Int. J, Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 125--130, 1985. 0360--3199/85 $3.00 + 0.

00
Printed in Great Britain. Pergamon Press Lid
1985 International Association for Hydrogen Energy

THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A LIQUID H Y D R O G E N

TRANSFER LINE
D. Z. CHEN and H. J. LIu
Department of Energy Sources and Power Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China

(Received 6 August 1984)

Abstract--This paper deals with the design method and construction considerations of liquid hydrogen transfer
lines. The design and calculations are based on a single phase flow regime of LH2 with a certain degree of
supercooling. A sample numerical calculation for a 200-m long transfer line of LH2 service is presented.

1. I N T R O D U C T I O N tains liquid and gas phase, the velocity of sound will

With the development of science and technology in the
fields of cryogenic applications, air and road transpor-
tation systems, as well as energy conversion systems,
the use of LH2 has been forecasted to increase steadily.
Hydrogen can be stored and transported as a gas,
liquid or hydride. It may be used either in gaseous or
in liquid form, but in most cases the LH: is preferred,
for it has a larger higher heating value per unit mass
of fuel and an ease of handling. However, LH~ is a
cryogenic fuel and vaporizes quickly, because of its low
boiling point and small heat of vaporization. Once it
is mixed with air it may burn or explode rapidly. Hence,
it is necessary to have sophisticated thermally insulated
storage and pipeline systems for its transport. For
expanded use of LH~, storage, effective transportation
and safety in a pipeline system are important problems
to be studied. From the transportation point of view,
it is essential to keep a certain distance between the
LH: production plant (or storage vessel) and the place
of use (or the charging place of LH2), thus the design
of a transfer line of a few hundred meters long is a
technical problem often encountered in practice. This
paper deals with the design methods and construction
considerations of L H : transfer line. A sample numerical
calculation of a 200-m long transfer pipe for LH2 service
is also introduced here.
2. D E S I G N R E Q U I R E M E N T S
In the design of a LH2 transfer pipe, the following
requirements should be considered: (1) the length of
the pipe should be kept as short as possible. The length
of a transfer line must first meet the requirement of the
user's condition as well as the minimum safety distance;
it is not only related to the heat loss and energy con-
sumption of the transfer process, but it also affects the
flow patterns in the pipe and the complication of the
transmission technology. (2) The transfer of LH2 in a
pipe should be maintained as single phase flow. The
sound velocity of LH: in a single phase flow is fairly
large, a = 1100 m s -1, and in such a pipe it is difficult
to reach a supersonic flow regime; but if the flow con-
125
reduce quickly. In this case the critical or supercritical
flow regime may be easily reached which may cause
large increase in flow resistances and decrease the trans-
fer quantity of LH2. At the same time it may lead to
strong vibration of a transfer line [1]. In order to main-
tain a single phase flow, the LH2 must have a certain
degree of supercooling. (3) The heat leakage of the
transfer line should be as small as possible. Thus the
transfer pipe should have excellent insulation from the
environment, such as using a high vacuum jacket or
multilayer insulation. (4) Most of normal hydrogen
should be converted into para-hydrogen before the LH2
can be transfered in the pipe. Usually we use two or
more stages of catalytic conversion to transform normal
hydrogen to para-hydrogen. As for the design condi-
tions of a LH2 transfer system, the following data are
often given, namely: LH2 flow rate, transfer distance,
inlet pressure, and degree of supercooling, the envi-
ronmental conditions, the volume of container or LH:
tank, etc. In general, the LH: flow rate depends on the
demand of the user and the production capacity of the
LH:-producing plant. The transfer distance is deter-
mined by the specification of safety requirement and
the reasonable arrangement of installation. The inlet
pressure, temperature and supercooling degree of LH2
can be determined according to the type and charac-
teristic of the insulation, the operating conditions and
the method of supercooling. Of course, there exists a
