INTRODUCTION

Cryogenics
Cryogenics originated from two Greek words kyros which means cold or
freezing and genes which means born or produced.
Cryogenics is the study of very low temperatures or the production of the same.
This field of science also looks at what happens to a wide variety of materials
from metals to gases when they are exposed to these temperatures. The
temperatures studied in cryogenics are those below -243.67 degrees Fahrenheit
(120 Kelvin); such low temperatures do not occur in nature.

Cryogenics is the study of how to get to low temperatures and of how materials
behave when they get there. Besides the familiar temperature scales of
Fahrenheit and Celsius (Centigrade), cryogenicists use other temperature
scales, the Kelvin and Rankine temperature scale. Although the apparatus used
for spacecraft is specialized, some of the general approaches are the same as
used in everyday life. Cryogenics involves the study of low temperatures from
about 100 Kelvin to absolute zero.
These low temperatures have been used to liquefy atmospheric gases like
oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, methane, argon, helium, and neon. The gases are
condensed, collected, distilled and separated. Methane is used in liquid natural
gas (LNG), and oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen are used in rocket fuels and
other aerospace and defense applications, in metallurgy and in various
chemical processes. Helium is used in diving decompression chambers and to
maintain suitably low temperatures for superconducting magnets, and neon is
used in lighting. Liquefied gases like liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen are used
in many cryogenic applications. Liquid nitrogen is the most commonly used
element in cryogenics and is legally purchasable around the world. Liquid
helium is also commonly used and allows for the lowest temperatures to be
reached. These gases can be stored on large tanks called Dewar tanks, named
after James Dewar, who first liquefied hydrogen, or in giant tanks used for
commercial applications.
Cryogenic Fuels
Cryogenic fuels are fuels that require storage at extremely low temperatures in
order to maintain them in a liquid state. These fuels are used in machinery that
operates in space (e.g. rocket ships and satellites) because ordinary fuel cannot
be used there, due to absence of an environment that
supports combustion (on earth, oxygen is abundant in the atmosphere,
whereas in human-explorable space, oxygen is virtually non-
existent). Cryogenic fuels most often constitute liquified gases such as liquified
hydrogen .Cryogenic fuels, mainly liquid hydrogen, have been used as rocket
fuels. Liquid oxygen is used as an oxidizer of hydrogen, but oxygen is not,
strictly speaking, a fuel.
Various cryogenic fuel-oxidizer combinations have been tried, but the
combination of liquid hydrogen (LH2) fuel and the liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer
is one of the most widely used. Both components are easily and cheaply
available, and when burned have one of the highest entropy releases by
combustion, producing specific impulse up to 450 s (effective exhaust velocity
4.4 km/s).

Cryogenic Engines

Cryogenic Rocket Engines The engine components are also cooled so the fuel
doesnt boil to a gas in the lines that feed the engine. The thrust comes from
the rapid expansion from liquid to gas with the gas emerging from the motor
at very high speed. The energy needed to heat the fuels comes from burning
them, once they are gasses. Cryogenic engines are the highest performing
rocket motors. One disadvantage is that the fuel tanks tend to be bulky and
require heavy insulation to store the propellant. Their high fuel efficiency,
however, outweighs this disadvantage. The Space Shuttles main engines used
for lift off are cryogenic engines. The Shuttles smaller thrusters for orbital
maneuvering use non-cryogenic hypergolic fuels, which are compact and are
stored at warm temperatures. Currently, only the United States, Russia, China,
France, Japan and India have mastered cryogenic rocket technology.
HISTORY
The only known claim to liquid propellant rocket engine experiments in the
nineteenth century was made by a Peruvian scientist named Pedro Paulet.
However, he did not immediately publish his work. In 1927 he wrote a letter to
a newspaper in Lima, claiming he had experimented with a liquid rocket engine
while he was a student in Paris three decades earlier. Historians of early
rocketry experiments, among them Max Valier and Willy Ley, have given
differing amounts of credence to Paulets report. Paulet described laboratory
tests of liquid rocket engines, but did not claim to have flown a liquid rocket.
The first flight of a vehicle powered by a liquid-rocket took place on March
16,1926 at Auburn, Massachusetts, when American professor Robert H.
Goddard launched a rocket which used liquid oxygen and gasoline as
propellants. The rocket, which was dubbed "Nell", rose just 41 feet during a
2.5-second flight that ended in a cabbage field, but it was an important
demonstration that liquid rockets were possible. 3 Toc H Institute Of Science
And Technology, Arakkunnam, Ernakulam.
During World War II, when powerful rocket engines were first considered by
the German, American and Soviet engineers independently, all discovered that
rocket engines need high mass flow rate of both oxidizer and fuel to generate a
sufficient thrust. At that time oxygen and low molecular weight hydrocarbons
were used as oxidizer and fuel pair. At room temperature and pressure, both
are in gaseous state. Hypothetically, if propellants had been stored as
pressurized gases, the size and mass of fuel tanks themselves would severely
decrease rocket efficiency. Therefore, to get the required mass flow rate, the
only option was to cool the propellants down to cryogenic temperatures
(below 150 C, 238 F), converting them to liquid form. Hence, all cryogenic
rocket engines are also, by definition, either liquid-propellant rocket engines or
hybrid rocket engines. NASA's workhorse space shuttle uses cryogenic
hydrogen fuel as its primary means of getting into orbit, as did all of the
rockets built for the Soviet space program by Sergei Korolev. (This was a bone
of contention between him and rival engine designer Valentin Glushko, who
felt that cryogenic fuels were impractical for large-scale rockets such as the ill-
fated N-1 rocket spacecraft.)
Russian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev developed a version of its popular
design Tu-154 with a cryogenic fuel system, known as the Tu-155. The plane
uses a fuel referred to as liquefied natural gas or LNG, and made its first flight
in 1989.

