Developments in Turbo Brayton technology for low temperature applications

A single stage reverse Brayton cryocooler using miniature high-speed turbomachines recently completed a successful space shuttle test flight demonstrating its capabilities for use in cooling the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The NICMOS CryoCooler (NCC) is designed for a cooling load of about 8 W at 65 K, and comprises a closed loop cryocooler coupled to an independent cryogenic circulating loop. Future space applications involve instruments that will require 5–200 mW of cooling at temperatures between 4 and 10 K. This paper discusses the extension of Turbo Brayton technology to meet these requirements.     

A high efficiency coaxial pulse tube cryocooler operating at 60 K

In recent years, improved efficiency of pulse tube cryocoolers has been required by some space infrared detectors and special military applications. Based on this, a high efficiency single-stage coaxial pulse tube cryocooler which operates at 60 K is introduced in this paper. The cryocooler is numerically designed using SAGE, and details of the analysis are presented. The performance of the cryocooler at different input powers ranging from 100 W to 200 W is experimentally tested. Experimental results show that this cryocooler typically provides a cooling power of 7.7 W at 60 K with an input power of 200 W, and achieves a relative Carnot efficiency of around 15%. When the cooling power is around 6 W, the cryocooler achieves the best relative Carnot efficiency of around 15.9% at 60 K, which is the highest efficiency ever reported for a coaxial pulse tube cryocooler.     

Influence of the connecting tube at the cold end in a U-shaped pulse tube cryocooler

In some special applications, the pulse tube cryocooler must be designed as U-shape; however, the connecting tube at the cold end will influence the cooling performance. Although lots of U-shape pulse tubes have been developed, the mechanism of the influence of the connecting tube on the performance has not been well demonstrated. Based on thermoacoustic theory, this paper discusses the influence of the length and diameter of the connecting tube, transition structure, flow straightener, impedance of the inertance tube, etc. on the cooling performance. Primary experiments were carried out in two in-line shape pulse tube cryocoolers to verify the analysis. The two cryocoolers shared the same regenerator, heat exchangers, inertance tube and straightener, and the pulse tube, so the influence of these components could be eliminated. With the same electric power, the pulse tube cryocooler without connecting parts obtained 31 W cooling power at 77 K; meanwhile, the other pulse tube cryocooler with the connecting parts only obtained 27 W, so the connecting tube induced more than a 12.9% decrease on the cooling performance, which agrees with the calculation quite well.     

两级同轴型脉管制冷机回热器与脉管壁换热影响的模拟与实验

针对同轴型结构的两级脉管制冷机,采用热力学方法分析了回热器与脉管壁间换热作用对制冷机性能的影响。发现当脉管内热量通过壁面传向回热器时,脉管冷端焓流将增大,进而提升脉管冷指的制冷量。对设计的一台两级同轴型高频脉管冷指进行了数值模拟。模拟结果表明相同结构参数及输入下,引入回热器与脉管壁间的径向换热作用,低温级制冷量由原先的0.55 W@30 K提升至1.39 W@30 K,而对高温级的影响却小到可以忽略。     

斯特林型脉冲管制冷机的最新进展

介绍了斯特林型脉冲管制冷机在理论分析和实用化方面的进展。与斯特林制冷机相比 ,由于低温端没有运动部件 ,脉冲管制冷机在寿命、可靠性和振动等方面有明显的优势 ,同时直流现象的发现和对它的抑制 ,以及双向进气、长颈管等调相机构的应用 ,使得斯特林型脉冲管制冷机的效率也可以达到或超过斯特林制冷机 ,从而使斯特林型脉冲管制冷机在空间、红外器件和超导器件冷却等方面有广泛的应用     

Heat exchanger for subcooling liquid nitrogen with a regenerative cryocooler

A heat exchanger for continuously subcooling liquid nitrogen in contact with a regenerative cryocooler is analytically investigated as a next step of our recent experimental works. Since the coldhead of regenerative cryocooler has a limited surface area, a cylindrical copper cup is attached as extended surface, and a tube for liquid flow is spirally wound and brazed on the exterior surface of cylinder. Different sizes of heat exchangers are fabricated and tested with a single-stage GM cooler to cool liquid nitrogen from 78 K to 66 K. Analytical model is developed for the heat exchanger effectiveness and thermal resistance, and the results are compared with the experimental data. It is concluded that there exists an optimum for the height and diameter of cylindrical heat exchanger to maximize the cooling rate with a given unit of cryocooler.     

