers as
Thermal shields,4 layers between adjacent
thermal shields,Thermal shield and Inner
Vessel ,Thermal Shield and Outer Vessel.
Shield 1st at 75 mm, 2nd at 150 mm , 3rd at 225
mm
It is further required to extent the same
analogy towards performance predictions with
generalization of shield position. Objective of
this work is to investigate the effect of location
of any particular shield in terms of evaporation
rate, keeping other parameters fixed.
Accordingly, jth shield position needs to be
optimized by keeping other shields fixed and
varying the jth shield between j-1th to j+1th
position. The minimum heat in-leak depicts
the optimum position for the jth shield. Fig.5
reports the investigations of heat in-leak for
6061-T6 aluminium alloy based Dewar by
varying the 4th thermal shield position. For this
analysis, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd thermal shields
are at optimal positions, the 5th location being
that of outer vessel.
CONCLUSIONS
The present work deals with the design and
development of Aluminium alloy based Dewar
vessel. The prime objective behind the same
is reduction in weight and minimum liquid
helium requirement for initial phase cooling. A
numerical model is developed to analyse the
system, and the parameters are optimised
towards satisfying the objectives. The model
is initially validated with the results mentioned
in [1]. However, the case mentioned in [1] is
restricted with certain parameters. Hence, the
model is further extended to explore the range
of minimum and maximum performance that
could be theoretically claimed. Having done it
successfully, the model is finally employed for
aluminium alloy based Dewar. The total heat
in-leak is found to be substantially reduced, as
expected, for aluminium alloy based vessel.
The shield positions are also theoretically
optimised by keeping all other geometrical
and operational parameters constant. In
addition to the thermal design of Dewar
vessel, enough emphasis is given to the
mechanical design as well. It is found to yield
reduction in weight by 60.8 %. The liquid
helium required for initial phase cooling can
be reduced by 45 - 50 % by using 6061-T6
Aluminium alloy based helium Dewar.
Depending upon the shield positions and
number of layers in superinsulation, net
Evaporation rate and number of
superinsulation shields are significantly
reduced compared to SS304 based helium
Dewar.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors would like to acknowledge Mr.
Mukesh Goyal, Scientist ‘G’, Cryogenic
Division, BARC, and Mr. Vijay Arolkar,
Engineer, Lower Temperature Facility, TIFR
for their constant help, support and
encouragement during the discussions
towards theoretical model development.
NOMENCLATURE
Ac cross sectional Area
As surface area of element for Convection
and radiation
Ai surface area of inner vessel
Ashiel surface area of shield
c specific heat of helium vapour
dy height of neck and vapour element
E radiation heat flux through the super
insulation
E1 radiation heat flux from shield 1 to
inner vessel
Ej radiation heat flux from shield j to j-1
shield
k thermal conductivity
m mass flow rate
Q heat flow
hfg latent heat of vaporization
Stephan-Boltzmann constant
(5.67x1 0-8 W/m2K4)
h heat transfer coefficient
SUBSCRIPTS
abs absorption
C cold
eff effective
f fluid
H hot
i order of neck element
j order of thermal shields
n neck
rt room temperature
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