problem of optimization. Usually, the environmental
conditions and the volume of LH: storage tanks may
also be regarded as known parameters.
3. T H E C O N S T R U C T I V E D E S I G N OF A LH2
T R A N S F E R LINE
In the design of a transfer pipe, the main dimensions
of the pipe may be determined first, then the detailed
construction design must be given to the whole pipeline
system according to the design requirements and design
conditions mentioned above.
Usually, a LH: transfer pipe is a horizontal circular
pipe with uniform cross-section. In general, we use the
126 D. Z. CHEN AND H. J. LIU
I 5
Fig. 1. A structural scheme of a LH2 transfer line with high vacuum jacket insulation (1, 2--joints.
3---flange, 4---vacuum pump connection, 5---bellow, 6--outer tube, 7--inner tube, 8---adsorbent basket.
9----spacer).
small diameter with low flow velocity to transfer LH~
from production plant to a storage vessel or tank,
because in this case, high efficiency can be obtained.
From the storage vessel or tank to the place of user,
LH2 liquid hydrogen can be transferred by a liquid
pump or a pressurized gas with a fast injection velocity.
The velocity of cryogenic liquids can be chosen for a
wide range of data. For LH2 with low transfer rates,
the velocity of WL = 2 m s -1 may be selected [2, 3]. In
the case of fast pressurized injection, the LH2 velocity
in a pipe may be taken higher [4], since the viscosity
of LH2 is very small. According to the inlet pressure
and temperature in a transfer pipe, the LH2 density
)'L (N/m 3) can be found from the thermodynamic
properties tables of LH~ [5] or from LH2 T-S diagrams.
Then, on the basis of volumetric flow rate VL (m 3 h -~),
or mass flow rate GL (kg h-~), the inner diameter d~ can
be calculated:
( 4Vi IV2 { 4Gt. "~t/2
d, = I ~ / = \3600~rWLyL/ (m). (1)
The outer diameter of a transfer line may be deter-
mined in accordance with the requirements of heat
insulation and construction of connections. Consider-
ation must be given to the tolerable amount of heat
leakage which in turn is dependent upon the state of
LH2 entering the pipe and the residence time of the
fluid in the line. The tolerable heat leakage determines
the type of insulation to be used and affects the detailed
i 2 3
Fig. 2. Flange construction with cold and warm seals (1---cold
seal, 2---glass fiber reinforced plastic support, 3--thin wall
tube, 4---inner tube, 5---warm flange, 6---warm seal, 7---cold
flange, 8---outer tube).
8 2
design of spacers, joints and line penetrations for valves
and instrumentations as described by F. J. Edeskuty
[6]. For a LH2 transfer line, particularly used for long
distance and long-term transferring service, it is com-
mon to use a high vacuum jacket or multilayer vacuum
insulation. The require vacuum between the inner and
outer tubes is about P = 10 -6 torr. The ratio of outer
diameter Do to inner diameter Di may be chosen as
Do/Di = 1-2.5. Here, the fitting and installation of bel-
lows, spacers and adsorbent baskets should be con-
sidered. A structural scheme of a LH2 transfer line is
shown in Fig. 1. The line consists of two concentration
tubes with high-vacuum jacket insulation between them.
The structural material commonly used is CrlsNigTi,
while the material widely used for spacers and supports
is Teflon, but the fiber reinforced plastic and polymide
can also be used.
During the structural design, the thermal contact
between the outer jacket and the inner pipe wall must
be minimized to reduce heat conduction to the mini-
mum. Where such contacts are unavoidable, the path
length for heat leakage is maximized and materials with
the lowest thermal conductivity are used. Heat transfer
by radiation, convection and gas conduction between
the inner and outer tubes can be made negligible by
selecting pipe wall material with low emissivity and by
attaining a sufficiently high vacuum in the annular space.
In order to maximize the effect of insulation, a low
temperature adsorption basket is used. The latter filled
with sufficient activated carbon is installed in the annular
vacuum space to adsorb the residual gas. A vacuum
piping connection is provided on the outer pipe for the
evacuation of residual gas. The pumping and close-off
of the vacuum should be done at a higher temperature.
O
Fig. 3. The thin wall insert type of connection (1--flange,
2,3----connections, 4---inner pipe, 5---outer pipe, 6-----cushion
ring, 7--support).
 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AN LH TRANSFER LINE 127

m .

