Actively Sealed Cryogenic Coupler

Team 520

Jason Goldstein

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Materials Engineer

Following graduation, Jason plans to apply his education and further his knowledge by entering the industry. He will also take the FE exam to attain his certification in the fundamentals of engineering.

Lauren Roche

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Cryogenics Engineer

Following graduation, Lauren will move to Kennesaw, GA where she will begin working as an engineer for ENERCON. She plans to study for the FE exam and join the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers (GSPE).

Sean Rodney

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Test Engineer

Following graduation, Sean will begin working at General Dynamics Land Systems as a manufacturing engineer in Tallahassee, FL.

Valerie Rodriguez

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Thermal Fluids Engineer

Following graduation, Valerie plans to attend graduate school for aerospace engineering.

Nicolas Sgammato

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Design Engineer

Following graduation, Nicolas plans to further his career by working in the aerospace industry.

Our Advisors

Dr. Shayne McConomy

Professor, Mechanical Engineering

James C. Buzzell

Propulsion Systems Engineer, NASA MSFC

Marvin W. Barnes

Advanced Propulsion Research and Development, NASA MSFC

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Our Project

To continue deep space missions, NASA relies on an effective coupler to supply cryogenic fuel to space vessels. The connection between a fuel depot and space vessel is secured with the coupler that prevents leakage, limits boil off, and protects cryogenic fuels. Through research and discussions with industry professionals, our team designed, modeled, and built a cryogenic coupler to facilitate a successful connection for fueling. Our design features stainless steel springs, Teflon (PTFE) seals, a force-held lock, and a double-poppet valve configuration. The team optimized the seal locations to decrease leakage and boil off which is the main weakness of current designs... The coupler will be actively sealed, meaning that its closed at all times except when the halves come together to allow fuel to transfer through. Due to the unique environmental and internal conditions of this project, our team selected materials that would perform well and uphold NASA standards. Stainless steel and Teflon are common materials used to store rocket fuel because they can endure the extreme conditions in space. Following the completion of a leakage test with water, the team will identify any design flaws and necessary areas of improvement. By using NASA environment correction factors (ECFs), target flow and leakage rates will be determined. The ECFs allow the team to test the coupler in an affordable manner while obtaining valuable information to aid improvement of design before cryogenic fluid testing. Testing will be performed using liquid nitrogen to check leakage and assess the sealability at low temperatures. Completion of this testing confirms the coupler can be used in deep space missions or applications involving cryogenic fuel transfer.

The Design

Click to learn more about our cryogenic coupler.

Key Components

Key Features

LN2 Testing

Content to Date

Future Work

Insulation

Designing for a double vacuum wall and Multi-Layered Insulation.
Thermal Performance

Analyzing the effects of radiation and system heating to ensure our coupler stays cool during fueling.
More Testing

Quantifying leakage rate more precisely through a helium gas leak-detector test.

Team 520

Jason Goldstein

Lauren Roche

Sean Rodney

Valerie Rodriguez

Nicolas Sgammato

Our Advisors

Dr. Shayne McConomy

James C. Buzzell

Marvin W. Barnes

Our Project

The Design

Click to learn more about our cryogenic coupler.

Content to Date

Future Work

Insulation

Thermal Performance

More Testing