Chart Industries, Inc. (Chart) and Crane Company (Crane) have successfully tested a new cryogenic valve designed and built by Crane for liquid hydrogen applications. This is the first valve launched from Crane’s CRYOFLO™ line of bellow seal vacuum jacketed globe valves, designed and tested by Crane, with final validation, review, and testing conducted by Chart. Final testing was conducted at Chart’s one-of-a-kind liquid hydrogen test facility in New Prague, MN, USA, leveraging Chart’s 60 years of experience with hydrogen equipment and the facility’s availability of the extremely cold cryogenic liquid for testing. Liquid hydrogen is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit colder than liquid nitrogen, and significantly colder than the temperature limit of most cryogenic valves.
The testing confirms that Crane’s CRYOFLO liquid hydrogen valve design can operate safely and reliably at extremely low temperatures while supporting best-in-class high-flow rates at low-pressure drops as designed. Notably, CRYOFLO is the first valve Chart that has successfully completed a liquid hydrogen endurance test in a high-cycle application. Testing included installing Crane’s valve in a validation system provided by Chart that flowed liquid hydrogen through the valve at varying operating temperatures and pressures. The valve successfully endured well over 5,000 open/close cycles at a pressure of 150 psig/10 bar, and it required no adjustments or maintenance during the test. In addition, the Crane CRYOFLO has completed cryogenic certification and endurance testing per MSS-SP-134 standards and qualified the size range from ½-2” at 300 psi working pressure.