Experimental study on the coupling characteristics of 100 Hz inertance tube pulse tube cryocooler working under optimal frequcency

Miniature pulse tube cryocooler is one of the main developing trends of pulse tube cryocooler. Four pulse tube cold fingers, two compressors and a series of inerance tube assemblies are employed to carry out the experimental investigation of coupling characteristic of miniature pulse tube cryocooler. It is concluded that the cooling performance of miniature pulse tube cryocooler is determined by the match conditions among its compressor, cold finger and inertance tube. If the three parts of cooler match well, the cold finger can achieve nearly same cooling performance under two totally different working conditions.     

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems cryocooler overview

Mechanical long life cryocoolers are an enabling technology used to cool a wide variety of detectors in space applications. These coolers provide cooling over a range of temperatures from 2 K to 200 K, cooling powers from tens of mW to tens of watts. Typical applications are missile warning, Earth and climate sciences, astronomy and cryogenic propellant management. Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) has delivered many of the US flight cooler systems and has 12 long life pulse tube and Stirling coolers on orbit with two having over 11 years of continuous operation. This paper will provide an overview of the NGAS cryocooler capabilities.     

Observation and control of temperature instabilities in a four-valve pulse tube refrigerator

The use of a pulse tube cryocooler in an application requires temperature stability at the cold end. In our four-valve pulse tube refrigerator we have observed long-term temperature instabilities lasting some days and short-term instabilities lasting some hours or even minutes. Investigations have shown that the latter anomaly is caused by the dc-flow. The negative influence on the stability is due to an additional mass flow (dc-flow) to the cold end of the pulse tube, which results in a parasitic heat input.In this paper we present an actively controlled dc-flow suppression device, which uses a temperature gradient in the regenerator as a control parameter. This device enables us to eliminate the temperature instabilities.     

Performance of extended surface from a cryocooler for subcooling liquid nitrogen by natural convection

Natural convection of subcooled liquid nitrogen under a horizontal flat plate is measured by experiment. This study is motivated mainly by our recent development of cryocooling systems for HTS power devices without any forced circulation of liquid nitrogen. Since the cold surface of a GM cryocooler is very limited, the cooling plate immersed in subcooled liquid nitrogen is thermally anchored to the cryocooler located at the top in order to serve as an extended surface. A vertical plate generating uniform heat flux is placed at a given distance under the cooling plate so that subcooled liquid may generate cellular flow by natural convection. The temperature distributions on the plates and liquid are measured during the cool-down and in steady state, from which the heat transfer coefficients are calculated and compared with the existing correlations for a horizontal surface with uniform temperature. A fair agreement is observed between two data sets, when the heat flux is small or the plate temperatures are relatively uniform in horizontal direction. Some discrepancy at higher heat flux is explained by the cellular flow pattern and the fin efficiency of the extended surface, resulting in the non-uniformity of the horizontal plate.     

Investigation on a three-cold-finger pulse tube cryocooler

This paper introduces a new type of pulse tube cryocooler, three-cold-finger pulse tube cryocooler (TCFPTC), which consists of one linear compressor and three cold fingers, i.e., CFA, CFB and CFC. Those three cold fingers are driven by the linear compressor simultaneously. This paper investigates two aspects. First, it studies the mass flow distribution among the three cold fingers by varying the input electrical power. The cooling powers of the three cold fingers at constant cooling temperatures and the cooling temperatures of the three cold fingers at constant cooling powers with various input electrical powers are investigated. Secondly, the interaction among the three cold fingers is investigated by varying the heating power of any one cold finger. Generally, if the heating power applied on one cold finger increases, with its cold head temperature rising up, the cold head temperatures of the others will decrease. But, when the cooling power of CFC has been 4 W, the cold head temperature of whichever cold finger increases, the cold head temperature of CFA or CFB will seldom change if its heating power keeps constant.     

