Page 476 - Mechanical Engineers' Handbook (Volume 4)

Mechanical Engineers’ Handbook: Energy and Power, Volume 4, Third Edition.

Edited by Myer Kutz

Copyright  2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
CHAPTER 13
CRYOGENIC SYSTEMS
Leonard A. Wenzel
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
1 CRYOGENICS AND CRYOFLUID 5.3 Lubricants 508
PROPERTIES 465
6 SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN
2 CRYOGENIC REFRIGERATION LOW-TEMPERATURE
AND LIQUEFACTION CYCLES 471 INSTRUMENTATION 508
2.1 Cascade Refrigeration 471 6.1 Temperature Measurement 509
2.2 The Linde or Joule–Thomson 6.2 Flow Measurement 510
Cycle 472 6.3 Tank Inventory Measurement 511
2.3 The Claude or Expander Cycle 473
2.4 Low-Temperature Engine Cycles 479 7 EXAMPLES OF CRYOGENIC
PROCESSING 511
3 CRYOGENIC HEAT-TRANSFER 7.1 Air Separation 511
METHODS 483 7.2 Liquefaction of Natural Gas 514
3.1 Coiled-Tube-in-Shell Exchangers 484 7.3 Helium Recovery and
3.2 Plate-Fin Heat Exchangers 485 Liquefaction 520
3.3 Regenerators 486
8 SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND ITS
4 INSULATION SYSTEMS 493 APPLICATIONS 521
4.1 Vacuum Insulation 494 8.1 Superconductivity 521
4.2 Superinsulation 495 8.2 Applications of
4.3 Insulating Powders and Fibers 496 Superconductivity 524

5 MATERIALS FOR CRYOGENIC 9 CRYOBIOLOGY AND
SERVICE 497 CRYOSURGERY 526
5.1 Materials of Construction 497
5.2 Seals and Gaskets 508 REFERENCES 529

1 CRYOGENICS AND CRYOFLUID PROPERTIES
The science and technology of deep refrigeration processing occurring at temperatures lower
than about 150 K is the field of cryogenics (from the Greek kryos, icy cold). This area has
developed as a special discipline because it is characterized by special techniques, require-
ments imposed by physical limitations, and economic needs, and unique phenomena asso-
ciated with low-thermal-energy levels.
Compounds that are processed within the cryogenic temperature region are sometimes
called cryogens. There are only a few of these materials; they are generally small, relatively
simple molecules, and they seldom react chemically within the cryogenic region. Table 1
lists the major cryogens along with their major properties, and with a reference giving more
complete thermodynamic data.
All of the cryogens except hydrogen and helium have conventional thermodynamic and
transport properties. If specific data are unavailable, the reduced properties correlation can
be used with all the cryogens and their mixtures with at least as much confidence as the
correlations generally allow. Qualitatively T–S and P–H diagrams such as those of Figs. 1

465