Journal of Experimental & Applied Mechanics

ISSN: 2230-9845(online), ISSN: 2321-516X(print)

Volume 6, Issue 1
www.stmjournals.com

Experimental Validation with CFD Analysis of Radiation

Shield Plate for Cryopump Application
C. R. Sanghani1*, N. Raviprakash2, Ranjana Gangradey2
1

Mechanical Engineering Dept., S.T.B.S. College of Diploma Engineering, Surat, India

2
Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, India

Abstract
Cryopump is used in fusion reactor to evacuate the plasma exhaust from the torus vessel and
to achieve the ultra high vacuum. The radiation shield is an important part of cryopump as it
prevents direct radiation heat load on cryopanels from outer shell. A sample of radiation
shield plate was tested for pressure drop and heat transfer. It consists of polished stainless
steel sheets which are spot welded in diamond pattern and seam welded at periphery to
increase flow path of fluid and hence to increase heat transfer. Experiment on sample
radiation shield plate has been conducted with chilled water at a temperature of 280 K.
Pressure drop and surface temperature of radiation shield plate was noted down. The
radiation shield plate was modeled with CATIA V5, meshed with HYPERMESH and CFD
analysis was carried out using ANSYS software. The pressure drop and surface temperature
were evaluated from thermal-fluid analysis and results showed good agreement with the
corresponding measured values from experiment.
Keywords: Cryopump, radiation shield, experiment, CFD analysis

*Author for Correspondence E-mail: scr1385@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION
A TOKAMAK is a device able to produce and
confine a large volume of high temperature
plasma in toroidal shape by means of strong
magnetic field. Because of the challenging
environment (high magnetic and radiation
fields, hydrogen atmosphere) and the need for
high gas throughputs no commercially
available pumps could be used, and it was
concluded that a new concept was required.
These requirements can be met best with
cryopump without any moving parts. By
international classification a cryopump is
defined as a vacuum pump which captures the
gas on surfaces cooled to temperatures below
120 K [1]. Besides straight forward parameters
such as pressure, temperature and gas load, the
pump performance is very much governed by
the complex interaction between gas particles
and cooled surface [2]. The main components
of cryopump are cryopanels, baffles, radiation
shields, actuator, valve and outer shell.
The cryopanels are completely surrounded by
shields and baffles which form an effective
enclosure with regard to thermal radiation
from inside and outside the cryopump.

Radiation shields protect cryopanels from

direct radiation heat loads. The cryopanels are
coated with special cryosorbent to pump
helium.
The assembly drawing of cryopump is shown
in Figure 1.

RADIATION SHIELD
Different radiation shields like outer
cylindrical shield, front annulus, rear annulus,
etc. cooled by 80 K gaseous helium are used in
cryopump. To develop radiation shield, a
sample is fabricated using two SS316L plates
having dimensions of 50x500x1.5 mm for
testing of pressure drop and heat transfer. The
sample radiation shield plate is a double
embossed diamond pattern plate made up with
hydro forming process in which high
pressurized fluid passes between two plates
joined by seam welding at periphery. Due to
diamond shape pattern of spot welding, liquid
flow takes place in zig zag manner which
increases contact time of liquid with plate and
hence heat transfer rate increases. Sample of
radiation shield plate is shown in Figure 2.

JoEAM (2015) 1-4 STM Journals 2015. All Rights Reserved

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CFD Analysis of Radiation Shield Plate

Sanghani, et al.

Fig. 1: Assembly Drawing of the Prototype Torus Cryopump [3].

measurement. A flow meter was connected
with delivery pipe of centrifugal pump for
flow measurement.

Fig. 2: Sample Radiation Shield Plate.

Fig. 3: Experimental Setup.

EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS
The experimental testing of the sample
radiation shield plate was conducted at
Institute
for
Plasma
Research.
The
experimental set up used in the study is shown
in the Figure 3. A water chiller was used to
cool the water. The temperature sensor (PT100 RTD) was embedded at center on
radiation shield plate for temperature
measurement using adhesive copper tape
because it has good thermal conductivity.
Some portion of sensor cable was stuck to
shield plate to make sensor insensitive from
outside heat load. Temperature data were
collected by Lakeshore model 218 temperature
monitor. Bourdon tube pressure gauges were
connected with braided pipes at inlet and
outlet of radiation shield plate for pressure

THERMAL-FLUID ANALYSIS
CFD simulation was conducted for radiation
shield plate having chilled water flow through
it. Static pressure drop and surface temperature
for that plate were obtained. Simulation results
were then compared to the experimental data.
The model of radiation shield plate is made in
CATIA V5 software using generative shape
design module. This model is constructed by
making one by one bulging in area surrounded
by four spot welds. After making half plate, it
is mirrored to obtain full model of plate. The
3D model of radiation shield plate and its
cross section are shown in Figures 4 and 5
respectively. The 3D model of the radiation
shield consists of mainly two plates having
number of bulging joined by spot welds at

