KR20180052276A - Closed Loop Thermal Control System Having Phase Separation Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a closed loop thermal control system. The closed loop thermal control system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a shroud disposed within a thermal vacuum chamber; a closed circuit pipe formed with an inlet and an outlet to supply cryogenic gas to the shroud, circulate the cryogenic gas, or discharge the cryogenic gas; and an adiabatic container receiving cryogenic fluid of the same component and first cryogenic gas simultaneously. In the present invention, when temperature of the shroud is changed from high temperature to low temperature, the cryogenic fluid is supplied from a heat insulating container to the closed circuit pipe. Further, the present invention comprises a cryogenic fluid supply unit for supplying the first cryogenic gas from the heat insulating container to the closed circuit pipe when the temperature of the shroud is maintained at low temperature.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a closed-loop thermal control system including a phase separator,

The present invention relates to a closed-circuit heat control system comprising a phase separator, and more particularly to a closed-circuit heat control system comprising a phase separator capable of precisely regulating the temperature of a shroud by supplying cryogenic liquid or cryogenic gas to the closed circuit will be.

The space environment is characterized by a high vacuum environment, a high temperature environment due to solar radiation and a harsh environment in which cryogenic temperatures are repeated. Since satellites are launched from the ground and enter the cosmic orbit, they are continually exposed to the space environment, and this harsh space environment can lead to failure of major components of the satellite, which in turn can lead to missed missions. In other words, because the space environment is quite different from the ground environment, satellites that are seen to function properly on the ground may exhibit unexpected dysfunctions in the space environment, which sometimes has a devastating effect on mission success.

For this reason, satellites must undergo a space environmental test on the ground to check their function and operation. To do so, space environment simulation equipment is needed to simulate space environment.

Thermal vacuum testing for satellite components and systems uses thermal vacuum chambers. Thermal control systems used in thermal vacuum chambers are using nitrogen-based open / closed loop thermal control systems and refrigerant methods. Especially, the thermal control system using nitrogen has a wide temperature range that can be simulated compared with the system using the refrigerant.

Performance verification of the high temperature / low temperature thermal environment of the satellite system and components is performed in a thermal vacuum chamber, such that high and low temperatures can be simulated through a thermal control system installed in a thermal vacuum chamber. Especially, the thermal environment control system using gaseous nitrogen is used for the thermal environment of -150 ℃ ~ 120 ℃, and it is effective to apply the closed circuit heat control system which consumes less nitrogen.

Figure 1 shows a closed-loop thermal control system using conventional gaseous nitrogen. Closed-loop thermal control systems using gaseous nitrogen consist of shrouds, cryogenic blowers, heaters, and cryogenic valves. The shroud controls the temperature of the specimen through radiative heat transfer to a specimen such as a satellite, and the cryogenic blower serves to circulate nitrogen to maintain a constant density within the system.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2010-0072950 Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0065945

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is as follows.

The present invention relates to a closed-loop heat control system including a phase separator capable of changing the temperature of a shroud from a high temperature to a low temperature and adjusting the temperature of the shroud more precisely by changing the kind of the cryogenic fluid supplied to the closed circuit at a low temperature .

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a closed-circuit thermal control system including a phase separator includes a shroud, a closed-circuit pipe, and a cryogenic fluid supply unit.

The shroud is disposed within the thermal vacuum chamber.

The closed circuit pipe is formed with an inlet and an outlet to supply cryogenic gas to the shroud, to circulate the cryogenic gas, or to discharge the cryogenic gas.

Wherein the cryogenic fluid supply portion includes a thermal insulation vessel in which a cryogenic fluid of the same component and a first cryogenic gas are simultaneously received, and when the temperature of the shroud is changed from a high temperature to a low temperature, the cryogenic fluid is supplied from the heat- , And when the temperature of the shroud is maintained at a low temperature, the first cryogenic gas is supplied from the heat insulating container to the closed circuit pipe.

The cryogenic fluid supply may include a first supply line for supplying the cryogenic liquid from the adiabatic vessel to the inlet and a second supply line for supplying the first cryogenic gas from the adiabatic vessel to the inlet.

A first valve and a second valve for selectively supplying the cryogenic liquid or the first cryogenic gas may be installed on the first supply pipe and the second supply pipe.

