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This paper presents a methodology to describe process control requirements for helium refrigeration plants. The SSC requires a greater level of automation for its refrigeration plants than is common in the cryogenics industry, and traditional methods (e.g., written descriptions) used to describe process control requirements are not sufficient. The methodology presented in this paper employs tabular and graphic representations in addition to written descriptions. The resulting document constitutes a tool for efficient communication among the different people involved in the design, development, operation, and maintenance of the control system. The methodology is not limited to helium refrigeration plants, and can be applied to any process with similar requirements. The paper includes examples.

The optimum thermal design of the power leads for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) will minimize the amount of Carnot work (which is a combination of refrigeration and liquefaction work) required. This optimization can be accomplished by the judicious selection of lead length and diameter. Even though an optimum set of dimensions is found, the final design must satisfy other physical constraints such as maximum allowable heat leak and helium vapor mass flow rate. A set of corresponding lengths and diameters has been determined that meets these requirements for the helium vapor-cooled, spiral-fin power lead design of the SSC.

To study the operation of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) cryogenic system during transient operating conditions, we have developed and programmed in FORTRAN, a time-dependent, nonlinear, homogeneous, lumped-parameter simulation model of the SSC cryogenic system. This dynamic simulator has a modular structure so that process flowsheet modifications can be easily accommodated with minimal recoding. It uses the LSODES integration package to advance the solution in time. For helium properties it uses Air Products’ implementation of the standard thermodynamic model developed by the NBS. Two additional simplified helium thermodynamic models developed by Air Products are available as options to reduce computation time. To facilitate the interpretation of output, we have linked the simulator to the Speakeasy conversational language.