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Natural neon-helium mixture as working fluid for 40-80 K cryogenic refrigerators.

Number: pap. 0076

Author(s) : SAVELYEVA S., KLÖPPEL S., HABERSTROH C., et al.

Summary

A general quest in the design of cryogenic systems is to ensure high efficiency and low cost. Cryogenic refrigerators for HTS cables require 10-25 kW cooling capacity at a temperature below 77 K. The reversed Brayton cycle is recognized as the most promising process for this application. Prototype systems based mainly on neon as a refrigerant and oil-free turbo-compressors with magnetic bearings have been developed by some suppliers in the last decade. Unfortunately, there are no reports available about their operation and corresponding maintenance cost. However, the relatively high cost of pure neon as refrigerant can affect the economics of this application. An alternative working fluid for such systems, earlier proposed by the TU Dresden is Nelium – a mixture of neon and helium. In the context of the mixture composition optimisation, the neon production process was studied and is described in this paper. The “Natural Nelium” – a mixture containing helium, neon and hydrogen with a composition according to the relative proportion of these gases in air (patent is pending) – was found to be attractive as a potential refrigerant. The power demand, process parameters at each production stage and process design are discussed in the paper.

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Details

  • Original title: Natural neon-helium mixture as working fluid for 40-80 K cryogenic refrigerators.
  • Record ID : 30025766
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Cryogenics 2019. Proceedings of the 15th IIR International Conference: Prague, Czech Republic, April 8-11, 2019.
  • Publication date: 2019/05/08
  • DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18462/iir.cryo.2019.0076

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