Superfluid helium tanker instrumentation

Author

Woodhouse, Christopher E. ; Kashani, Ali ; Lukemire, Alan T.

Author_Institution

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

Volume

39

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

2/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

274

Lastpage

278

Abstract

An instrumentation system for a 1992 Space Shuttle flight demonstration of a superfluid helium (SFHe) tanker and transfer technology is presented. The system provides measurement of helium temperatures, pressures, flow rates, and mass, and it detects the presence of liquid or vapor. The instrumentation system described consists of analog and digital portions which comprise a fault tolerant, compact, and relatively lightweight space-quality electronics system. The data processing hardware and software are ground-commandable, perform measurements asynchronously, and format telemetry for transmission to the ground. A novel heat pulse mass gaging technique is described and a new liquid/vapor sensor is presented. Flowmeters for SFHe are discussed, and a SFHe fountain-effect pump is described. Results of tests to date are presented

Keywords

aerospace instrumentation; computerised instrumentation; flow measurement; low-temperature techniques; mass measurement; pressure measurement; superfluid helium-4; telemetering systems; temperature measurement; 1992 Space Shuttle flight demonstration; SHOOT; computerised instrumentation; fault tolerant system; flow measurement; fountain-effect pump; liquid/vapor sensor; mass measurement; pressure measurement; superfluid He tanker; telemetry; temperature measurement; transfer technology; Data processing; Fault tolerant systems; Fluid flow measurement; Hardware; Helium; Instruments; Software performance; Space shuttles; Space technology; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.50464

Filename

50464