260-in.-dia motor feasibility demonstration program. Volume IV - 260-SL motor internal insulation system
Insulation system for solid propellant rocket engine
INSULATION↗
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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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External insulation systems for cryogenic storage systems
Insulation for flight-weight, cryogenic gas storage systems
Flynn, T. M.↗
THERMAL INSULATION SYSTEMS
Thermal insulation systems and with methods of their production. The thermal insulation systems incorporate at least one reflection layer and at least one spacer layer in an alternating pattern. Each spacer layer includes a fill layer and a carrier layer. The fill layer may be separate from the carrier layer, or it may be a part of the carrier layer, i.e., mechanically injected into the carrier layer or chemically formed in the carrier layer. Fill layers contain a powder having a high surface area and low bulk density. Movement of powder within a fill layer is restricted by electrostatic effects with the reflection layer combined with the presence of a carrier layer, or by containing the powder in the carrier layer. The powder in the spacer layer may be compressed from its bulk density. The thermal insulation systems may further contain an outer casing. Thermal insulation systems may further include strips and seams to form a matrix of sections. Such sections serve to limit loss of powder from a fill layer to a single section and reduce heat losses along the reflection layer.
Augustynowicz, Stanislaw D.↗
Microsphere insulation systems
A new insulation system is provided that contains microspheres. This insulation system can be used to provide insulated panels and clamshells, and to insulate annular spaces around objects used to transfer, store, or transport cryogens and other temperature-sensitive materials. This insulation system provides better performance with reduced maintenance than current insulation systems.
Allen, Mark S.↗
Reusable High-Temperature/Cryogenic Foam-Insulation System
Flightweight insulation withstands wide temperture cycling. Reusable insulation system for cryogenic containment vessels withstands repeated exposures to thermal environments that span ranges from cryogenic-fluid temperature {-425oF (-254oC)} to maximum use temperature of containment-tank material {+400oF (+204oC)}. System designed for use with high-speed flight vehicles.
Davis, Randall C.↗
Development of cost-optimized insulation system for use in large solid rocket motors. Volume 4, task 4 - 260 in. dia motor insulation system design and process plan Final report
Design, weight, cost, and tooling concepts for cost optimized insulation system for 260 in. dia solid rocket motor
Nachbar, D. L.↗
Dynamics insulation systems
Advanced dynamic insulation systems were analyzed from a thermodynamic point of view. A particular performance measure is proposed in order to characterize various insulations in a unique manner. This measure is related to a base quantity, the refrigeration power ratio. The latter is the minimum refrigeration power, for a particular dynamic insulation limit, to the actual reliquefaction power associated with cryoliquid boiloff. This ratio serves as reference quantity which is approximately constant for a specific ductless insulation at a chosen normal boiling point. Each real container with support structure, vent tube, and other transverse components requires a larger refrigeration power. The ratio of the actual experimental power to the theoretical value of the support-less system is a suitable measure of the entire insulation performance as far as parasitic heat leakage is concerned. The present characterization is illustrated using simple thermodynamic system examples including experiments with liquid nitrogen. Numerical values are presented and a comparison with liquid helium is given.
Chen, W. E. W.↗
Design of multilayer insulation systems
Analytical models for insulation system heat transfer studies the types of materials best suited for a near solar environment. This multilayer insulation system for spacecraft can operate at temperatures in the 300 to 700 degree K range.
Cunnington, G. R., Jr.↗
Improved Thermal-Insulation Systems for Low Temperatures
Improved thermal-insulation materials and structures and the techniques for manufacturing them are undergoing development for use in low-temperature applications. Examples of low-temperature equipment for which these thermal insulation systems could provide improved energy efficiency include storage tanks for cryogens, superconducting electric-power-transmission equipment, containers for transport of food and other perishable commodities, and cold boxes for low-temperature industrial processes. These systems could also be used to insulate piping used to transfer cryogens and other fluids, such as liquefied natural gas, refrigerants, chilled water, crude oil, or low-pressure steam. The present thermal-insulation systems are layer composites based partly on the older class of thermal-insulation systems denoted generally as multilayer insulation (MLI). A typical MLI structure includes an evacuated jacket, within which many layers of radiation shields are stacked or wrapped close together. Low-thermal-conductivity spacers are typically placed between the reflection layers to keep them from touching. MLI can work very well when a high vacuum level (less than 10(exp-4) torr) is maintained and utmost care is taken during installation, but its thermal performance deteriorates sharply as the pressure in the evacuated space rises into the soft vacuum range [pressures greater than 0.1 torr (greater than 13 Pa)]. In addition, the thermal performance of MLI is extremely sensitive to mechanical compression and edge effects and can easily decrease from one to two orders of magnitude from its ideal value even when the MLI is kept under high vacuum condition. The present thermal-insulation systems are designed to perform well under soft vacuum level, in particular the range of 1 to 10 torr. They are also designed with larger interlayer spacings to reduce vulnerability to compression (and consequent heat leak) caused by installation and use. The superiority of these systems is the synergistic effect of improvements in materials, design, and manufacture.