Wherein the cryogenic fluid supply unit includes a cryogenic liquid supply pipe for supplying the cryogenic liquid to the heat insulating container, a gas supply pipe for supplying a gas at room temperature to the heat insulating container, and a first cryogenic gas accommodated in the heat insulating container, And a pressure reducing pipe for reducing pressure of the pressure reducing pipe.

On the other hand, a vaporizing portion for expanding the cryogenic liquid and vaporizing it into a second cryogenic gas at a lower temperature than the first cryogenic gas may be disposed on the closed circuit pipe.

And a blower for forcibly transferring the first cryogenic gas or the second cryogenic gas to the shroud may be disposed behind the vaporizing portion.

A heater for heating the first cryogenic gas or the second cryogenic gas to supply the heated cryogenic gas to the shroud may be disposed behind the vaporizing unit when the temperature of the shroud is changed from a low temperature to a high temperature.

The effects of the present invention will be described below.

According to the closed-loop heat control system including the phase separator according to an embodiment of the present invention, when the temperature of the shroud is changed from a high temperature to a low temperature, a cryogenic liquid having a lower temperature is vaporized into a second cryogenic gas to be supplied to the shroud, The first cryogenic gas having a relatively higher temperature than the second cryogenic gas may be supplied to the shroud to control the temperature of the shroud more precisely.

Further, when the temperature of the shroud is maintained at a low temperature, the first cryogenic gas, which is not a cryogenic liquid, is supplied to reduce the consumption of the cryogenic liquid.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

The foregoing summary, as well as the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present application set forth below, may be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown preferred embodiments in the figures. It should be understood, however, that this application is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
1 shows a closed-loop thermal control system using conventional gaseous nitrogen;
2 illustrates a closed-loop thermal control system including a phase separator in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; And
3 is an illustration of an example of a cryogenic fluid supply of a closed-loop thermal control system including phase separation according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the appended drawings illustrate the present invention in order to more easily explain the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. You will know.

In describing the embodiments of the present invention, it is to be noted that elements having the same function are denoted by the same names and numerals, but are substantially not identical to elements of the prior art.

Also, the terms used in the present application are used only to describe certain embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Hereinafter, a closed-circuit heat control system including a phase separator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a closed-loop thermal control system including a phase separator in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

2, a closed-loop thermal control system including a phase separator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a shroud 100, a closed-circuit pipe 200, a cryogenic fluid supply 300, a vaporizer 210, A heater 220, and a blower 230.

The shroud 100 is disposed within a thermal vacuum chamber 110 wherein the thermal vacuum chamber 110 is a representative device that simulates the vacuum and thermal environment of the space environment on the ground and performs thermal environmental testing of the satellite or its components It is expensive equipment.

A shroud 100 is installed in the thermal vacuum chamber 110 to simulate a cryogenic space environment test in a thermal vacuum chamber 110 operated at a high vacuum of 10 -5 torr or less and the gas is circulated in the shroud 100 And the temperature of the shroud 100 is maintained at -196 DEG C to simulate the space environment.

The shroud 100 is positioned on the closed circuit 200 and the cryogenic gas within the closed circuit 200 circulates along the closed circuit 200. The closed circuit pipe 200 is formed with an inlet portion through which the cryogenic liquid or the cryogenic gas flows and a discharge portion through which the gas located in the closed-loop pipe 200 is discharged. The inflow section includes an inflow pipe 202 and an inflow valve 204 installed on the inflow pipe 202 for selectively blocking the inflow of the cryogenic fluid and the discharge section includes the discharge pipe 206 and the discharge pipe 206 for selectively shutting off the discharge of the cryogenic fluid.

The gas in the closed circuit pipe 200 can be continuously circulated by the blower 230 to be described later and can be supplied through the inlet when the gas needs to be supplemented for cooling or maintaining the temperature of the shroud 100 . In addition, when pressure reduction is required simultaneously with the temperature control, the pressure in the closed circuit pipe 200 may be lowered by discharging the gas through the discharge part.

