Analysis of the efficiency of hydrocarbon propellant cooling using liquid nitrogen and a combination of recuperative heat exchangers

Abstract

The paper describes the propellant cooling system using liquid nitrogen and a combination of recuperative heat exchangers, including sections of the double pipe heat exchanger and a twisted heat exchanger located in a tank with antifreeze, cooled by nitrogen gas coming out of the sections of the double pipe heat exchanger. Mathematical models of cooling processes for two variants of movement of propellant and liquid nitrogen in the channels of the double pipe heat exchanger sections are considered. Their using makes it possible to analyze the efficiency of propellant cooling operations depending on its mass, design parameters of the system tanks and heat exchangers, consumption characteristics of nitrogen and propellant, as well as to predict the required mass of liquid nitrogen and the time of propellant cooling during the operation of launching complex propellant-feed systems. Calculated dependences and simulation results of propellant and antifreeze cooling in a tank with a twisted heat exchanger are presented. The influence of variants of arranging propellant cooling processes and liquid nitrogen consumption on the efficiency of the cooling system is analyzed. Comparing to the available systems the capability of reducing the cost of liquid nitrogen are identified as well as reducing time of the propellant cooling operations by means of equipping launch complexes.