3-D Modeling and Rapid Prototyping of a Cryogenic Liquefier

Abstract

Our country is still dependent on imports for most of its needs in cryogenic refrigerators and liquefiers. These products are proprietary in nature which makes it very expensive for its cost and maintenance. With support from the Department of Atomic Energy, our institute has initiated a program on development and study of a nitrogen liquefier of intermediate capacity in the range of 10-50 liters/hr by using technologies already developed in our country. The process is based on a suitable modified Claude cycle which minimizes the number of heat exchangers and also takes care to accommodate the in house developed turbo expander. The thermodynamic parameters (temperature, pressure, pinch point temperature) and rate of mass flow are evaluated to obtain the required designing specifications for each component. The main objective of this report is to model all the components that are to be placed inside the vessel using CAD software and make an assembly so that all the components are placed properly inside the vessel and then connect pipes between components according to the design specifications.