Fesmire, James E.↗
Fused Silica Surface Coating for a Flexible Silica Mat Insulation System
Fused silica insulation coatings have been developed for application to a flexible mat insulation system. Based on crystalline phase nucleation and growth kinetics, a 99+% SiO2 glass was selected as the base composition. A coating was developed that incorporated the high emissivity phase NiCr2O4 as a two phase coating with goals of high emittance and minimum change in thermal expansion. A second major coating classification has a plasma sprayed emittance coating over a sealed pure amorphous SiO2 layer. A third area of development centered on extremely thin amorphous SiO2 coatings deposited by chemical vapor deposition. The coating characterization studies presented are mechanical testing of thin specimens extracted from the coatings, cyclic arc exposures, and emittance measurements before and after arc exposures.
Rhodes, W. H.↗
An external insulation system for a cryogenic wind tunnel
The thermal insulation system of the 0.3-Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel (0.3-m TCT) at the NASA Langley Research Center is described in text, photographs, and drawings. The system is designed to operate from room temperature down to about 77.4 K, the temperature of liquid nitrogen at 1 atmosphere. A detailed description is given of the primary insulation system which consists of glass fiber mats, a 3-part vapor barrier, and a dry nitrogen positive-pressure purge system. Also described are several secondary insulation systems required for the test section, actuators, and tunnel supports. An appendix briefly describes the original insulation system which is considered inferior to the one presently in place. Time required for opening and closing portions of the insulation system for modification or repair to the tunnel has been reduced, typically, from a few days for the original thermal insulating system to a few hours for the present system.
Dress, D. A.↗
Description of the insulation system for the Langley 0.3-Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel
The thermal insulation system of the Langley 0.3 Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel is described. The insulation system is designed to operate from room temperature down to about 77.4 K, the temperature of liquid nitrogen at 1 atmosphere. A detailed description is given of the primary insulation sytem consists of glass fiber mats, a three part vapor barrier, and a dry positive pressure purge system. Also described are several secondary insulation systems required for the test section, actuators, and tunnel supports. An appendix briefly describes the original insulation system which is considered inferior to the one presently in place. The time required for opening and closing portions of the insulation system for modification or repair to the tunnel has been reduced, typically, from a few days for the original thermal insulating system to a few hours for the present system.
Lawing, P. L.↗
Insulation systems for liquid methane fuel tanks for supersonic cruise aircraft
Two insulation systems for tanks containing liquid methane in supersonic cruise-type aircraft were designed and tested after an extensive materials investigation. One system is an external insulation and the other is an internal wet-type insulation system. Tank volume was maximized by making the tank shape approach a rectangular parallelopiped. One tank was designed to use the external insulation and the other tank to use the internal insulation. Performance of the external insulation system was evaluated on a full-scale tank under the temperature environment of -320 F to 700 F and ambient pressures of ground-level atmospheric to 1 psia. Problems with installing the internal insulation on the test tank prevented full-scale evaluation of performance; however, small-scale testing verified thermal conductivity, temperature capability, and installed density.
