Analysis of gas-to-liquid phase transformation of hydrogen in cryogenic cooling tube

Abstract

Under the era of energy crisis, hydrogen energy is considered as one of the most potential alternative energies. Liquid hydrogen has much higher energy density per unit volume than gas hydrogen and is counted as the excellent energy storage method. In this study, Navier-Stokes equations based on 2-phase model were solved by using a computational fluid dynamics program and the liquefaction process of gaseous hydrogen passing through a cryogenic cooling tube was analyzed. The copper with high thermal conductivity was assumed as the material for cryogenic cooling tube. For different inlet velocities of 5 m/s, 10 m/s and 20 m/s for hydrogen gas, the distributions of fluid temperature, axial and radial velocities, and volume fractions of gas and liquid hydrogens were compared. These research results are expected to be used as basic data for the future design and fabrication of cryogenic cooling tube to transform the hydrogen gas into liquid hydrogen.