The cryogenic fluid supply 300 includes a thermal insulation vessel 310 in which the cryogenic fluid of the same component and the first cryogenic gas are simultaneously received. In this embodiment, the cryogenic fluid is nitrogen. Nitrogen has a wide range of temperatures that can be simulated compared to refrigerants. However, the cryogenic fluid is not limited to nitrogen, and any fluid can be applied as long as it can cool the shroud 100 to simulate the space environment.

The adiabatic vessel can block the heat exchange of cryogenic liquids such as liquefied natural gas, liquid argon, liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen or liquid hydrogen. The heat insulating container 310 may be embodied as a double structure composed of an outer container and an inner container. In addition, the adiabatic vessel 310 may further include an insulating material between the outer vessel and the inner vessel to minimize the loss of liquid, such as heat leakage into the vessel or flash vaporization. In addition, the adiabatic vessel 310 may further include an adsorbent disposed between the outer vessel and the inner vessel. That is, the heat insulating container 310 stores the cryogenic fluid, blocks heat exchange with the external material, and maintains the constant temperature so that the cryogenic fluid can be supplied to the closed circuit pipe 200.

The heat insulating container 310 is provided with a cryogenic liquid supply pipe 340 for supplying a cryogenic liquid to the heat insulating container 310, a gas supply pipe 350 for supplying a gas at a room temperature to the cryogenic fluid supply unit 300, And a decompression pipe 360 for discharging the first cryogenic gas accommodated in the heat insulating container 310 to the outside to reduce the pressure inside the heat insulating container 310 can be connected.

That is, the cryogenic liquid supply pipe 340 supplies the liquid nitrogen to the heat insulating container 310, the gas supply pipe 350 supplies the gaseous nitrogen at room temperature to the heat insulating container 310, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > cryogenic < / RTI > gas. Also, the liquefied nitrogen may be vaporized into the first cryogenic gas in the heat insulating container 310 by the gaseous nitrogen at room temperature. Thereby, the cryogenic liquid and the first cryogenic gas may be present in the heat insulating container 310. When the pressure of the cryogenic liquid in the heat-insulating container 310 or the volume of the first cryogenic gas increases, the first cryogenic gas is discharged to the outside through the pressure-reducing pipe 360, Can be lowered.

The cryogenic fluid supply part 300 supplies the cryogenic fluid to the closed circuit pipe 200 when the temperature of the shroud 100 is changed from a high temperature to the low temperature and the cryogenic fluid is supplied to the closed circuit pipe 200 when the temperature of the shroud 100 is kept low. 200) to the first cryogenic gas. Here, the cryogenic fluid has a temperature of -196 deg. C or lower as liquefied nitrogen, and the first cryogenic gas is gaseous nitrogen and can have a temperature of about -150 deg.

The liquefied nitrogen may not be supplied to the shroud 100 in a liquid state, but may be expanded and vaporized in a vaporization unit 210 to be described later and supplied to the shroud 100 in a gaseous state. Here, the gaseous nitrogen vaporized in the vaporization unit 210 is referred to as a second cryogenic gas. The second cryogenic gas is vaporized by expansion of the liquid nitrogen momentarily, and has a temperature of about -180 degrees Celsius higher than that of the liquid nitrogen. That is, it can have a lower temperature than the first cryogenic gas.

Therefore, feeding the second cryogenic gas to the shroud 100 is advantageous in rapidly lowering the temperature of the shroud 100. [ However, in the process of vaporizing the cryogenic fluid into the second cryogenic gas, it is difficult to precisely control the volume of the second cryogenic gas. Therefore, there is a limit to precisely controlling the temperature of the shroud 100 using the second cryogenic gas.

For this reason, when the temperature of the shroud 100 is changed from a high temperature to a low temperature in the closed circuit heat control system of the present embodiment, the cryogenic fluid is supplied to the closed circuit pipe 200 to be vaporized into the second cryogenic gas, and then supplied to the shroud 100 And the first cryogenic gas is supplied to the closed circuit pipe 200 when the temperature of the shroud 100 is maintained at a low temperature. Also, the first cryogenic gas can be supplied even when a fine temperature control is required. Thus, the temperature of the shroud 100 can be precisely controlled. In addition, by using the first cryogenic gas which is gaseous nitrogen in the temperature holding period, consumption of liquid nitrogen can be reduced.