Brady, H. F.↗
Operation at Reduced Atmospheric Pressure and Concept of Reliability Redundancy for Optimized Design of Insulation Systems
Electrified transportation is calling for insulation design criteria that is adequate to provide elevated levels of power density, power dynamics and reliability. Increasing voltage levels are expected to cause accelerated intrinsic and extrinsic aging effects which will not be easily predictable at the design stage due to a lack of suitable modeling. Designing reliable insulation systems would require finding solutions able to control accelerated aging due to an unpredictable increase of intrinsic stresses and the onset of extrinsic stresses as partial discharges. This paper proposes the concept of reliability redundancy for the insulation design of aerospace electrical asset components, which is also validated at lower-than-standard atmospheric pressure. The principle is that extrinsic-aging-free design might be achieved upon determining the aging stress or abnormal service stresses distribution and being sure that aging will not generate conditions that can incept extrinsic aging (partial discharges) during operation life. However, such information is never, in practice, fully available to insulation system designers. Hence, especially in critical applications such as electrified aircraft, aerospace, and combat ships a further level of reliability should be added to a partial-discharge-free design, which can consist of the use of corona-resistant materials and/or of life models able to consider the accelerated aging effect of partial discharges (or any other type of extrinsic-accelerated aging factor). Innovative life modeling considering both extrinsic and intrinsic aging stresses, insulating material testing to estimate model parameters, and a metric for quantifying the extent of corona (or partial discharge) resistance can lead to establishing feasibility and limit conditions for optimized or fully reliability-redundant design. It is shown in the paper that if an extrinsic-aging-free design is not feasible, and it is therefore replaced by a redundant design, a further level of reliability redundancy can be provided by effective condition monitoring plans.
Montanari, Gian Carlo↗
Degradation of multilayer insulation systems by penetrations.
Multilayer insulation system degradation by penetration heat transfer
Murray, D. O.↗
Optimization of Layer Densities for Spacecraft Multilayered Insulation Systems
Numerous tests of various multilayer insulation systems have indicated that there are optimal densities for these systems. However, the only method of calculating this optimal density was by a complex physics based algorithm developed by McIntosh. In the 1970's much data were collected on the performance of these insulation systems with many different variables analyzed. All formulas generated included number of layers and layer density as geometric variables in solving for the heat flux, none of them was in a differentiable form for a single geometric variable. It was recently discovered that by converting the equations from heat flux to thermal conductivity using Fourier's Law, the equations became functions of layer density, temperatures, and material properties only. The thickness and number of layers of the blanket were merged into a layer density. These equations were then differentiated with respect to layer density. By setting the first derivative equal to zero, and solving for the layer density, the critical layer density was determined. Taking a second derivative showed that the critical layer density is a minimum in the function and thus the optimum density for minimal heat leak, this is confirmed by plotting the original function. This method was checked and validated using test data from the Multipurpose Hydrogen Testbed which was designed using McIntosh's algorithm.
Johnson, W. L.↗
Development and performance evaluation of active insulation systems using solid-state thermal switches
Traditional building envelopes have passive insulation systems that cannot respond to dynamic changes in the environment. An Active Insulation System (AIS) consists of Active Insulation Materials (AIMs) that dynamically vary the thermal conductivity of the insulation system. Several researchers have evaluated the impact of AIS on building thermal and energy performance by using simulation tools. Up to 70% savings in annual heating and cooling energy and significant reductions in peak demand have been predicted for some climates with wall systems employing AIS. However, materials and assembly development still need a cost-effective product that achieves the required performance. Here, in this study, we present the process of developing an AIS that we will install in a test hut for its performance evaluation. Minimum performance criteria of the AIS system are developed based on R-low/R-high ratio, required time and efficiency to switch states, and cost estimates. The following steps during this study are creating the concept to meet the requirements, predicting the performance via simulations, developing the experimental setup for bench-scale testing, and finally, constructing a full-scale wall assembly and monitoring the performance when exposed to environmental chamber tests. The selected approach uses off-the-shelf products to create an AIS that can switch R-value between 0.98 ft 2 ·°F·h/BTU (0.173 m 2 ·K/W) and 5.81 ft 2 ·°F·h/BTU (1.02 m 2 ·K/W) and have a switching time of less than one minute between R-high and R-low.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Internal insulation system development
The development of an internal insulation system for cryogenic liquids is described. The insulation system is based on a gas layer concept in which capillary or surface tension effects are used to maintain a stable gas layer within a cellular core structure between the tank wall and the contained cryogen. In this work, a 1.8 meter diameter tank was insulated and tested with liquid hydrogen. Ability to withstand cycling of the aluminum tank wall to 450 K was a design and test condition.
Gille, J. P.↗