Each application for our technology requires research and engineering to ensure optimized performance. For this reason if you have any specific questions please reach out to us directly. Please use the Contact Us section in this website.
Can you explain the layers?
The LCX system design includes functional layers operating in pairs. Each layer pair is comprised of an insulation blanket layer and a compressible barrier layer. All materials are hydrophobic or waterproof by design. The number of layer pairs and how they are assembled depends on the equipment configuration and specific application. An important part of this patented invention is the methodology for installation, attachment, and how moisture is handled.
The insulation blanket layer is always the first layer of the inner surface (cold or hot). This layer is typically an aerogel composite blanket, but can be any suitable flexible insulation material such as polymeric foam. This layer provides both thermal and mechanical performance.
The compressible barrier layer is always the second layer and serves three purposes. The first is a spring effect for mechanical compliance and compressibility enabling an overall good fit-up with optimal closure of seams and gaps. The second purpose is additional thermal insulation with two or more radiant barriers. The third purpose is to provide a vapor barrier protecting from the ambient environment. This layer is a polymeric air-sealed material that includes radiant barrier facings (aluminized plastic film and/or aluminum foil) in a composite.
How is LCX customized for my specific need?
Layer pairs are applied to comprise a stack assembly and are tailored to the desired design performance target and heat leak requirements. Installation of LCX systems can be field-fit or pre-fabricated (or a combination) per given specifications for piping, tanks, or flat panels. An overwrap layer is included as required for system requirements for further ruggedness or aesthetics.
There are literally hundreds of combinations that we can create. Our engineering team reviews your specific needs and creates an optimized solution for your specific needs. We have already engineered numerous industrial solutions and can reduce engineering costs for many standard implementations.
Can you prove the functional performance of your technology?
The effectiveness of our technology has been proven after years of extensive thermal performance testing using Cryostat-100 at Kennedy Space Center. We share the results of our testing with prospective clients.
We also guarantee the performance of each of our engineered solutions. After engineering a solution for your specific needs we can conduct a thermal performance test prior to installation.
Do you have a solution that is space ready?
A variation of LCX is under development to solve a long-standing problem for the “external insulation” of cryogenic upper stages. The complex issue that has been solved is how to create a solution that provides optimized insulation performance for three distinct and very different environments: on the ground, during the flight, and on-orbit (three problems in one).
The on-orbit performance requirements could be for a few hours, several days, or up to two weeks. The keeping of liquid hydrogen (LH2) is a particular problem, but the protection and keeping of liquid oxygen (LO2) and liquid methane (LCH4) propellants is also applicable. Other attempts to solve this three-in-one type of thermal insulation have failed in the ground hold situation due to the extraordinary problem of air liquefaction.
With previous materials/systems the only choices were to house the insulation inside a protective shroud and purge it with helium gas or else to attempt to hermetically seal the system against air intrusion.
An LCX design with its thermal-mechanical toughness, high performance to 20 K temperature in the ambient environment, and integral radiant barrier layers addresses all three problems with success. Laboratory testing under relevant cryogenic-vacuum conditions has shown approximately 50 times better performance (lower heat flux) in vacuum compared to the current state-of-the art foam insulation. The LCX system is completely novel in the world of insulation system as it enables the functioning in all three of the wildly different environments of ground, flight, and space.