/ I

/ / /
/ /
/
~7
/ / ,, 6_
Fig. 4. Construction of the spacer.

By means of cryogenic pumping and low temperature
adsorption, the desired vacuum in the annular space
has been attained for the long-run requirement.
The whole transfer line is divided into several sections
for the ease of inspection and vacuum pumping. E a c h
section is connected by flanges with warm and cold seal
to the other section as shown in Fig. 2.
Sometime the construction of thin wall insert type of
connection is also used (Fig. 3). A certain amount of
spacers, as shown in Fig. 4 are installed in the annular
space to keep the alignment of two concentrating tubes
and prevent the pipe line from deformation causing the
short passing of heat leakage.
Between the transfer line and LH2 carrying tank or
storage vessel, a flexible insulating hose connection is
required, because there exists a direction and location
difference in the arrangement. This type of connection
is schematically shown in the Fig. 5. The whole con-
nection consists of two concentric wave tubes (bellow).
The annular space between these tubes is evacuated
with high vacuum (P = 1 0 - 6 torr). A dense wave tube
with small amplitude is selected as inner tube. Spacers
are provided between the two wave tubes to avoid the
short cut of heat leakage. The hose is wrapped with
weaved screen made of stainless steel. For a LH2 trans-
fer line, the bending tube with large radius of curvature
(R >/10 D) is preferred, but the radius of curvature of
a bending tube may be selected according to the con-
crete condition of the arrangement.
4. H E A T T R A N S F E R A N D H Y D R A U L I C
CALCULATIONS UNDER STEADY-STATE
TRANSFER CONDITIONS
The heat radiation between the two concentrating
tubes of a transfer pipe may be calculated according to
the Stefan-Boltzmann equation:
qa = ~ + -~z - 1 a . F ( T ~ - T~) (W/m), (2)
where o = 5.77 x 10 -8 Wm -1 K-l; E1 and E2 correspond
to the emissivities of low temperature and high tem-
perature surfaces. F1 and F2 denote the inner and outer
surface area per unit length of tube (m2/m); F is heat
transfer area per unit length of tube (m2/m), calculated
from low-temperature surface; T~ and T2 correspond to
inner wall temperature and outer wall temperature,
respectively.
At high vacuum condition (P = 1 0 - 6 torr), the space
of a vacuum jacket b is fairly small as compared with
the molecular mean free path S, that is b -> S, thus the
heat transfer of residual gas in the annular space is

I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
'" " ,/ "" / " .... I I " \ \
:J..." / / i \

""i ~ ~ I0 II // I~ /i" I~.__./' 14 ' ~ 16 ,

Fig. 5. Construction o f a flexible insulated hose connection ( i - - r i n g for fitting o f position. 2 - - v a l v e
head, .'~-welding ring, 4---outer tube, 5--metal screen. 6---support, 7--joints, 8--welding ring, 9--fix
ring. lO----flange, 11--outer bellow, 12--inner bellow, 13---inner tube. 14---adsorbent. 15--~uter jacket
tube. 16---flange, 17----connection).
128 D. Z. CHEN AND H. J. LIU
7" Considering the heat loss in flange connection and
heat loss in the normal and to para-hydrogen conver-
sion, etc., the calculated value of heat flux q' may
increase to about 10-30% in the engineering design.
thus a conservative value for the overall heat flux of a
transfer pipe may be obtained:

Oe q = (1.1 - 1.3)q' (W/m).