JoEAM (2015) 1-4 STM Journals 2015. All Rights Reserved

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Journal of Experimental & Applied Mechanics

Volume 6, Issue 1
ISSN: 2230-9845(online), ISSN: 2321-516X(print)

different places and at periphery by seam

welding. Meshing of this model is done using
HYPERMESH. Fine meshing is done at spot
welding and at joint of plate with inlet and
outlet pipes as shown in Figure 6, because
these regions are critical for pressure drop and
heat transfer. As seen in Figure 7, the plate
used in the CFD analysis has been divided into
129518 hexa and tetra elements for mesh
generation. After meshing in HYPERMESH,
the model is imported into ANSYS and the
elements are converted into fluid 142 elements
compatible for CFD. FLOTRAN is used as a
solver in ANSYS for thermal-fluid analysis of

Fig. 4: Model of Radiation Shield Plate.

Fig.6: Close view of Meshing.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Experiment and CFD analysis were carried out
for an average volumetric flow rate of 10.8 L
per minute. The initial surface temperature of
plate or atmospheric temperature was noted as
299.38 K. The pressure drop in radiation
shield plate was noted as 3000 Pa and the final
surface temperature of plate was 280.43 K.
The accuracy of the calculations of CFD

radiation shield plate. A coupled solution of

CFD and thermal is carried out including the
plate as solid domain in the analysis. In the
analysis, there are four boundary conditions,
consisting of inlet, outlet, inside wall of the
plate and atmosphere. The boundary
conditions are constructed with velocity and
temperature at inlet and static pressure at
outlet. The inside wall is defined as domain
interface which is assigned fluid-solid
interaction with zero velocity. The velocity,
inlet temperature and atmosphere temperature
values were obtained by experiments.

Fig.5: Cross Section of Radiation Shield Plate.

Fig. 7: Meshing of Radiation Shield Plate.

analysis depends on the number of iterations.
So, CFD simulation is carried out till the
iteration converges. After carrying out CFD
analysis of radiation shield plate, pressure drop
was found 2311 Pa and surface temperature
was 280.607 K. Figures 8 and 9 show pressure
contour and temperature contour in radiation
shield plate respectively. Figue 10 shows
velocity vector or flow pattern in plate. Due to

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CFD Analysis of Radiation Shield Plate

diamond pattern of spot welding in plate, flow

of water takes place in zig zag manner which
can be seen from Figure 10. Table 1 shows the
numeric comparison of pressure difference and
surface temperature of plate between
experimental data and CFD simulation. Based
on this comparison, it can be concluded that
CFD provides a satisfactory estimation of fluid
flow in the radiation shield plate.

Fig. 8: Pressure Contour.

Sanghani, et al.

Table 1: Comparison of Experiment and CFD

Results.
Sr.
No
1
2

Parameters
Pressure drop (Pa)
Surface temperature (K)

Experiment

CFD

3000
280.43

2311
280.607

CONCLUSIONS
An experimental study was carried out to
compare the CFD analysis of chilled water
flow in the radiation shield plate. In the
experiment, the pressure at inlet and outlet of
plate as well as surface temperature were
measured. Flow through radiation shield has
been simulated successfully using CFD
technique in ANSYS using FLOTRAN solver.
Experimental values of the boundary
conditions, which are inlet velocity, initial
surface temperature and temperature at inlet,
were set in ANSYS FLOTRAN. Very good
agreement between experimental data and
CFD results such as pressure drop and surface
temperature validates the CFD predictions. It
is also concluded that the CFD technique can
be used as an alternative and cost effective tool
towards replacement of experiments required
for estimating pressure drop and surface
temperature.

REFERENCES

Fig.9: Temperature Contour.

1. ISO 3529/13. Vacuum Technology:

Vocabulary (International Organization for
Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland).
1981.
2. Day C. Basics and Applications of
Cryopumps. CERN Accelerator School.
Proceedings on Vacuum in Accelerators.
2006.
3. Hauer V, Boissin JC, Day C, et al. Design
of the ITER Torus Prototype Cryopump.
Fusion Eng Des. 2007; 82(1524): 2113
9p.

Cite this Article:

Sanghani CR, Raviprakash N, Ranjana
Gangradey. Experimental Validation
with CFD Analysis of Radiation Shield
Plate for Cryopump Application.
Journal of Experimental & Applied
Mechanics (JoEAM). 2015; 6(1):

Fig. 10: Velocity Vector Plot.

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