Establishment pressure drop experiment set up for hydro formed cryopanel

Hydro formed cryopanels used in indigenously developed Cryopump, are unconventional in shape hence estimating the pressure drop for such geometry is a difficult task. After making analytical calculation with certain assumptions it is required to measure the pressure drop arising from the geometry for cryogen flow. Hence an experimental facility is established for liquid nitrogen pressure drop measurement in the Cryopanels. The facility consists of two liquid nitrogen dewars of 500 liter capacity each and operating pressure 4 bar. The analytical calculations with certain assumptions and nitrogen properties suggests that pressure drop inside the rectangular cryopanel of dimension 1000 mm x 200 mm consisting 4 flow channels comes around 300 mbar. The pressure drop may increase for bubble type conical shaped panels because of the inclusion of shape factor. The developed facility will be used for measuring the pressure drop in different configurations of three different types of cryopanels i.e. conical, cylindrical and rectangular and hence operating pressure is devised as 4 bar to incorporate other pressure drop arising from valves, pipelines and diagnostics. All the system components like dewars, pipelines and diagnostics are designed for 10 bar and safeties are kept at 7 bar. The system is tested for its extreme working pressure 4 bar and flow rate 64 kg/hr. Pressure drop experiment for rectangular Cryopanel of dimensions length 1000 mm and width 200 mm consisting 3 hydro formed channels is carried out at flow rate 64 kg/hr and the results are well within the limits to the analytical calculations