液氦温区VM-PT制冷机气量分配特性研究

VM气耦合脉冲管制冷机(VM-PT)是一种新型的液氦温区制冷机,为探索两级气耦合复杂的机理,本文采用Sage软件构建了低温调相VM-PT制冷机的整机模拟程序,研究了运行频率、平均压力、毛细管长度以及Er3Ni填充长度等参数对两级气量分配的影响。数值结果表明运行频率、平均圧力、毛细管长度以及Er3Ni填充长度均会影响两级质量流的分配,进而影响制冷机的最低温度,权衡工质的做工能力以及蓄冷器损失两方面因素,该四个参数均存在一个最佳值。搭建了实验平台并对数值模拟进行了验证。在实验中通过优化毛细管和蓄冷器,在运行频率1.6 Hz、平均压力1.4 MPa、压比1.6的情况下得到了3.86 K的无负荷制冷温度,在4.2 K可提供约10 mW的制冷量。     

Experimental study of a cascade pulse tube cryocooler with a displacer

Recovering the expansion power in pulse tube cryocooler is of great utility in improving cooling efficiency. Using a second-stage cooler after a primary cooler to produce extra cooling power is an effective way especially when the cooling temperature is not very low. In the configuration, the two coolers are connected by a displacer which is used as a phase shifter. In this paper, experimental investigations were conducted to study this system. Firstly, the performance of the overall system and separated cooler was respectively presented. To better understand the displacer, phase relation, mechanical resistance and displacement were then clarified. In addition, the power consumption distribution of the cascade cryocooler was discussed. Finally, both numerical and experimental comparisons were made on the displacer-type and tube-type cryocooler. The experimental results show that the displacer-type cryocooler has superior performance due to the better phase-modulation capability and less power loss. With the input electric power of 1.9 kW and cooling temperature of 130 K, the overall system achieved a cooling power of 371 W and a relative Carnot efficiency of 24.5%.     

冷指尺寸对超高频微型脉冲管制冷机性能的影响分析

冷指是脉冲管制冷机的重要部件,其尺寸大小决定压缩机乃至制冷机整机的尺寸,其内部的功热转换效率和损失等会对制冷机的性能产生显著的影响。为满足脉冲管制冷机微型化的需求,必须提高制冷机频率、减小冷指尺寸,而冷指尺寸的缩小又会影响制冷机的性能。为了掌握冷指尺寸对制冷机性能的影响规律,利用SAGE软件对运行频率为130 Hz,直径为8~9 mm的微型同轴脉冲管冷指进行理论建模与数值计算,得到了超高频脉冲管制冷机性能随冷指尺寸的变化规律。在计算工况范围内,蓄冷器直径9 mm、长度40 mm、脉冲管直径4.3 mm的超高频微型脉冲管制冷机性能最优,且能够在20 W输入电功率条件下,提供0.64 W@80 K的制冷量。     

CFD modeling and experimental verification of oscillating flow and heat transfer processes in the micro coaxial Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler operating at 90–170 Hz

This paper presents the CFD modeling and experimental verifications of oscillating flow and heat transfer processes in the micro coaxial Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (MCSPTC) operating at 90–170 Hz. It uses neither double-inlet nor multi-bypass while the inertance tube with a gas reservoir becomes the only phase-shifter. The effects of the frequency on flow and heat transfer processes in the pulse tube are investigated, which indicates that a low enough frequency would lead to a strong mixing between warm and cold fluids, thereby significantly deteriorating the cooling performance, whereas a high enough frequency would produce the downward sloping streams flowing from the warm end to the axis and almost puncturing the gas displacer from the warm end, thereby creating larger temperature gradients in radial directions and thus undermining the cooling performance. The influence of the pulse tube length on the temperature and velocity when the frequencies are much higher than the optimal one are also discussed. A MCSPTC with an overall mass of 1.1 kg is worked out and tested. With an input electric power of 59 W and operating at 144 Hz, it achieves a no-load temperature of 61.4 K and a cooling capacity of 1.0 W at 77 K. The changing tendencies of tested results are in good agreement with the simulations. The above studies will help to thoroughly understand the underlying mechanism of the inertance MCSPTC operating at very high frequencies.     

