Feasibility Analysis on Cryogenic Properties of Supercritical Nitrogen to be used in the Cooling of Hg-Based High Temperature Superconductors for Electric Aircraft Propulsion
Abhinav Kumar1, J. V. Muruga Lal Jeyan2
1Abhinav Kumar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara (Punjab), India.
2J. V. Muruga Lal Jeyan, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara (Punjab), India.
Manuscript received on 14 December 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 22 December 2019 | Manuscript Published on 31 December 2019 | PP: 106-110 | Volume-9 Issue-1S3 December 2019 | Retrieval Number: A10221291S319/19©BEIESP | DOI: 10.35940/ijeat.A1022.1291S319
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) and Advanced Hybrid Electric Aircrafts (AHEA) like NASA NX-3, SUGAR, NASA X-57 and STARC ABL are going to be the future of avionics as they have potential to improve fuel economy, emissions and noise levels. The agencies have suggested using superconducting cables for the electric transmission to reduce heat losses. The limit of critical current has reached 134 K where Hg- based ceramic materials are available that can superconduct at this temperature range. In order to retain the superconductivity, the cables have to be cooled below its critical temperature. Liquid nitrogen (LN2) boils of at 77 K which further leads to multiphase heat transfer challenges. An attempt has been made in the present work to overcome such challenges and a novel concept of using Supercritical Nitrogen (SCN), having critical temperature 126.19K and pressure as 3.3958MPa (consist single phase), as a cryogen for the cooling of Hg-Based Superconductors, has been introduced. Drastic variations have been found for thermophysical properties of SCN near the critical point. It has been concluded that few temperature and pressure ranges are suitable if one wants to incorporate SCN as cryogen for Hg-based superconductors.
Keywords: Electrified Aircraft Propulsion, Supercritical Nitrogen, Hg-Based Superconductors, Superconducting cables, Supercritical Fluids, Hybrid Electric Aircrafts.
Scope of the Article: Fluid Mechanics