The RL10 was the first liquid hydrogen cryogenic rocket engine to be built in
the United States, and development of the engine by Marshall Space Flight
Center and Pratt & Whitney began in the 1950s, with the first flight occurring
in 1961. These engines were one of the main factors of NASA's success in
reaching the Moon.
WORKING PRINCIPLE
The principle of rocket propulsion depends on the following two laws: -
(i) Newton 's third law of motion
(ii) Law of conservation of momentum
We have already read about these laws, and now we will see how they can be
applied for propelling the rocket.
The motion of a rocket is an interesting application of Newtons third
law of motion & momentum principle. The rocket expels a jet of hot gases
from its tail. This is say, an action force. The jet of hot gases exerts a force on
the rocket, propelling it forward; this is the reaction force.
From the momentum point of view, the hot gases acquire momentum in the
backward direction & the rocket acquires an equal amount of momentum in
the forward direction.
The simplest example to understand the propulsion of rockets is that of a
balloon.
A balloon shooting forward (when the mouth of the balloon filled with air is
released) and a rocket hurtling into space are propelled by similar forces. The
air in a closed balloon exerts a uniform outward force. But when air rushes out
of its neck (similar to exhaust gases leaving rockets) disturbs this equilibrium.
Thus an equal and opposite force is exerted on the surface opposite to the
neck. This drives the balloon forward.
As we have seen in the previous section propellants are used to provide thrust
to the rockets. These propellants on burning produces large amount of gas,
which are allowed to pass through nozzle. On passing through the nozzle, high
pressure is generated i.e. gas comes out with high pressure.
Now to increase the thrust, one basic property is used while designing the
nozzle. The neck of the nozzle is kept very small as compared to the body of
the rocket. So the pressure of the gas increases and so does the velocity. Thus
high thrust is achieved.
Cryogenic rocket engine derives thrust like all other rocket engines by
accelerating an impulse carrier to high speeds.
The chemical energy stored in the fuel is converted into kinetic energy by
burning the fuel in the thrust chamber and subsequent expansion in the nozzle
to produce thrust.
The thrust equation of 1D-flows of ideal gas at constant pressure is:

Gas Generator: The main function of gas generator is delivery of sufficient

amount of driver gas at designed temperature a pressure which generates
continuous propellant supply of thrust chamber.
Turbo Pumps: They receive liquid propellants at low pressure from vehicle
tanks which are then supplied to the combustion chamber. Generally, radial
and axial turbines are used.
Pump: In simple words, pump adds energy to propellants through the rotation.
The material used for all the turbo machinery chambers are: Al alloys, H.S.S,
S.S, and NiTi-Co based alloys.
Thrust Chamber: Thrust is generated in thrust chamber by the efficiency
conversion of Chemical energy in to gases kinetic energy This can be obtain by
combustion of liquid propellants. In the combustion chamber followed by the
acceleration of hot gases throw conversion/diversion section of nozzle to
acquire high gas velocities and hands thrust.
Nozzle: The pressure generated in combustion chamber can be used increased
thrust by acceleration of combustion gas to high supersonic velocity. Nozzle
generally passes parabolic enters. (Because when high velocities gases
entrance and at exit of nozzle, pressure of exhaust gas increases with high
value and hence velocity and hence velocities reduces).

