An experimental study of a vertical cooldown line with LN2

An experimental apparatus was built to study the effects of quench front cooling in a one-g environment along a vertical copper tube. Liquid nitrogen was used as the working fluid and was delivered from a dewar into the test section from a pressurized GN2 tank. The test section consisted of a well insulated, 11 foot vertical, 0.5 inch O.D. copper tube. The quench front position and speed was determined by measuring the outside wall temperature of the test section using thermocouples and a computer-based data acquisition system. This experiment was developed to serve several purposes. One of which is to develop a positive understanding of the cooldown process in a one-g environment by monitoring the test section wall temperature during cooldown. Secondly, the experiment was developed to validate a computer code that is being written parallel to the experiment. This investigation will experimentally analyze the transfer line cooldown process and provide a base for similar experiments in a microgravity environment.