Simulation of the SSC refrigeration system using the ASPEN/SP process simulator.

摘要

The SSC Magnet must maintain at a super conducting temperature of 4 K. The proposed refrigeration cooling processes consist of fairly simple closed cycles which take advantage of the Joule-Thompson effect via a series of expansions and compressions of helium gas which has been precooled by liquid nitrogen. The processes currently under consideration consist of three cycles, the 20 K shield cooling, the 45 K helium refrigerator and the helium liquefier. The process units which are to be employed are compressors, turbines, expanders, mixers, flashes, two stream heat exchangers and multiple stream heat exchangers. The cycles are to be operated at or near steady state. Due to the large number of competing cooling sector designs to be considered and the high capital and operating costs of the proposed processes, the SSC Laboratory requires a software tool for the validation and optimization of the individual designs and for the performance of cost-benefit analyses among competing designs. Since these processes are steady state flow processes involving primarily standard unit operations, a decision was made to investigate the application of a commercial process simulator to the task. Several months of internal evaluations by the SSC Laboratory revealed that while the overall structure and calculation approach of number of the commercial simulators were appropriate for this task, all were lacking essential capabilities in the areas of thermodynamic property calculations for cryogenic systems and modeling of complex, multiple stream heat exchangers. An acceptable thermodynamics model was provided and a series of simple, but representative benchmark problems developed. The model and problems were provided to three software vendors. Based on the results of the benchmark test, the ASPEN/SP process simulator was selected for future modeling work.