COMPONENTS
The major components of a cryogenic rocket engine are: combustion chamber
(thrust chamber), pyrotechnic igniter, fuel injector, fuel cryopumps, oxidizer
cryopumps, gas turbine, cryo valves, regulators, the fuel tanks, and rocket
engine nozzle. In terms of feeding propellants to combustion chamber,
cryogenic rocket engines (or, generally, all liquid-propellant engines) work in
either an expander cycle, a gas-generator cycle, a staged combustion cycle, or
the simplest pressure-fed cycle.

The cryopumps are always turbopumps powered by a flow of fuel through gas
turbines. Looking at this aspect, engines can be differentiated into a main flow
or a bypass flow configuration. In the main flow design, all the pumped fuel is
fed through the gas turbines, and in the end injected to the combustion
chamber. In the bypass configuration, the fuel flow is split; the main part goes
directly to the combustion chamber to generate thrust, while only a small
amount of the fuel goes to the turbine.
ENGINE DESIGNS
To introduce propellants into the thrust chamber, two principle designs of LRE
are used: pressure-fed and pump-fed. The first one is the most simple and
reliable, the second one enables to get higher specific impulse.

Pressure-Fed Engines
In a pressure-fed LRE, the propellants are forced to the thrust chamber by
pressure of gas which pressurizes the tanks. For pressurization, a separate gas
supply is provided. So, there is a
special tank with pressurizing gas
onboard (helium is commonly
used for this purpose).

Pressure-fed engine, the greatest

advantage of pressure-fed
engines is simplicity and thus
reliability of this design: contrary
to pump-fed engines, no complex
turbopumps are needed, no gas
generators etc. Such engines
contain much less parts and much
less moving parts, so there are
much less things that might fail.
The procedure of engine cut-off
and restart is also very simple: there is no need to stop and restart the
turbopumps, its enough to close or open the valves, and the propellant flow to
the thrust chamber ceases or recommence. To avoid the pressurizing gas to cool
down due to expansion inside the tanks, it is often warmed up in the heat
exchanger.

The advantages of this solution make pressure-fed engines ideal for applications
where reliability and simplicity are important, as well as capability for multiple
restarts. This is the reason why all engines of the Apollo CSM, as well as all
engines of the Apollo LM were pressure-fed. Shuttle orbital maneuvering and
control engines are pressure-fed as well. Maneuvering and attitude control
thrusters of satellites and space probes are mostly pressure-fed since they are
restarted thousands of times. However, this design has two principle
disadvantages (mutually related). Specific characteristics of rocket engines
depend on the pressure in the thrust chamber. But the pressure in the thrust
chamber cannot exceed the pressure in the the tanks (actually, the pressure in
the tanks should be higher). To withstand high pressure, large tanks should have
more robust and heavier construction. The larger is the tank, thicker should be
its walls to bear the same pressure. Thus, pressure-fed systems are generally
limited by chamber pressures of ~10 bar (on the Apollo SM it was 7 bars, on the
LM Ascent Stage 8.4 bar). They are rarely applied on first stages due to large size
of the tanks (however, the engine on the 2nd stage of the Delta II rocket is
pressure- fed). To avoid additional pressure in the tanks, regenerative cooling
jacket is often avoided, that obliges to use ablative and radiative cooling.

Pump-Fed Engines
Pump-fed systems do not have the limitations of the pressure-fed systems. In
this design, the propellant is forced
into the thrust chambers with
dedicated pumps. The required
efficiency may be provided only with
centrifugal pumps, herewith the pump
should rotate at tens of thousands
rpm. Only a turbine is capable to
ensure such speeds, so the natural
solution is a turbopump. A turbopump
consists of one or more pumps often
mounted on the same shaft with a
driving turbine. The turbine is driven
by gas flow, the gas may be produced
in a gas generator by preburning some
amount of the propellant, by burning a
separate propellant (like hydrogen
peroxide in the RD-107/108 engines on
the Soyuz) or by gasification of some propellant in the cooling jacket of the
thrust chamber and the nozzle. The pumps may be multistage. The turbopump
assembly may include also booster pumps, which are added to unload principle
pumps and to increase the pressure in the gas chamber (these pumps may be
driven by a hydraulic turbine powered by liquid from a high-pressure line, but
also by the main turbine). Turbopump assembly is the most complex part of the
engine, since it should have enormous productivity and work in harsh conditions
(the turbine is driven by very hot gases and rotates very quickly). For example,
the turbopump of RD-170/171 (the most powerful LRE ever produced, Energia
& Zenit launch vehicles, LOX/kerosene) has a mass flow rate of ~2.4 tons/s, it
provides the pressure in the thrust chamber of ~250 bar, the power of the
turbine is ~200 MW, it rotates at ~14 000 rpm. The pressure of gases driving the
turbine is ~500 bar, their temperature is ~5000 C. At the same time the
turbopump should be compact and lightweight (the mass of whole RD-170 is
about 10 tons). So high characteristics are possible only because the lifetime of
such assemblies is only tens or hundreds of seconds. However, there exist pump-
fed engines of multiple use which may work for hours, be restarted and continue
to work after revision. An example of such engines is the Space Shuttle Main
Engine (SSME).

