Cryogenic technology

ALOK DUBEY

Cryogenic technology deals with materials at low temperatures and their

behavior.

Cryogenics
In physics, cryogenics is the study of the production and behavior of
materials at very low temperatures.
It is not well-defined at what point on the temperature
scale refrigeration ends and cryogenics begins, but scientists assume it starts
at or below 150 C (123 K; 238 F).

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has chosen to

consider the field of cryogenics as that involving temperatures below
180 C or 292.00 F or 93.15 K. This is a logical dividing line, since the
normal boiling points of the so-called permanent gases (such
as helium, hydrogen, neon, nitrogen, oxygen, and normal air) lie below
180 C while the Freon refrigerants, hydrogen sulfide, and other common
refrigerants have boiling points above 180 C. (Above 150 C, 238 F or
123 K).

Cryogenicists
A person who studies elements that have been subjected to extremely cold
temperatures is called a cryogenicist.
Cryogenicists use the Kelvin or Rankine temperature scales.

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Etymology
The word cryogenics stems from Greek k (cryo) "cold" + genic
"having to do with production"

Definitions and distinctions

.

Cryogenics
The branches of physics and engineering that involve the study of very low
temperatures, how to produce them, and how materials behave at those
temperatures.

Cryobiology
The branch of biology involving the study of the effects of low temperatures
on organisms (most often for the purpose of achieving cryopreservation).

Cryoconservation of animal genetic resources

The conservation of genetic material with the intention of conserving a
breed.

Cryosurgery
The branch of surgery applying very low temperatures (down to 196 C) to
destroy malignant tissue, e.g. cancer cells.

Cryoelectronics
The field of research regarding superconductivity at low temperatures.

Cryotronics

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The practical application of cryoelectronics.

Cryonics
Cryopreserving humans and animals with the intention of future revival.
"Cryogenics" is sometimes erroneously used to mean "Cryonics" in popular
culture and the press.

Cryogenic Fluids
Cryogenic fluids with their boiling point in kelvin (Liquid Helium3- 3.19k),
(Liquid Helium4- 4.214k), (Liquid Hydrogen- 20.27k), (Liquid Neon27.09k), (Liquid Nitrogen- 77.36k), (Liquid Air- 78.8k), (Liquid Fluorine85.24k), (Liquid Argon- 87.24k), (Liquid Oxygen -90.18), (Liquid Methane111.7k)

Industrial applications
Liquefied gases, such as liquid nitrogen and liquid helium, are used in many
cryogenic applications. Liquid nitrogen is the most commonly used element
in cryogenics and is legally purchasable around the world. Liquid helium is
also commonly used and allows for the lowest attainable temperatures to be
reached.

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Fuels
Another use of cryogenics is cryogenic fuels for rockets with liquid
hydrogen as the most widely used example. Liquid oxygen (LOX) is even
more widely used but as an oxidizer, not a fuel. NASA's workhorse space
shuttle used cryogenic hydrogen/oxygen propellant as its primary means of
getting into orbit. LOX is also widely used with RP-1 kerosene, a noncryogenic hydrocarbon, such as in the rockets built for the Soviet space
program by Sergei Korolev.

Other applications
Some applications of cryogenics:

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR)

NMR is one of the most common methods to determine the physical and
chemical properties of atoms by detecting the radio frequency absorbed
and subsequent relaxation of nuclei in a magnetic field. This is one of the
most commonly used characterization techniques and has applications in
numerous fields. Primarily, the strong magnetic fields are generated by
super cooling electromagnets, although there are spectrometers that do
not require cryogens. In traditional superconducting solenoids, liquid
helium is used to cool the inner coils because it has a boiling point of
around 4 K at ambient pressure. Cheap metallic superconductors can be
used for the coil wiring. So-called high-temperature superconducting
compounds can be made to super conduct with the use of liquid nitrogen
which boils at around 77 K.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

MRI is a complex application of NMR where the geometry of the
resonances is DE convoluted and used to image objects by detecting the
relaxation of protons that have been perturbed by a radio-frequency pulse
in the strong magnetic field. This is mostly commonly used in health
applications.

