KAPITSA REVOLUTION IN REPRESENTATION ABOUT THERMODYNAMIC EFFICIENCY OF AIR CRYOGENIC CYCLES

Abstract

The cryogenic air separation plants for manufacture of oxygen, nitrogen, argon and others gases are the technical systems most claimed now. The development of air separation technologies began from works of K. Linde. The further improvements in cycles, circuits and designs of plants have been made by G. Claude and P. Gejlandt. The big contribution to creation of fundamentally new air separation plants has been brought by P. Kapitsa in 1936-46. The offered by him cycle of low pressure and jet turboexpander enables to create the tonnage plants on basis of only machines of dynamic principle of action. The specified cycles are compared on values of own and technical losses from irreversibility. It is shown that in P.Kapitsa's cycle the total losses due to lines of improvements can be lower than in cycles of average and high pressure. This conclusion proves by high efficiency of the modern plants realizing a cycle of low pressure of P. Kapitsa.