The obvious advantage of pump-fed engines is that they may provide very high
pressures inside the thrust chamber and so their specific impulse is high. In spite
of their complexity, they may be compact enough and be lighter than pressure-
fed engines with their pressurizing gas vessels and thick propellant tanks; thanks
to their efficiency, they make it possible to spend less propellant. Their
complexity is the highest disadvantage, since complex turbopump assemblies
tend to be more expensive and less reliable than pressure-fed designs. However,
if efficiency is critical, pump-fed design is a natural solution. Turbopumps are
used on all stages of launch vehicles, but also on spacecraft. The Soviet lunar
probes E8 (Lunokhods, soil sample missions) used pump-fed design, and the
Soviet lunar module for the manned expeditions as well (since weight was
critical). The space stations Salyut, the Soyuz manned spacecraft have been
provided with pump-fed engines.
GAS GENERATOR CYCLE
There are several designs of pump-fed engines. The most spread is the gas
generator cycle. In these engines the turbine of the turbopump is powered by
gas resulting from burning some of propellant in the gas generator (also called
preburner sometimes) a special small combustion chamber. In some designs
there may be two gas generators (like the RD-170/171), sometimes each gas
generator provides gas for separate turbines (of fuel and oxidizer). The mixture
in the gas generator is ordinarily very fuel-rich or oxidizer-rich in order to keep
the temperature reasonably low and not to damage the blades of the turbine
(actually, only small amount of the propellant burns, the rest is only gasified).
After the turbine, the gas is ejected, either through the main nozzle either
through a special nozzle. Due to its low temperature, its contribution to the
engine thrust is quite low, so it is nearly wasted for the thrust. Several percent
of the propellant are lost. However, sometimes this gas is used in steering
nozzles or may participate in film cooling of the main nozzle (like in the F-1
engine of the Saturn V).
STAGED COMBUSTION CYCLE
To improve efficiency of the engine, another version of this cycle is used, that is
the so- called staged combustion cycle (or closed cycle). The main difference of
this cycle is that the gas after turbine is not dumped, but is returned to the thrust
chamber. So, all propellant and all heat pass through the thrust chamber and
nothing is wasted. The disadvantage of this solution is that the turbine have to
do work against the pressure of the gases which it should press into the thrust
chamber. So, the efficiency of the turbine drops, and it needs more power to
work. Thus, it works in worse and more harsh conditions, the plumbing of hot
gases ducts is much more complex, as well as the control. So, such engines are
generally more complex, more expensive and less reliable. They are very
sensitive to productional quality and to external particles that may occasionally
get into the ducts, turbines and pumps. But the gain of Isp may be so high that
this design makes sense. It first appeared in the USSR, and they have a long
tradition of building engines of the closed cycle. For example, the RD-170/171
applies the closed cycle (contrary to the F-1), as well as the SSME of the Shuttle.
Staged combustion cycle, in most cases only small amount of the propellant is
gasified in the gas generator (and in the gas generator cycle it cannot be else to
avoid excessive loss of propellant). But in some developments the full amount
of the fuel and the oxidizer passes through the turbine (the so- called full flow
staged combustion cycle). It enables to reduce the temperature of the gas and
the rotation velocity of the turbine, since the it is driven by larger mass. The
lifetime and reliability grow. Of course, two separate gas generators and
turbines are needed for the fuel and the oxidizer. However, separate systems
for both components are usual for LOX/LH2 engines, since the components have
very different physical properties (density on the first place), so it is difficult to
provide optimal characteristics for them in a single assembly.