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Electric power transmission

It is difficult to transmit power by overhead cables in big cities, so
underground cables are used. But underground cables get heated and the
resistance of the wire increases leading to waste of power.
Superconductors could be used to increase power throughput, although
they would require cryogenic liquids such as nitrogen or helium to cool
special alloy-containing cables to increase power transmission. Several
feasibility studies have been performed and the field is the subject of an
agreement within the International Energy Agency.

Frozen food
Cryogenic gases are used in transportation of large masses of frozen
food. When very large quantities of food must be transported to
regions like war zones, earthquake hit regions, etc., they must be
stored for a long time, so cryogenic food freezing is used. Cryogenic
food freezing is also helpful for large scale food processing industries.

Forward looking infrared (FLIR)

Many infra-red cameras require their detectors to be cryogenically
cooled.

Blood banking
certain rare blood groups are stored at low temperatures, such as
165 C.

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Special effects
Cryogenics technology using liquid nitrogen and CO2 has been built
into nightclub effect systems to create a chilling effect and white fog
that can be illuminated with colored lights.

Manufacturing process
Cryogenic cooling is used to cool the tool tip at the time of machining. It
increases the tool life. Oxygen is used to perform several important
functions in the steel manufacturing process.

Recycling of Materials
By freezing the automobile or truck tire in Liquid nitrogen, the rubber is
made brittle & can be crushed into small particles. These particles can be
used again for other items.

Research
Experimental research on certain physics phenomena, such as spintronics
and magneto transport properties, requires cryogenic temperatures for the
effects to be observed

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The long road to cryogenic technology of India

in field of Space Science
Cryogenic technology involves the use of rocket propellants at extremely
low temperatures. The combination of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen
offers the highest energy efficiency for rocket engines that need to produce
large amounts of thrust. But oxygen remains a liquid only at temperatures
below - 1830 Celsius and hydrogen at below -2530Celsius. Building a rocket
stage with an engine that runs on such propellants means overcoming
engineering challenges.
The United States was the first country to develop cryogenic rocket engines.
The Centaur upper stage, with RL-10 engines, registered its first successful
flight in 1963 and is still used on the Atlas V rocket.
Other spacefaring nations followed. The Japanese LE-5 engine flew in 1977,
the French HM-7 in 1979 and the Chinese YF-73 in 1984. The Soviet
Union, first country to put a satellite and later a human in space, successfully
launched a rocket with a cryogenic engine only in 1987.
ISRO recognised the importance of cryogenic technology fairly early. A
rocket stage based on a cryogenic engine offered the simplest way of
transforming the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), intended to carry
one-tonne earth-viewing satellites, into the far more powerful GSLV that
could put communications satellites into the orbit.
In December 1982, six months after the PSLV project was cleared, a
Cryogenic Study Team was set up. A year later, it submitted a report
recommending the development of a cryogenic engine that could generate
about 10 tonnes of thrust. The 15-volume report went into every aspect of
developing the engine and rocket stage indigenously.

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Then, strangely, ISRO went through a long period of indecision, dithering

on whether to buy the technology or develop it on its own. Acquiring the
technology from abroad would greatly reduce the time that would otherwise
be needed, it argued.
But the U.S., Japan and France would either not provide the technology or
do so only at an exorbitant price. Finally in January 1991, a deal was signed
with the Soviet company Glavkosmos to buy two cryogenic flight stages as
well as the technology to make them in India.
The 11D56 cryogenic engine had been developed for one of the upper stages
of the mammoth N1 rocket, the Soviet equivalent of Saturn V. But after four
successive launch failures, the N1 project was scrapped and its engines were
mothballed. Under the Indo-Soviet deal, ISRO would get a stage built
around the 11D56 cryogenic engine that could produce 7.5 tonnes of thrust.
The stage would carry 12 tonnes of propellant.
But the deal violated the Missile Technology Control Regime, which was
intended to prevent the spread of missile-related technology, and fell foul of
the U.S. laws meant to enforce its provisions. Despite warnings from within
the organisation, ISRO opted to go ahead with the import. In May 1992, the
U.S. imposed sanctions on ISRO and Glavkosmos. A year later, Russia,
which inherited the contract after the break-up of the Soviet Union, backed
out of the deal.
ISRO then had no option but to develop the technology on its own. The
Cryogenic Upper Stage project was launched in April 1994. Its aim was to
develop a cryogenic engine and stage closely modelled on the Russian
design.
At the time, ISRO gave the impression that much of the technology had
already been acquired and further development would be quick. A GSLV
with an indigenous cryogenic engine would be ready to fly in about four
years, Chairman U.R. Rao told The Hindu in July 1993. The space agency's
engineers were privately saying then that a flightworthy cryogenic stage was
10 years away. Instead, it has taken 16 years.
The Russian design involves a complicated staged combustion cycle' to
increase the engine efficiency. Hydrogen is partially burnt with a little

