PRIYADARSHINI INSTITUTE ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

NAGPUR

DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

Cryogenic Insulations

By-
Dhiraj Powar
Contents 1.Introduction

2.Need

3.Classification
Insulation
4.Advantages

5.Disadvantages
 Introduction
• In today’s world, the use of cryogenics and low-temperature
refrigeration is taking a more and more significant role.
• From the food industry, transportation, energy, and medical
applications to the Space Shuttle, cryogenic liquids must be
stored, handled, and transferred from one point to another.
• To minimize heat leaks into storage tanks and transfer lines,
high-performance materials are needed to provide high levels
of thermal insulation.
• For progress and efficiency into the 21st century, high
performance thermal insulation systems are needed….
What is need of Insulations ?
Different modes of heat transfer are:

1. Conduction: The heat is

conducted through lateral beams,
neck and residual gas conduction.
2. Convection: The air between
inner and outer vessels convert
heat into the liquid.
3. Radiation: The radiation heat
transfer from 300 K outer vessel
to 77 K inner vessel.
 Classification
• Several types of insulation are used in Cryogenic applications .

• Expanded foams
• Gas filled powders& fibrous
materials
Types of • Vacuum
Insulation • Evacuated powders & fibrous
materials
• Opacified powders
• Multilayer insulations

• These insulations listed in order of the increasing Cost and Performance .

 Continue…

• For a Particular system ,the specific insulations to be used is

determined by-
1.Cost
3.Ease of Application
2.Weight
4.Ruggedness
5.Effectiveness
6.Thermal Conductivity
 1.Expanded Foam Insulation
• Structure & Construction:
• It’s Cellular structure is formed when evolving gas during
foam formation .

• Some Examples- Polyurethane foam ,Polystyrene foam,

Rubber, Silica & Glass foam.

• The thermal conductivity of this insulations depends on the

Foaming gas, Internal radiant heat transfer and Solid
conduction .

• The foaming gas is CO₂, which is widely used because it has

low Vapor pressure at Liquid Nitrogen temperature .
• The thermal conductivity of the fresh foam is initially decreased when
one side is cooled to Liquid N₂ temperature because much of the CO₂
condenses within insulation .

• After the foam has been exposed to ambient air for a few months, then
the thermal conductivity may increases as much as 40 % because of air
diffuses into the cells and replaces some of the CO₂.

• When the foam exposed to atmosphere containing H₂, He gas , the

thermal conductivity may be increased up to 3-4 factor .
• If the foam were fitted closely around a LN vessel , the foam would
crack during cool-down because it shrinks more than the metal inner
vessel .
Thermal Conductivity of some foam insulations :

Sr.No Foam Density Thermal Conductivity

Kg/m³ Lbm/ft³ mW/m-K Btu/hr-ft-ᵒF

1. Polyurethane 11 0.70 33 0.019
2. Polystyrene 39 2.4 33 0.019
46 2.9 26 0.015
3. Rubber 80 5.0 36 0.021
4. Silica 160 10.0 55 0.032
5. Glass 140 8.7 35 0.020

• Table 1: Apparent thermal conductivity of foam insulations for

boundary temperature of 330 k and 77K
 Foam Insulation
Advantages Disadvantages
• Lowcost • High thermal contraction.
• No need of rigidvacuum • Conductivity maychange
jacket withtime.
• Good mechanicalStrength

• The foams can be used as insulation if contraction joints are

provided in foam and if foam is enclosed with plastic liner such
as Myler to prevent diffusion of water vapor & air into the joints
.
2.Gas-filled powders & Fibrous materials

• This includes fiber glass ,powdered cork ,Perlite ,Santocel,

rock wool & Vermiculite.
• The small sizes of voids within the material are responsible for
the reduction/ elimination of convection .
• In case of fine powders , the mean free path of gaseous
conduction shifts from continuum to free – molecular gaseous
conduction
Thermal Conductivity of gas-filled powders & fibrous
material insulation :

Sr.No Insulations Density Thermal Conductivity

Kg/m³ Lbm/ft³ mW/m-K Btu/hr-ft-ᵒF

1. Perlite 50 3.1 26 0.015
210 13.1 44 0.025

2. Silicaaerogel 80 5.0 19 0.011

3. Vermiculite 120 7.5 52 0.030

4. Fiber glass 110 6.9 25 0.014
5. Rockwool 160 10.0 35 0.020

• Table 2: Apparent thermal conductivity of gas-filled powders &

fibrous material insulations for boundary temperature of 330 k
and 90K.
Gas filled powder& Fibrous material Insulation

Advantages Disadvantages

• Lowcost • Vapor barrier required .

