A study of the temperatures achievable by expansion of high pressure gas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
It was proposed in Ref. 1 that cryogenic temperatures can be achieved by the adiabatic isentropic expansion of a gas. The scheme is shown in Fig. 1. High pressure gas contained in A expands by means of valve 1 and cools. Valve 2 is then opened along with nozzle valve to push cold test gas through the working section.
In the ideal case the process is isentropic. To achieve reservoir conditions of T=120K and P = 4·4 bars, the initial pressure needed would be 110 bars. However, because of heat transfer from the walls of the tube, the process is not ideal and the actual initial pressure needed is higher. The main parameters which affect the heat transfer are the internal surface area of the tube, the rate of expansion governed by the size of valve 1 and the initial pressure of the gas.