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oxygen in a gas generator. The hot gases drive a turbopump and are then
injected at high pressure into the thrust chamber where the rest of oxygen is
introduced and full combustion takes place. Before going to the gas
generator, the incredibly chilly liquid hydrogen is used to cool the thrust
chamber where temperatures rise to over 30000 Celsius when the engine is
fired.
Reproducing the Russian design meant ISRO engineers also learning to deal
with new materials and manufacturing methods. A process, known as
vacuum brazing needed to make the engine's thrust chamber, for instance,
took considerable time to master. Then there was the challenge posed by the
powerful turbo pump that rotates at a tremendous speed in order to send up
to 18 kg of propellants every second into the thrust chamber. It must do so in
the face of a sharp temperature gradient, with hot gases at over 5000 Celsius
driving the turbine, which then spins the pumps for freezing-cold
propellants.
Steps were also taken so that materials required for the engine and stage
could be made within the country.
The Indian cryogenic engine is produced by Godrej and the Hyderabadbased MTAR Technologies working together as a consortium. Instead of
ISRO first mastering the technology and transferring it to industry, the two
companies were involved from the start and even the early prototypes were
built by them. Failure on their part was not an option and the space agency
had to make sure that these companies succeeded.
Finally, in February 2000, the first indigenous cryogenic engine began to be
test-fired on the ground. According to one source, things went wrong in one
test and an engine ended up badly damaged. However, by December 2003,
three engines had been ground-tested for a cumulative duration of over an
hour and half. One of those engines was fired continuously for more than 16
minutes, four minutes longer than it would operate in actual flight. More
tests with the engine integrated into the full stage followed. The cryogenic
engine that will fly in the forthcoming GSLV launch was tested on the
ground for a little over three minutes in December 2008.

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Meanwhile, the Russians had supplied ISRO with seven ready-to-fly stages.
But their 11D56 cryogenic engine had not flown before and the Indians
faced some unpleasant surprises.
The first was that the Russian-supplied stages turned out to be heavier than
expected. In order to carry the extra load, it is learnt, the Russians increased
the maximum thrust that the 11D56 engine was capable of from 7.5
tonnes to a little over eight tonnes. The engine operates at the higher thrust
for only part of the duration of its flight. The Indian engine too had to be
tested and made to work at the higher thrust level. Moreover, the Indian
stage is lighter than the Russian one.
When the GSLV was first launched in April 2001, the Russian cryogenic
engine was found to be less efficient than predicted, based on a measure that
rocket engineers call specific impulse. The increase in stage weight and
decrease in efficiency together reduced the rocket's payload capacity
significantly.
Where the GSLV with the cryogenic stage was intended to put 2.5 tonnes
into the orbit, the rocket carried a satellite weighing just 1.5 tonnes in its first
flight. With further optimisation of the Russian cryogenic stage and other
parts of the rocket, the GSLV could successfully launch the 2,140-kg Insat4CR in its fifth launch in 2007.
Sources told this correspondent that the last two stages supplied by the
Russians carry an engine with a maximum thrust of over nine tonnes and are
capable of accommodating an additional three tonnes of propellant. The
GSLV with this stage would be capable of delivering a payload of 2.5 tonnes
into the orbit. With further ground testing, the Indian engine too would be
upgraded to a similar thrust level.
But the immediate challenge for ISRO and its engineers is to demonstrate in
the GSLV launch that they have indeed mastered the intricacies of cryogenic
technology.

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References:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-long-road-to-cryogenictechnology/article397441.ece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryogenics

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