Improved pressure-volume-temperature method for estimation of cryogenic liquid volume

Abstract

One of the most important issues in a liquid propellant rocket is to measure the amount of remaining liquid propellant under low gravity environment during space mission. This paper presents the results of experiment and analysis of a pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) method which is a gauging method for low gravity environment. The experiment is conducted using 7.41 tank for liquid nitrogen with various liquid-fill levels. To maximize the accuracy of a PVT method with minimum hardware, the technique of a helium injection with low mass flow rate is applied to maintain stable temperature profile in the ullage volume. The PVT analysis considering both pressurant and cryogen as a binary mixture is suggested. At high liquid-fill levels of 72-80%, the accuracy from the conventional PVT analysis is within 4.6%. At low fill levels of 27-30%, the gauging error is within 3.4% by mixture analysis of a PVT method with specific low mass flow rate of a helium injection. It is concluded that the proper mass flow rate of a helium injection and PVT analyses are crucial to enhance the accuracy of the PVT method with regard to various liquid-fill levels. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.