Superconducting Magnet Cooling Loop for Helium Recirculation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cooling systems for superconducting magnets are inefficient due to the difficulty in recycling and reusing liquid cryogens like helium, requiring bulky filling accessories and specialized personnel, and lack a simpler cryogen transmission system.
Innovation Solution
A closed-loop cooling system that introduces a gas into a cryostat, using a heat exchanger cooled by a refrigerator to condense the gas into liquid cryogen, which is then used to cool the superconducting magnet, with the boiled-off gas re-circulated to re-cool the system, maintaining the magnet at superconducting temperature without venting to the atmosphere.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If liquid helium is continuously filled into the liquid cryogen vessel to cool the superconducting magnet, then the magnet is cooled to superconducting temperature, but the helium gas vents out into the atmosphere and is difficult to recycle or reuse, requiring bulky filling accessories and specialized personnel
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the boiled-off helium gas itself as the cooling medium by recirculating it through the heat exchanger, eliminating the need for external filling operations and specialized personnel while maintaining continuous cooling of the superconducting magnet
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of venting the boiled-off helium gas to the atmosphere, the system recovers and recirculates it through the heat exchanger, converting what would be waste into a continuous cooling resource and eliminating the need for repeated filling operations
2Temperature
If liquid helium is continuously filled into the liquid cryogen vessel, then the superconducting magnet is cooled to superconducting temperature, but the system requires bulky filling accessories and specialized cryogenic service personnel
Solution Approach 1:
The system operates autonomously by continuously recirculating the boiled-off helium gas through the heat exchanger, eliminating the need for manual filling operations and specialized personnel while maintaining the superconducting temperature
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes continuous circulation of helium gas through the heat exchanger and back to the cryogen vessel, maintaining uninterrupted cooling without the need for periodic filling operations
3Temperature
If helium gas vents out into the atmosphere during cooling, then the cooling process can proceed, but the helium is difficult to recycle or reuse, causing loss of substance
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures and recycles the boiled-off helium gas by routing it through the heat exchanger back to the cryogen vessel, preventing atmospheric venting and eliminating helium loss while maintaining cooling efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a feedback loop where the boiled-off helium gas is continuously recirculated through the heat exchanger, allowing the system to maintain cooling efficiency while recovering and reusing the helium rather than losing it to the atmosphere
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system efficiently maintains the superconducting magnet at low temperatures with a simpler cryogen transmission, reducing waste and the need for specialized personnel, and allows for extended 'ride-through' capabilities during refrigeration unavailability.
Implementation Method 1
The gas at the heat exchanger is cooled as a cold gas or, is condensed at the heat exchanger into a liquid cryogen
Implementation Method 2
A heat exchanger in the cooling path is cooled by a refrigerator outside the cryostat
Implementation Method 3
Heat from the superconducting magnet is removed by warming the cold gas into warm gas or by the boiling the liquid cryogen into boiled-off gas
Implementation Method 4
The superconducting magnet is cooled from a high temperature, such as a room temperature, to the superconducting temperature by the latent heat and sensible energy of continuously boiling off the liquid helium into vapor
Implementation Method 5
Superconducting magnets conduct electricity without resistance as long as the magnets are maintained at a suitably low temperature, which is referred to as 'superconducting temperature' herein after
Data Source
AI summary
A method for cooling a superconducting magnet enclosed in a cryostat includes introducing a gas into a cooling path in the cryostat from an input portion into a cooling path cooled by a refrigerator outside the cryostat. A heat exchanger inside the cryostat above the magnet cools the gas. The cooled gas flows through a magnet cooling tube contacting the magnet. The cooled gas removes heat from the magnet, and to the heat exchanger to re-cool and return to the superconducting magnet, thereby cooling and/or maintaining the magnet at a superconducting temperature.