• Easily applied toirregular • Conductivity mayincrease
shapes when powderpacked
• Not flammable • Hydrophilic nature
 3.Vacuum Insulation

• This insulations extensively

used for small laboratory-size
Dewar's.
• It eliminates two components of
heat transfer–
1. conduction
2. convection
• Heat transfer due to – radiation

• Heat transfers from hot outer

jacket to the cold inner vessel &
by gaseous conduction through
the residual gas within annular
space Vacuum insulated cryogenic pipe system
 Vacuum Insulation

Advantages Disadvantages
• Easily applied to • Apermanent high Vacuum is
Complicated shapes required .
• Small –cool downloss • Low-emissivityboundary
• Low heat flux for small surfacesneeded
thickness
 4.Evacuated powder & Fibrous material

• To reduce the heat transfer rate through these insulation ,evacuate

the gas from the insulation.
Figure: Variation of mean apparent thermal conductivity with residual gas
pressure for an evacuated-powder insulation .
• For highly evacuated powders & fibrous insulations near
room temp ,the radiant contribution is larger than the solid
conduction contribution to the total heat-transfer rate .
• On the other hand, the radiant contribution becomes small
for temp between LN & LH or Helium .
• For this reason ,evacuated powders are superior in
performance compared with vacuum alone.

• We can use –Perlite ,Silica aerogel, Calcium-silicate,

Lamblack,Fiberglass as a in insulation material which has
less thermal conductivity at boundary conditions.
4.Evacuated powder & Fibrous material
Advantages Disadvantages

• Vacuumlevel less stringent • May pack under vibratory

• Complicated shapesmay loads or thermalcycling
easilyinsulated • Vacuumfilters arerequired
• Relatively easyto evacuate • It retains moisture ,soit
must be protected .
 5. Opacified-powder insulation
• The performance evacuated powders could be improved by
reducing radiant heat transfer .

• This improvement is accomplished by addition of Copper or

Aluminum flaks to evacuated powders.

• By using optimum amount of opacifer ,the thermal

conductivity of an evacuated powder can be reduced .

• According to safety point of view, copper flaks is preferable

than aluminum becoz aluminum has large heat of combustion
with oxygen
 Opacified- Powder insulation

Advantages
• Better performancethan
evacuatedpowders
• Complicated shapes may
easily insulated .
• Vacuumrequire is not
stringent
Disadvantages
• Highcost
• Explosion hazardous with
Aluminum in oxan oxygen
atmosphere
• Settling of Metallicflakes

Examples:- Copper-santocel
Aluminum-santocel
bronze-santocel
Silica- carbon
6.Multilayor insulation
• The multilayer insulations consist of
alternating layers of highly reflecting
materials like- aluminum foil, copper foil,
aluminized Mylar,& low conductivity
spacer such as fiberglass or paper mat
,glass fabric ,nylon mesh .
• The layers may also be separated by
crinkling or embossing the sheets so that
they touch only at discreet point & a
spacer is not required .
• The multilayer insulations must be evacuated to pressure below
10 mPa.
• It has low thermal conductivity .
• Radiation is minimized by using many layers of metal foil while
solid conduction through spacer is removed by using a low
conductivity fibrous material and gaseous conduction is
minimized by reducing residual gas pressure .
• The bulk density of insulation material is depends on the
thickness and density of reflective shields.
 Multilayer insulations
Advantages Disadvantages
• Bestperformance • Highcost
• Lowweight • Difficult to applyon
• Lower-cool downloss complicatedshapes
• Betterstability • Problems withlateral
conduction
• More stringentvacuum
requirement