Devices and methods for replacing tested flow meter in liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026092804-A1
Application number	US-202519414248-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 9, 2025
Priority date	Nov 7, 2023
Publication date	Apr 2, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed is a device and method for quickly replacing a tested flow meter in a liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility. The present disclosure includes a tested cold box, wherein the tested flow meter is located in the evacuated tested cold box, the tested cold box is connected to the liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility through a bayonet structure; a first vacuum pump, configured to evacuate the tested cold box after replacing the tested flow meter; a second vacuum pump, configured to evacuate a tested pipeline; a precooling device, configured to precool the tested pipeline and the tested flow meter connected to the tested pipeline after the tested pipeline is evacuated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A device for quickly replacing a tested flow meter in a liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility, comprising:
a tested cold box, wherein the tested flow meter is located in the evacuated tested cold box, and the tested cold box is connected to the liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility through a bayonet structure; a first vacuum pump, configured to evacuate the tested cold box after replacing the tested flow meter; a second vacuum pump, configured to evacuate a tested pipeline; wherein the tested pipeline is a pipeline formed by connecting a first vacuum bellow, an inlet pipe of a tested pipeline cold box, a supporting pipeline of the tested flow meter, an outlet pipe of the tested pipeline cold box, and a second vacuum bellow in series; a first liquid hydrogen refueling coupler female connector and a second liquid hydrogen refueling coupler female connector are respectively connected to the first vacuum bellow and the second vacuum bellow through flanges to form a liquid hydrogen standard flow during calibration; a connector on the second vacuum pump is in a form of a liquid hydrogen refueling couple male connector, and the connector on the second vacuum pump is connected to the first liquid hydrogen refueling coupler female connector when evacuating the tested pipeline; a precooling device, configured to precool the tested pipeline and the tested flow meter connected to the tested pipeline after the tested pipeline is evacuated.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the tested flow meter and the supporting pipeline are connected to the inlet pipe and the outlet pipe of the tested cold box using the flanges.

3 . The device of claim 2 , wherein a first liquid hydrogen refueling female male connector and a second liquid hydrogen refueling male connector are connected to a pipeline cold box in the liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility through respective vacuum sleeve tubes.

4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein after a plurality of tested flow meters are connected through respective supporting pipelines, a length of each of the plurality of tested flow meters and its supporting pipeline is the same as a reserved pipeline length in the tested pipeline cold box, thereby achieving calibration of flow meters from different manufacturers within a same caliber range.

5 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising: a pressure sensor, disposed on the inlet pipe of the tested pipeline cold box and/or the outlet pipe of the tested pipeline cold box, wherein the pressure sensor is configured to monitor a pipeline pressure and a pressure change rate in the tested pipeline in real time;
a solenoid valve, disposed on a pipeline of the second vacuum pump; and a first controller, communicatively connected to the pressure sensor and the solenoid valve, and configured to: in response to the pipeline pressure and the pressure change rate satisfying a first preset condition, control the solenoid valve to close to stop evacuation; wherein the first preset condition is that the pipeline pressure is higher than a target pressure value and the pressure change rate is lower than a rate change threshold.

6 . The device of claim 5 , wherein a plurality of the pressure sensors are provided and distributed at at least two positions among the inlet pipe of the tested pipeline cold box, within a preset distance of the tested flow meter, and the outlet pipe of the tested pipeline cold box; and
the first controller is further configured to: in response to a plurality of pipeline pressures and a plurality of pressure change rates monitored by the plurality of pressure sensors satisfying the first preset condition, control the solenoid valve to close to stop the evacuation.

7 . The device of claim 6 , further comprising: a user terminal, wherein the user terminal is configured to push an abnormal alarm message to a user;
the first controller is further configured to: in response to the plurality of pipeline pressures and the plurality of pressure change rates satisfying a second preset condition, trigger the first controller to send the abnormal alarm message to the user terminal.

8 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising: a temperature sensor, disposed on the inlet pipe of the tested pipeline cold box and/or the outlet pipe of the tested pipeline cold box, wherein the temperature sensor is configured to obtain temperature data;
a second liquid hydrogen pump, wherein the second liquid hydrogen pump is a variable speed pump; a second controller, communicatively connected to the temperature sensor and the second liquid hydrogen pump, wherein the second controller is configured to periodically update a rotational speed of the second liquid hydrogen pump, and execute in at least one cycle: predicting, based on temperature data within a preset period and a current rotational speed of the second liquid hydrogen pump, a cooling power output curve of the second liquid hydrogen pump through a prediction model, wherein the prediction model is a machine learning model; the prediction model includes a temperature sub-model and a power sub-model; the temperature sub-model determines a future temperature change rate of the tested pipeline based on the temperature data and the current rotational speed; the power sub-model determines the cooling power output curve based on the future temperature change rate; and adjusting the second liquid hydrogen pump to control a cooling power based on the cooling power output curve.

9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein an input of the temperature sub-model further includes structural parameters of the tested flow meter and the supporting pipeline, and the structural parameters include at least one of a pipe diameter, a length, a wall thickness, or a surface area.

10 . A method for quickly replacing a tested flow meter, applicable to a liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility, using the device of claim 1 , comprising:
after completing calibration of a tested flow meter and before calibrating a next tested flow meter, disconnecting a tested pipeline cold box from the liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility through a bayonet structure; after replacing the tested flow meter and a supporting pipeline, evacuating the tested pipeline cold box; evacuating a tested pipeline; and precooling the tested pipeline and the tested flow meter connected to the tested pipeline.

11 . The method for quickly replacing the tested flow meter of claim 10 , wherein disconnecting the tested pipeline cold box from the liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility through a bayonet structure includes: disconnecting a connection between a male connector and a female connector of a first liquid hydrogen refueling and a second liquid hydrogen refueling in the liquid hydrogen flow measurement standard facility.

12 . The method for quickly replacing the tested flow meter of claim 10 , wherein the precooling is performed by: connecting the tested cold box to both sides of a large liquid hydrogen storage tank, and pumping liquid hydrogen into the tested pipeline through a second liquid hydrogen pump on a pipeline.

13 . The method for quickly replacing the tested flow meter of claim 10 , further comprising:
monitoring a pipeline pressure and a pressure change rate in the tested pipeline in real time; in response to the pipeline pressure and the pressure change rate satisfying a first preset condition, controlling the solenoid valve to close to stop evacuation; wherein the first preset condition is that the pipeline pressure is higher than a target pressure value and the pressure change rat

Assignees

• Univ Jiliang China

Inventors

• Bao Fubing
• Tu Chengxu
• Lu Yexin
• Zhao Yalei
• Li Xiang
• Du Pengfei
• Zhang Jinghao
• Zhang Mingyang

Classifications

• G01F15/185

  Connecting means, e.g. bypass conduits · CPC title

• F17C2250/0443

  Flow or movement of content · CPC title

• F17C2250/036

  using alarms · CPC title

• F17C2227/045

  by vacuum · CPC title

• F17C2227/039

  on the pipes · CPC title