[AR] Re: Cheap transport was Re: Ozone layer
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2016 18:49:09 -0400 (EDT)
On Mon, 26 Sep 2016, Brian Feeney wrote:
"but that's not a lengthy process if done right by automated machinery --
fueling an Atlas ICBM took only a few minutes."
...
Did they have a small amount of LOX though always in the tank to keep it
pre-chilled, thus allowing the rapid fill rate.
I believe the answer was no, although I've never looked into the details
of how it was done. Bear in mind that Atlas tanks were very thin sheet
stainless, with low heat capacity and low thermal conductivity, which
probably didn't need a lot of pre-chilling. (And they didn't want the
tank exteriors icing up while on standby.)
Fast filling did require breaking new ground in a number of areas. This
is why you find comments in old cryo-engineering books about how (for
example) solid particles in a fast LOX flow can turn the plumbing into a
sandblasting machine... Since there might be nuclear warheads incoming
while the tanks were filling, they were really in a hurry.
With an eye on still shorter reaction times for the next ICBM version,
they were also looking into what it would take to keep Atlases fueled
continuously. They thought it was possible, although the decision to
terminate the Atlas as a weapon (in favor of Titan II and Minuteman) ended
that effort before (I think) there was any full-scale demonstration.
Is rapid fill possible with LOX into a room temperature tank with some
sort of rapid chill down, LOX boil off process?
Given a lightweight stainless tank and a vent system that can handle a
sizable gas flow from cold liquid hitting warm tank, I don't think there's
any fundamental problem.
If you're doing this for a fast-turnaround transport system, as per the
original context, probably the preferred way to handle it is indeed to
budget a little bit of extra LOX so the tanks just never warm up at all.
Henry
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