Sometimes it is possible to get rid of the gas generator assembly at all (gas
generator is a small combustion chamber by itself, with its own nozzle ejecting
gas into the turbine, so it is a complex unit). This is the expander cycle design. In
this cycle, the gas for driving the turbine is produced from the fuel vaporized in
the cooling jacket of the thrust chamber and the nozzle. A gas generator is
sometimes used to start the engine. This cycle may be opened or closed. In the
opened cycle, only a small portion of the fuel is used to drive the turbine and
thereafter it is dumped. In the closed cycle, the fuel is redirected into the thrust
chamber after leaving the turbine. Although the close cycle saves fuel, the open
cycle enables higher pressure drop on the turbine which increases its efficiency
and enables to raise the pressure in the chamber. This leads to higher Isp (this is
the case of LE-5A/B on the second stage of the Japanese H-II rocket, LE-5 used
the gas generator cycle). The famous RL-10 and its modifications on the Centaur
upper stage use the expander cycle. Generally, the expander cycle is mostly
applied in LOX/LH2 engine since fuel is ordinarily used for regenerative cooling
(oxidizer is too reactive) and LH2 has low boiling point and is very effective as
reaction mass.

ADVANTAGES
Storable liquid stages of PSLV and GSLV engines used presently release harmful
products to the environment.

The trend worldwide is to change over to eco-friendly propellants. Liquid

engines working with cryogenic propellants (liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen)
and semi cryogenic engines using liquid oxygen and kerosene are considered
relatively environment friendly, non-toxic and non-corrosive. In addition, the
propellants for semi-cryogenic engine are safer to handle & store. It will also
reduce the cost of launch operations.

This advanced propulsion technology is now available only with Russia and USA.
India capability to meet existing mission requirements. The semi cryogenic
engine will facilitate applications for future space missions such as the Reusable
Launch Vehicle, Unified Launch Vehicle and vehicle for interplanetary missions.

High Specific Impulse

Non-toxic and non-corrosive propellants
Non-hypergolic, improved ground safety

DISADVANTAGES
Highly reactive gases

Cryogens are highly concentrated gases and have a very high reactivity. Liquid
oxygen, which is used as an oxidizer, combines with most of the organic
materials to form explosive compounds. So, lots of care must be taken to ensure
safety.

Leakage

One of the most major concerns is leakage. At cryogenic temperatures, which

are roughly below 150 degrees Kelvin or equivalently (-190) degrees Fahrenheit,
the seals of the container used for storing the propellants lose the ability to
maintain a seal properly. Hydrogen, being the smallest element, has a tendency
to leak past seals or materials.

Hydrogen can burst into flames whenever its concentration is approximately

4% to 96%. It is hence necessary to ensure that hydrogen leak rate is minimal
and does not present a hazard. Also, there must be some way of determining
the rates of leakage and checking whether a fire hazard exists or not. The
compartments where hydrogen gas may exist in case of a leak must be made
safe, so that the hydrogen buildup does not cause a hazardous condition.
CONCLUSION
We can conclude that as per the Newtons third law of mechanics: Action and
Reaction are equal and opposite in direction and magnitude. The thrust
produced in rocket engine is outwards and that in the jet engine is inwards.
Hence, the efficiency of the cryogenic rocket engine is greater than the jet
engine and it is very much economical by the use of liquid hydrogen and oxygen
as a fuel and oxygen.

The area of Cryogenics in Cryogenic Rocket Engines is a vast one and it cannot
be described in a few words. As the world progress, new developments are
being made more and more new developments are being made in the field of
Rocket Engineering. Now a day cryo propelled rocket engines are having a great
demand in the field of space exploration. Due to the high specific impulse
obtained during the ignition of fuels they are of much demand.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dario Pastrone (2012), Approaches to Low Fuel Regression Rate in Hybrid

Rocket Engines,International Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Article ID
649753, doi : 10.1155/2012/649753

Indian Cryogenics Council (2010),Indian Journal of Cryogenics, Vol. 35A,

ISSN 0379-0479.

Richard Cohn (2012), Developments in Liquid Rocket Engine Technology,

Air Force Research Laboratory.

www.google.co.in/images/cryogenicrocketengine

www.wikipedia.com/RL-10
 CONTENTS
Introduction
o Cryogenics
o Cryogenic Fuels
o Cryogenic Engines
History
Working Principle
Components
Engine Design
o Pressure Fed Engine
o Pump Fed Engine
Gas Generator Cycle
Staged Combustion Cycle
Advantage & Disadvantage
Conclusion
Bibliography
 HERITAGE INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY

CRYOGENIC ROCKET ENGINE

Satyajeet Raj
Dept. of Mechanical
Engineering (3rd year)

Heritage Institute of
Technology, Kolkata

Sec A
Roll no: -1557044