Smaller concentric pipe is welded to main pipe beginning above bottom of isolation valve and terminating in storage tank at top. There is continuous circulation of fluid which maintains fluid temperature below boiling temperature of liquid oxygen

Howard, F. S.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

Geyser Inhibiting 
Pipe 
Geyser Inhibitor
For Vertical Cryogenic Transfer Pipe
Support 
Bracket 
Vertical 
Transfer 
Pipe 
Fluid Flow 
Isolation Valve
June 1973	 B73-10110 
NASA TECH BRIEF 
John F Kennedy Space Center 
NASA Tech Briefs announce new technology derived from the U.S. space program. They are issued to encourage 
commercial application. Tech Briefs are available on a subscription basis from the National Technical Information 
Service, Springfield, Virginia 22151. Requests for individual copies or questions relating to the Tech Brief program may 
be directed to the Technology Utilization Office, NASA, Code KT, Washington, D.C. 20546. 
Geysering Inhibitor Pipe 
.
A pipe system has been designed to reduce geysering 
in verticle, cryogenic fluid pipes used to transfer cryo-
genics to a rocket engine. This same system may be 
useful in wells or other verticle pipe systems in which 
unwanted thermal geysering is a problem. 
In space flight vehicles heat absorbed by pipes carry-
ing liquid oxygen during vehicle fueling causes the 
liquid to boil at the pipe surface. The bubbles con-
centrate at the center of the pipe where the flow-
resistance is least and coalesce to form a large bubble. 
Spontaneous bubbling occurs at the bottom of this 
bubble because of reduced static pressure. The result 
is a large bubble which, gaining speed and size, spews 
out of the pipe hurling hundreds of pounds of liquid 
oxygen with it. The liquid oxygen then falls and im-
pacts the bottom of the vertical pipe.
The pipe system as shown in the illustration com-
prises a smaller concentric pipe welded to the main 
pipe. The inner pipe begins above the bottom of an 
isolation valve and terminates in the storage tank at 
the top. 
As liquid next to the walls warms, it begins to rise 
along the outer edge of the pipe system. This causes 
cooler fluid from the storage tank to flow to the 
bottom of the pipe, replacing the rising warmer fluid. 
There is a continuous circulation of fluid within the 
pipe that tends to maintain a fluid temperature below 
the boiling temperature of the liquid oxygen. Should 
some boiling occur, the bubbles cannot concentrate in 
the center, and the geyser effect is reduced Further-
more, the system is self-regulating in that the more 
heat that is absorbed the faster the convective cir-
culation. 
Liquid
Oxygen
Tank
Note: 
Requests for further information may be directed to: 
Technology Utilization Officer 
Kennedy Space Center 
Code AD-PAT 
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899 
Reference: TSP73-101 10 
Patent status: 
This invention has been patented by NASA (U.S. 
Patent No. 3,697,021). Inquiries concerning nonexclu-
sive or exclusive license for its development should be 
addressed to: 
Patent Counsel 
Kennedy Space Center 
Code AD-PAT 
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899 
Source: Frank S. Howard

Kennedy Space Center 
(KSC-1061 5) 
Category 07 
This document was prepared under the sponsorship of the National 	 Government assumes any liability resulting from the use of the 
Aeronautics and Space Administration. Neither the United States 	 information contained in this document, or warrants that such use 
Government nor any person acting on behalf of the United States
	 will be free from privately owned rights.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19730000110 2020-03-17T06:46:06+00:00Z


Geysering inhibitor pipe

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