CRYOGENICS

What is CRYOGENICS ?
 Kryo – Very cold (frost)
 Genics – to produce
 “Science and art of producing very cold”

 Cryogenics is the science and technology associated

with generation of low temperature below 123 K.
 National bureau of Standards, Colorado.
Applications

 SPACE
 MECHANICAL
 MEDICINE
 GAS INDUSTRY
 FOOD PROCESSING ………..
Space
 Rocket Propulsion

 Cryogenic engines are powered by cryogenic propellants

.
 Liquid Hydrogen is used as a fuel to propel the rocket.

 Liquid Oxygen is used as an oxidizer.

Space
 Cooling of Infra-Red (IR) sensor
 Cooling of IR detectors, Telescopes, Cold probes etc.
 Development of miniature and small cryo coolers for
satellites for an improved accuracy and reliability of earth
observation.
 Space simulations chambers are realistic environment for
air/space craft. The cold space is simulated at cryogenic
temperatures by use of LN2.
Space
 The levels of vacuum required in space simulation
chambers are very high.
 This is achieved by the use of cryo pumps and turbo
molecular pumps.
Mechanical
 Magnetic Separation
 Magnetic separation technique is used in variety of
applications like enhancing the brightness of kaolin,
improving the quality of ultra-high purity quartz etc.-
Superconducting Magnet ensures proper separation.
Mechanical
 Heat Treatment:
 The lives of the tools die castings & their dies, forgings,
jigs & fixtures etc, increase when subjected to cryogenic
heat treatment.

 The life of guitar strings increases by 4 to 5times with no

need for tuning.
Mechanical
 Cryogenic recycling:
 Turns the scrap into raw material by subjecting it to
cryogenics temperatures. This is mostly used for PVC,
rubbers.
Medicine
Cryo Surgery
 When a live tissue is frozen and maintained for
sometime in a frozen state, the blood supply to this
tissue is stopped and it dies due to lack of oxygen.

 When thawed the tissue turns into a blister and is slowly

eliminated either by dropping off as scab or getting
excreted.
Cryo Surgery
 Cryosurgery is a technique in which the harmful tissues
are destroyed by freezing them to cryogenic
temperature.
 Cryosurgery has shorter hospital stay, less blood loss,
and small recovery time.
 It is generally used in patients with localized prostate
and kidney cancer, skin disorders, retinal problems, etc.
Cryo Surgery
 Skin (cancer)

 Eye (removal of cataracts)

 Brain (Parkinson’s disease)

 Gynaecology

 Internal surgery
Cryo Surgery
Advantages:

 Lower chances of infection

 Smaller or no incision

 Shorter or no hospital stay

 Better cosmetic quality

Medicine
 Cell Preservation
 Cells and tissues can be kept indefinitely in a state of
suspended animation by storing in liquid nitrogen; but
cell death takes place during freezing and thawing.
 The mechanism of cell death is fully understood, but
related to formation of extracellular/ intercellular ice
crystals, migration of water across the cell membrane and
to changes in the salt concentration in the intracellular
fluid.
 Systems are developed to preserve blood cells, plasma
cells, human organs and animal organs at cryogenic
temperatures.
Medicine
 Still some cells can be frozen and thawed with high viability rate
by:
Following a strict temperature – time protocol.


 Adding certain chemicals like glycerol .

 Applications
 Human erythrocytes and platelets

 Bull sperms

 Cattle and other livestock embryos

 Eye cornea and skin

 Many bacteria and fungi

Food Processing
 Preserving food at low temperature is a well-known
technique.
 Cooling of sea foods, meat (sea export), and milk products
for long time preservation is achieved by use of LN2.
Food Processing
 Freezing of marine products
 Faster cooling
 (cryo freezing, all cells are cooled simultaneously, water in the
material is frozen not the surroundings)
 Smaller ice crystals
 Low drip loss
 Better taste and flavor
 Individual Quick Freezing
 No additional freezing load
 Better consumer acceptance
 Simpler and lighter equipment
Food Processing
 Transportation of frozen foods
 Liquid N2 is sprayed on the top of the cabin

 Simpler and lighter equipments

 Better temperature control

 Gas Industry
 Production of industrial gases-Cryogenic liquefaction and
distillation of air

 The transportation of gases across the world is done in liquid

state. This is done by storing the liquid at cryogenic temperature.

 The use of inert gases in welding industry has initiated higher

demand for gas production in the recent past.

 Cryogens like LOX, LH2 are used in rocket propulsion while

LH2 is being considered for automobile(H2,20mcrJ).

 Liquid nitrogen is used as pre-coolant in most of the cryogenic

systems.
Gas Industry
 Steel industry – Oxygen is used in the production of steel.
Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF)uses oxygen instead of air.

 Nitrogen and argon are primarily used to provide an inert

atmosphere in chemical, metallurgical and welding
industries.
Super Conductivity
 The Super conducting magnets for both NMR and MRI
machines (used for body scanning) are cooled by liquid
Helium.
 Maglev Locomotion
 Maglev Train runs on the principle of Magnetic
Levitation.
 The train gets levitated from the guide way by using
electromagnetic forces between superconducting magnets
on the vehicle and coils on the ground.
 This results in no contact motion and therefore no friction
Super Conductivity
 High Energy Physics
 CERN is an organization for nuclear research in Europe which was
founded in 1954.
 It consists of a 27Km accelerator ring with four detectors.
 All the magnet systems (SC) and its accessories are kept at 1.9 K
using the liquid Helium.
 A liquid nitrogen layer (77 K) is used as shielding for liquid helium.
 It is an experiment seeking answers to Big Bang theory and
collision of atomic particles.
 High Energy Physics
 ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)
is an engineering project for nuclear fusion reactor.

 The superconducting magnets are maintained at 4 K by

liquid helium.

 The experiments are carried out to enable mankind to

generate energy for future.
Vacuum Technology
 Vacuum can be created in two ways;

 Removal of gases from the vessel.

 Immobilization of gas molecules by;

Freezing
Adsorption on a matrix
Vacuum Technology
 Cryo pumps produce vacuum by,

 Freezing of H2O, CO2 at T=80K

 Freezing of N2, O2, Ar at T= 4 to 20K
 Adsorbing He, H2 on activated charcoal at
T= 4 to 20K
 Vacuum Technology
 Advantages

 Extremely clean vacuum

 High pumping speed
 Moderate cost

 Applications
 Manufacture of electronic chips
 SQUIDS & other SC devices
 Space simulations chambers
REFRIGERATION
 Coefficient of Performance (COP) is defined as the ratio of heat
extracted (QL) to the work input (W) at a particular
temperature.
 The best performance is delivered by a system, when it adapts a
reverse Carnot Cycle as the working cycle.
 The COP of such a system is called as Carnot COP and is given
by

 Carnot COP is often used as a benchmark to compare the

performances of refrigerating systems
 COP represents watt of cooling effect obtained per Watt of power
input at a particular temperature
 If it is desired to maintain TL as 100 K with 1 W as cooling power. TH
is at 300 K. The Carnot COP is

 It means that 2 W of input power is required to deliver 1 W of

cooling power at 100 K.
 As TL decreases, the Carnot COP decreases