A first supply pipe 320 connecting the heat insulating container 310 and the inflow pipe 202 for supplying the cryogenic liquid to the closed circuit pipe 200 and a second supply pipe 320 connecting the heat insulating container 310 and the inflow pipe 202 to supply the first cryogenic gas to the closed circuit pipe 200, A second supply pipe 330 for connecting the inlet pipe 310 and the inflow pipe 202 may be provided. A first valve 322 and a second valve 332 for selectively supplying the cryogenic liquid or the first cryogenic gas to the inflow pipe 202 are provided on the first supply pipe 320 and the second supply pipe 330, Can be installed. That is, when the temperature of the shroud 100 is changed from a high temperature to a low temperature, the first valve 322 and the inlet valve 204 are opened and the second valve 332 is closed to supply the cryogenic liquid to the closed circuit 200 The first valve 322 may be closed and the second valve 332 and the inlet valve 204 may be opened to supply the first cryogenic fluid to the closed circuit 200 when the temperature of the shroud 100 is maintained at a low temperature.

Here, the first valve 322 and the second valve 332 may be an electromagnetic valve, and the inflow valve 204 may be a diaphragm valve or a bellows valve. However, the types of the first valve 322, the second valve 332, and the inlet valve 204 are not limited to those described above.

3 is an illustration of an exemplary cryogenic fluid supply of an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the cryogenic fluid supply part 300 is a phase separator, and the cryogenic fluid supply part 300 includes the heat insulating container 310, the pressure sensor 370, the flow rate sensor 380, A second supply pipe 330, a cryogenic liquid supply pipe 340, a gas supply pipe 350 and a pressure reducing pipe 360 may be installed.

The adiabatic vessel 310 may include a cryogenic fluid supplied to the user. As shown in FIG. 3, there is a cryogenic liquid corresponding to 70% of the total volume of the adiabatic vessel 310 and a first cryogenic gas corresponding to 30% of the total volume of the adiabatic vessel 310.

The pressure sensor 370 can measure the internal pressure of the heat insulating container 310. More specifically, the pressure sensor 370 can measure the internal pressure of the first cryogenic gas present in the heat-insulating container 310. The flow sensor 380 can calculate the ratio of the first cryogenic gas and the cryogenic liquid present in the adiabatic vessel 310. More specifically, the flow sensor 380 can sense the height of the surface where the cryogenic liquid is present, and calculate the volume of the cryogenic liquid using the height.

The first feed pipe 320 can supply the cryogenic liquid to the closed-circuit pipe 200. Referring to FIG. 3, the inlet 324 of the first supply pipe 320 is at a height corresponding to 30% of the total volume of the heat-insulating container 310. Therefore, in order to supply the cryogenic liquid to the inflow pipe 202 through the first supply pipe 320, at least a cryogenic liquid of 30% volume or more of the heat-insulating container 310 must be present. Thus, cryogenic liquid can be introduced through the cryogenic liquid supply line 340 to fill the adiabatic vessel 310 with the cryogenic liquid. In addition, when the cryogenic liquid flows into the heat-insulating container, the pressure in the heat-insulating container increases, so that the first cryogenic gas is released to the outside through the pressure reducing pipe 360 to lower the pressure of the heat-insulating container. The first valve 322 and the inlet valve 204 may be opened to close the second valve 332 when the cryogenic liquid is supplied to the piping piping.

Likewise, the second feed pipe 330 can supply the first cryogenic gas to the closed-circuit pipe 200. 3, the inlet 334 of the second supply pipe 330 is at a height corresponding to 90% of the total volume of the heat-insulating container 310. Therefore, in order to supply the first cryogenic gas to the inlet pipe 202 through the second supply pipe 330, at least a first cryogenic gas of 10% volume or more of the adiabatic vessel 310 must be present. Accordingly, the pressure of the first cryogenic gas can be regulated by the cryogenic liquid supply pipe 340 or the first cryogenic gas supply pipe 350 or the pressure pipe. More specifically, the first cryogenic gas volume of the heat insulating container 310 can be adjusted by introducing the gas at room temperature through the gas supply pipe 350. The first valve 322 can be opened by opening the second valve 332 and the inlet valve 204 when the first cryogenic gas is supplied to the piping piping. The cryogenic fluid supply 300 of the closed-loop heat control system including the phase separator according to FIG. However, the cryogenic fluid supply portion 300 described above is only one example, and the cryogenic fluid supply portion 300 can be configured in any way as long as it can supply the cryogenic liquid or the first cryogenic gas to the inlet piping 202 .