p ~ 02 ~ Pe The pressure drop due to friction in the transfer pipe

is
E
API = f . YL W-----~[. L~ x 10~(kg/cm-2), (6)
2g. De
/ o,
,t/ ~ where D, is the equivalent diameter of the pipe, m,
which may be taken from inner diameter; yL is the
o $ specific weight of LH2, kg m - 3 ; f is friction coefficient
which depends on the Reynolds number, Re. In a tur-
Fig. 6. A LH2 transfer process in the T-S diagram. bulent flow regime, f may be written as
f 0.2625
proportional to the gas pressure, but does not depend
= R---~. (7)

on the vacuum jacket space. In such a case, the heat

The local pressure drop of the pipe may be expressed
transfer of gas can be estimated from the following
by:
expression:
3K+l P 2Lx 10', (kgfcm-2),
Ap{ = ~ I: I'LW-....~ (8)
q2 = 2.425 x 10 ~ x 7, 2g

x ao. F(T2 - T~) (W/m). (3) where ~ is local friction coefficient. The total pressure
drop of the whole line is then
Where a0 called the accommodation coefficient which
can be obtained from the literature; T is the vacuum Ap = A p l + Apl + A p 2 - Ap~, (kgfcm-2), (9)
temperature; P is the pressure measured at absolute where Ap2 and Ap~ correspond to friction pressure drop
temperature T; Cp/Co is the ratio of specific heats; M in the flexible connecting hose and local pressure drop,
is molecular weight of the residual gas. respectively.
Heat flux through the structural connecting pieces The heat flux due to friction equals
and supports may be expressed by:
VL" Ap (W/m). (10)
/t,. x F . ( / ~ (T2 - T,) (W/m),
qa(,)-~- (4) qr = ( L l + L2)
The heat absorbed by LH2 from supercooling state to
where q~, q4 correspond to the mean heat flux through the saturation state is
the connecting pieces and supports per unit length of
pipe, respectively. ).,, is the mean value of thermal Qo = GL" Cpm" AT, (W). (11)
conductivity of the material in the temperature range The total heat loss during the transfer process of LH,,
Tz--T~ (Win -~ K-l); b is the length of heat transfer path, is
m; N denotes the number of supports; F,. is the average
heat transfer area of connecting pieces or supports, m 2. q, = q + q/(W/m). (12)
Because the heat transfer area of a flexible wave Hence, the length of a single phase flow region in the
hose is much greater than that of a straight pipe, more- LHz transfer pipe is
over its number of supports is also more than the latter
case, thus the radiation heat flux of the former is much L ,p = Q__._2,(m). (13)
greater the latter. Due to the complexity of calculation, q,
its radiation heat flux may be taken as q5 = 3.5 W/m
that is twice the value of straight tube. When L , p ~ (Ll + L2), single phase flow can be
Therefore, the average cool loss of a whole transfer realized in the pipe under the given inlet pressure and
line is: degree of supercooling. If Lsp< (Lt + L2), the LH2
may be vaporized in the transfer line, thus the two-
q, (ql+qE+q3+q4)'Ll+qs"Lz(w/m),
= LI + L2 (5) phase flow may happen. In this case, the length of the
single phase flow must be readjusted. For the main-
where Ll is total length of a LH: transfer line, m; L2 tenance of the single phase flow in the pipe, the degree
is the length of a flexible connecting hose, m. of supercooling for LH2 must be also readjusted.
 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AN LH TRANSFER LINE
In order to guarantee the transfer of LH: in a single
phase flow, we assume a reserved factor KL:
Kt_ - Lsp t> 1, (14)
L1 + L2
which should be satisfied after completing the design
of the whole system. The enthalpy increment in the
LH: transfer process is
L1 + L2
Ah = q, GL (15)
A LH2 transfer process in the T - S diagram is shown
in Fig. 6. According to the initial enthalpy of LH2, hi
and the enthalpy increase caused by the total cool loss
Ah, the value of enthalpy of LH: at the pipe exit can
be calculated, he = hi + Ah. Using the inlet pressure pi
