Design and Test of a Wet Type Helium Turbo-Expander with an Alternator as a Brake

A wet type helium turbo-expander with expected adiabatic efficiency of 70 % at inlet pressure, temperature, and outlet pressure of 1.3 MPa, 6.0 K, and 0.2 MPa, respectively, has been developed. An alternator is adopted as a brake where a permanent magnet is held in the turbine shaft. And a self-acting gas bearing is used at thrust and journal bearings. An electromagnet supports thrust bearing to lift up the thrust disk when initiating operation. Design mass flow rate of the turbine is determined to be 60 g/s, corresponding to the JT mass flow rate in the existing helium liquefier/refrigerator. In the cryogenic performance test, the turbine had increased helium liquefaction rate by four times larger than the liquefaction rate without turbine operation.