Investigation on the internal thermal link of pulse tube refrigerators

Within a pulse tube refrigerator (PTR) in coaxial configuration the pulse tube is located inside the regenerator matrix in axial direction. An internal thermal contact between these two main components of the coldfinger occurs. The experimental investigation of the direction and the quantity of transferred heat is in focus of this paper. Intermediate cooling of the regenerator by the corresponding part of its own pulse tube can improve the cooling performance of a PTR. Therefore, a well-adapted geometrical arrangement between the pulse tube and the regenerator is essential, considering the temperature distribution inside the coldfinger. We deduce design parameters to optimise the configuration of coaxial PTRs.     

混合工质在脉管制冷中应用初探

为了探讨混合工质在脉管制冷机中应用的可行性,选取氦气和氢气混合物作为工质,对一台小孔型脉管制冷机进行了数值模拟分析。结果发现,脉管制冷机的性能与其工质的热物性有很大关系。通过调整混合工质的配比,改变工质的物性,使其在混合工质最佳配比下工作,对于改进制冷机的性能,提高制冷量和制冷系数等都是有益处的。     

Intermediate cooling from pulse tube and regenerator in a 4 K pulse tube cryocooler

This paper introduces intermediate cooling by thermally attaching heat exchangers on the second stage pulse tube and regenerator in a commercial 4 K pulse tube cryocooler. Due to the large enthalpy flow in the 2nd stage pulse tube and regenerator, both intermediate heat exchangers on the pulse tube and regenerator can provide cooling capacities in the temperature range of 5–15 K without or with minor effect on the performance of the 4 K stage. Extracting cooling capacity from the pulse tube or regenerator reduces the 1st stage cooling performance in the present study. The joint intermediate heat exchanger on the pulse tube and regenerator has demonstrated promising results for applications.     

Progress on a novel VM-type pulse tube cryocooler for 4 K

VM type pulse tube cryocooler is a new type pulse tube cryocooler driven by the thermal-compressor. This paper presented the recent experimental results on a novel single-stage VM type pulse tube cryocooler with multi-bypass. The low temperature double-inlet, orifice and gas reservoir, and multi-bypass were used as phase shifters. With the optimal operating frequency of 1.6 Hz and optimal average pressure of 1.4 MPa, a no-load temperature of 4.9 K has been obtained and 30 mW@5.6 K cooling power has been achieved. It was the first time for the single-stage VM-PTC obtaining liquid helium temperature reported so far. Moreover, it was also the first time for the multi-bypass being used in the low-frequency Stirling type pulse tube cryocooler.     

脉冲管整机条件下回热器交变特性实验研究

搭建脉冲管制冷机动态参数测试实验台,在脉冲管制冷机整机运行条件下对处于实际温度梯度的回热器进行了动态速度以及动态压力测试。为了测量回热器冷端的动态速度,研究针对低温侧的热线探针进行了低温条件下的标定。实验测量了充气压力3 MPa、运行频率40—60 Hz、冷端温度100 K工况下回热器的相位特性以及阻力特性,并得到了整机运行条件下回热器阻力系数经验公式。研究结果表明,随着频率的提升,回热器冷热端速度-压力相位差增大,相同雷诺数下的阻力系数增大;随着温度降低,相同雷诺数下的阻力系数增大,并且在低雷诺数下变化更加明显。该研究结果是在回热器实际工作条件下测量得到,能够为脉冲管制冷机中的回热器模拟计算以及回热器热力学分析提供必要的数据支持。