On the other hand, the cryogenic fluid supplied to the closed-loop pipe 200 through the inflow pipe 202 can pass through the vaporizing unit 210. The vaporization portion 210 is located on the closed circuit 200 and can vaporize the cryogenic liquid into a second cryogenic gas at a lower temperature than the first cryogenic gas. As described above, the second cryogenic gas vaporized in the vaporization unit 210 has a temperature of about -180 degrees, and may be supplied to the shroud 100 to lower the temperature of the shroud 100. [

A heater 220 may be disposed behind the vaporization unit 210. The heater 220 is a component that heats the first cryogenic gas or the second cryogenic gas. The temperature of the shroud 100 may vary from about -150 to 150 degrees in order to simulate the space environment. When the temperature of the shroud 100 is raised from a low temperature to a high temperature, the heater 220 is operated to adjust the temperature of the shroud 100 Can be heated.

A blower 230 may be disposed behind the vaporizer 210 of the heater 220. The blower 230 forces the first cryogenic gas or the second cryogenic gas or the gas heated by the heater 220 to be forced into the shroud 100 because the fluid may be stagnated in the closed circuit without the inflow or outflow of fluid. .

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It is obvious to them. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the present invention is not limited to the above description, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

100: shroud 110: thermal vacuum chamber
200: closed loop piping 202: inflow piping
204: inlet valve 206: exhaust pipe
208: discharge valve 210: vaporizer
220: heater 230: blower
300: Cryogenic fluid supply part 310: Insulating container
320: first supply piping 322: first valve
330: second supply pipe 332: second valve
340: Cryogenic liquid supply piping 350: Gas supply piping
360: Pressure reducing pipe 370: Pressure sensor
380: Flow sensor

Claims (7)

A shroud disposed within the thermal vacuum chamber;
A closed circuit pipe formed with an inlet portion and an outlet portion to supply cryogenic gas to the shroud, circulate the cryogenic gas, or discharge the cryogenic gas;
Wherein a temperature of the shroud is changed from a high temperature to a low temperature, the cryogenic fluid is supplied from the heat insulating container to the closed circuit pipe, and the temperature of the shroud A cryogenic fluid supply unit for supplying the first cryogenic gas from the heat insulating vessel to the closed circuit pipe when the temperature is maintained at a low temperature;
/ RTI > The method according to claim 1,
The cryogenic fluid supply part includes:
A first supply pipe for supplying the cryogenic liquid from the heat insulating container to the inlet; And
A second supply pipe for supplying the first cryogenic gas from the heat insulating container to the inlet;
/ RTI > 3. The method of claim 2,
A first valve and a second valve for selectively supplying the cryogenic liquid or the first cryogenic gas are provided on the first supply pipe and the second supply pipe. The method according to claim 1,
The cryogenic fluid supply part includes:
A cryogenic liquid supply pipe for supplying the cryogenic liquid to the heat insulating container;
A gas supply pipe for supplying a gas at room temperature to the heat insulating container;
A pressure reducing pipe for discharging the first cryogenic gas accommodated in the heat insulating container to the outside to reduce the internal pressure;
Further comprising: a closed-loop thermal control system. The method according to claim 1,
On the closed-circuit pipe,
Wherein the vaporization portion is configured to expand the cryogenic liquid to vaporize the second cryogenic gas at a temperature lower than the first cryogenic temperature. 6. The method of claim 5,
At the rear of the vaporizing portion,
And a blower for forcibly transferring the first cryogenic gas or the second cryogenic gas to the shroud is disposed. 6. The method of claim 5,
At the rear of the vaporizing portion,
Wherein when the temperature of the shroud is changed from a low temperature to a high temperature, a heater for heating the first cryogenic gas or the second cryogenic gas to supply the shroud to the shroud is disposed.

Images