of LH: and the total pressure drop in the transfer pipe,
the outlet pressure of LHz at the transfer exit can be
also determined: p~ = p , - A p . From the exit state
(pc, he) and the back-pressure of LH2 trailer or storage
vessel pb, the throttled vaporization rate at the exit X,
can be found from the para-hydrogen T - S diagram,
hence the throttled vaporized mass flow rate at the exit
of a transfer pipe G,, can be obtained:
G,, = GL. Xe. (16)
The effective transfer quantity of LH2 in the pipe G,
is then
G, = GL - Go. (17)
Finally, the transfer efficiency r/of a LH2 transfer line
can be calculated
G~
, = ~. (18)
5, E S T I M A T I O N OF A C O O L D O W N PROCESS
In practice, the cooldown process of a LH2 transfer
line is an unsteady heat transfer process. During the
cooldown period, there exists different flow regimes in
the pipe with single gas phase, single liquid phase as
well as two phase regions which are changed with time
and location of the pipe. In the transfer line, there also
exists not only the axial temperature gradient, but also
the radial temperature gradient. Strictly speaking, at
each point in the pipe, the temperature, heat transfer
coefficient, flow state, etc. are all varied with location
and time. Hence, the process is very complicated.
Assume that only the heat of vaporization can be
used to carry away the heat of metal pipe at the ambient
temperature. Thus, the maximum cryogen consumption
may be estimated from the expression [7] as below:
Mmax = Mcom~ = Mc h. - hi (kg), (19)
r/g
where Crma~denotes the maximum demand of cryogen
(kg per kg metal) for cooldown the unit mass of pipe
metal from ambient temperature to the operating tern-
129
perature; Mc represents the mass of transfer line being
cooled, kg; h,, hi correspond to the enthalpy of the pipe
metal (kJ kg -j K -1) at ambient and operating temper-
ature, respectively; rig is vaporization heat of cryogen
(kJ kg -1) at saturated state corresponding to the oper-
ating pressure.
During the cooldown process, if we can not only use
the vaporization heat of cryogen, but also use the
enthalpy increment of the vaporized cryogen gas so that
its outlet temperature from the transfer pipe may be
equal to the inner wall temperature of that pipe at the
exit, thus we can sufficiently utilize the maximum cool-
ing capability of the cryogen. In such case, its perform-
ance is closer to that of the transfer process of LH: with
slow velocity flowing in a small pipe. Usually, during
the operation, we often use the nitrogen gas first to
cooldown the pipe, then substitute nitrogen with hydro-
gen gas. Finally, after the desired performance has been
reached, the LH2 will be blown into that cooled transfer
pipe. The minimum required quantity of cryogen to
cooldown a pipe is
dm
Mmin = Me" omi, = Me ~-~,~
Here Omi, denotes the minimum required mass of cry-
ogen to cooldown a unit mass of pipe metal to the
operating temperature; Cpg is the average specific heat
of cryogen gas at constant pressure, o=,~ and a~i. may
be obtained from calculation or experiments, usually
it may be plotted in curves as a function of temperature
and cryogenic capacity. During the estimation of cool-
down time, the following assumptions have been made:
(1) for a transfer line insulated with high vacuum
jacket, the heat leakage from circumstance and the heat
flux due to friction are relative small compared with the
cooldown energy consumed for the structural material
of the pipe, thus they may be ignored;
(2) the cooldown energy consumed in the inside vol-
ume of a pipe is very small that it can be neglected;
(3) the mass of the transfer pipe along tube-axis is
uniformly distributed, no concentrating mass acts on
the pipe.
From the above simplifications, an approximate equa-
tion can be obtained to estimate the required cooldown
time for cooling the LHz transfer pipe to the operating
temperature [7]
McC,,(T,, - T,) (s), (21)
where W denotes the time-averaged mass flow rate of
a cryogen gas. Because of the complexity of cooldown
process and the deviation between the above assump-
tions and the real process, the actual cooldown time is
much longer than the calculated value, Thus, it can be
used only for reference.
130 D. Z. CHEN AND H. J. LIU
6. E X A M P L E
A practical example is introduced here to illustrate
the above design method for the calculation of a LH:
transfer pipe line with 200-m long length.
(1) Design conditions
OLiquid hydrogen mass flow rate: G t = 100 kg h-l;
OTotal length of the transfer line: L1 -- 200 m;
@The length of flexible insulating hose: L2 = 5 m;
OPara-hydrogen concentration in the L H 2 : p H 2 =
99.0%;
o A m b i e n t temperature: 7". = 300 K.
(2) Design parameters
ODiameter of inner tube: Di = 0.02m; diameter of
the outer tube; Do = 0.05 m;
o T h e velocity of LH2 (selected): WL = 2 m s-l;
o B a c k pressure of the transfer pipe: pb = 39 Pa inlet
pressure: p~ = 294 Pa;
OThe LH2 inlet temperature: T, = 24.2 K; Degree of
supercooling: T = 2 K;
OSpecific weight of LH2: 7L = 64.5 kg m-3;
OVacuum in the annular insulating jacket: p =
10 -6 torr;
(3) Steady-state heat transfer calculation of the transfer
pipe
O Radiation heat flux: ql = 2.91 kJ m -1 h-l;
O H e a t flux of residual gas: q= = 0.80 kJ m -~ h-~;
OHeat flux through the connecting pieces: q3 =
1.21 kJ m -~ h-~;
O H e a t flux through the structural supports: q4 =
1.06 kJ Pa-~;
OHeat leakage through the flexible insulating hose:
qs = 10kJm -~ h-l;
@Frictional pressure drop of straight pipe: Ap= =
7.6kPa;
OLocal pressure drop of straight pipe: A p l =
0.4 kPa;
OTotal pressure drop of insulating hose: Ap= =
1.0 kPa;
OTotal pressure in the transfer process: A p =
9.0 kPa;
OOutlet pressure at pipe exit: p~ = 285 kPa;
O H e a t flux due to friction in the transfer process:
q / = 0.05 kJ m - ' h-l;
OAverage cool loss in the transfer process: q =
6.15 kJ m -1 h-l;
OTotal cool loss of the transfer line: q, = 8 kJ m - '
h-';
OThe length of the LH2 single phase region: L,p =
293 m;
OL,p > (Lt + Lz), thus the condition of single phase
flow is satisfied;
OThe reserved factor for heat loss: Kc = 1.43;
OThe throttled vaporization rate at pipe exit: Xe =
0.08;
OEffective mass flow rate of LH2 in pipe: G~_ =
92 kg h-~;
OThe transfer efficiency: r/= 92%.
(4) Estimation of cooldown process
OThe required cooling mass of cryogen: M,~ =
550 kg;
@Maximum demand of cryogen: Mm~ = 104kg;
o M i n i m u m required mass of cryogen: Mini, = 20 kg:
OThe calculated cooldown time: r - 5 rain;
@The designed structure of the pipe may be seen
from the Figs 1 to 5.
7. C O N C L U D I N G R E M A R K S
It is reasonable and practicable to design a LH2 trans-
fer line with small diameter and low transfer velocity
which can realize the single phase flow in the pipe and
satisfy the requirement of minimum safety distance. At
a given mass transfer rate, the greater the transfer
distance, the longer the residence time of LH2 in the
pipe, and thus the more strict insulation must be
required. However, by means of sophisticated insula-
tion, the transfer process with single phase flow can be
achieved in a wide range of parameters.
REFERENCES
1. R. B. Jacobs, Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, Vol. 1
(1960).
2. J. D. Rogers, AIChE J., Vol. 6, No. 4 (1956).
3. G. J. Hummer, AEC Report, BNL 764, (1962).
4. B. H. Bailey, Handbook for Hydrogen Handling Equip-
ment, PB-161835, (1960).
5. R. D. McCarty, Hydrogen Properties, Hydrogen Series.
Vol. III. (ed. K. E. Cox) (1975).
6. F. J. Edeskuty and K. D. Williamson, LH2 Storage and
Transmission, Hydrogen Series, Vol. II. (ed. K. E. Cox)
(1977).
7. R. B. Jacobs, Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, Vol. 8
(1963).