混合填充式回热器单级脉管制冷机性能研究

回热器为回热式低温制冷机的关键部件,其性能对系统的影响甚大。为探索回热器内金属丝网混合填充对回热器性能的影响,文章基于回热器模拟软件REGEN3.3仿真结果的基础上,制作了单级脉管制冷装置,采用#300SS,#400SS和#500SS的金属丝网混填了四组回热器,并在不同输入功率下进行了系统制冷性能实验。实验结果表明,较之低目数丝网填充的回热器制冷机,采用高目数丝网填充的回热器制冷机性能较优;在回热器热端填充低目数,冷端填充高目数的丝网,可提高回热器冷端压比,提高整机制冷性能。     

基于Regen3.3的45K斯特林制冷机分层结构回热器的优化

回热器是回热式低温制冷机的关键部件,其性能优劣对制冷机的性能有决定性影响,因此研究回热器性能的影响因素、优化回热器结构参数非常重要。基于经典的热力学和流体力学原理,引入了表征回热器内部交变流动换热特性的两个相似准则数即瓦伦西数(Va)和交变流贝克利数(Pe_w),并提出分层丝网回热器结构。通过用REGEN3.3模拟分层丝网回热器,得到结果:分层填充方式对回热器的性能起到了很重要的作用,适当地分层填充可以提高性能系数COP(净冷量与热端PV功之比),验证了本文对回热器的分析。优化结果表明,Case.5的填充方式是最好的,它可以在制冷温度为45 K,输入功61.6 W时提供2.8 W制冷量。     

斯特林制冷机回热器热损研究

讨论了回热器的各种损失对斯特林制冷机的影响,对斯特林制冷机回热器的结构和丝网填料进行了分析,并模拟分析各种损失的影响.研究表明,回热器的结构、丝网填料对制冷机的性能有重大影响.     

低温冰箱自由活塞式斯特林制冷机模拟与优化

自由活塞斯特林制冷机具有高效紧凑,适合中低温制冷等优点。对用于低温冰箱自由活塞式斯特林制冷机进行了一维建模,并实现整机性能的模拟与优化。在考虑各种空体积的情况下,模拟分析了压缩活塞PV功和相位角的变化对整机性能的影响,获得了制冷机运行的最佳相位。对比了环形回热器的填料及填充方式对自由活塞式斯特林制冷机的性能影响,及对应材料下回热器的轴向导热损失情况。模拟了制冷机性能随回热器空隙率和制冷温度的变化情况,计算分析了回热器内部的不可逆损失随空隙率的变化情况,并且获得了不同温度下的最佳空隙率。最后,为了获得好的制冷性能,优化不同制冷温度的回热器设计参数及膨胀活塞与气缸壁的密封间隙宽度。     

斯特林制冷机分层回热器优化设计与实验

为了提高斯特林制冷机在低温下的性能,把分层填充回热器结构应用于低温斯特林制冷机中。利用REGEN3.3对自行研制的斯特林制冷机用分层回热器进行了优化设计,并对此进行了实验研究。研究结果表明,回热器采用恰当的分层方式能大幅度提高制冷机的性能。该斯特林制冷机与优化前相比,其膨胀机效率提高了52.8%,整机效率提高了79.8%。     

回热器板叠流动特性研究

回热器内交变流动的研究是回热式制冷机研究的重点,采用数值模拟的方法对回热器内交变流动特性进行了研究.结果表明回热器内压力、速度分布不再呈波动状分布,而是近似的呈直线分布.回热器内的交变流动阻力系数是时间与位置的函数,也具有明显的波动性.     

小型低温制冷机的进展

综述了近几年来国内外空间用及其它用途的小型低温制冷机发展动向。分析了提高制冷机运转寿命的一些措施，介绍了些回热式低温制冷机回热器填料采用稀土磁性材料代替铅丸，使冷头温度下降、冷量增大等情况，还简述了提高回热式低温制冷机工作频率及有关热声制冷机的研究情况。     

大功率脉管制冷机回热器填料优化研究北大核心CSCD

对一台液氮温区百瓦级制冷量的大功率斯特林型脉管制冷机的回热器填料进行了理论优化和实验研究。实验结果发现,在回热器冷端适当组合不同目数的丝网后,会把回热器分成两个部分,这在一定程度上能抑制大功率脉管制冷机回热器中的二次流动,降低回热器中部的温度非均匀性。通过实验得出该脉管制冷机中回热器填料的最优组合为300目不锈钢丝网搭配250目不锈钢丝网,组合比例为10∶1,最终在80 K获得了381.3 W的制冷量。回热器中部最大温差为30.3 K,相较于在回热器中填充单一300目不锈钢丝网的情况,降低了25.6 K。     

基于格子波尔兹曼方法的回热器数值模拟

利用格子玻尔兹曼方法,直接对蚀刻薄片和层叠丝网回热器的微观结构流场进行了模拟.得到了两种回热器填料的微观流场和两端的压差.模拟结果显示,当回热器的直径、水力直径和填充率相近情况下,不同流速下蚀刻薄片卷裹式回热器的稳态阻力系数均比层叠丝网回热器小.稳态阻力系数的模拟变化趋势与实验一致.     

脉管制冷机回热器填加紫铜丝网的影响

在回热器中加入紫铜丝网增加径向导热有利于抑制大功率脉冲管制冷机回热器中的温度不均现象,但紫铜丝网也可能对制冷机性能产生其它的影响。通过数值模拟考察了在没有温度分布不均时,不同的紫铜丝网目数、分布方式、丝网厚度等对制冷机性能的影响。结果表明,在假设回热器温度均匀的情况下,不论如何填充定量的紫铜丝网,总会引起制冷机的效率降低;如果总的紫铜丝网数量一定并且均匀地分布在回热器中,整机制冷性能不会因填充层数的不同而有明显变化;采用与回热器不锈钢丝网目数接近的紫铜丝网要比目数相差较大的丝网可以获得更好的效果。     

An experimental study of passive regenerator geometries

Active magnetic regenerative (AMR) systems are being investigated because they represent a potentially attractive alternative to vapor compression technology. The performance of these systems is dependent on the heat transfer and pressure drop performance of the regenerator geometry. Therefore this article studies the effects of regenerator geometry on performance for flat plate regenerators. This paper investigates methods of improving the performance of flat plate regenerators for use in AMR systems and studies how manufacturing variation affects regenerator performance. In order to eliminate experimental uncertainty associated with magnetocaloric material properties, all regenerators are made of aluminum. The performance of corrugated plates and dimpled plates are compared to traditional flat plate regenerators for a range of cycle times and utilizations. Each regenerator is built using 18 aluminum plates with a 0.4 mm thickness, which allows their performance to be compared directly.     

Development of parallel wire regenerator for cryocoolers

This paper describes development of a novel regenerator geometry for cryocoolers. Parallel wire type is a wire bundle stacked in parallel with the flow in the housing, which is similar to a conventional parallel plate or tube. Simple and unique fabrication procedure is developed and fully depicted in this paper. Hydrodynamic and thermal experiments are performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the parallel wire regenerator. First, pressure drop characteristic of the parallel wire regenerator is compared to that of the screen mesh regenerator. Experimental result shows that the steady flow friction factor of the parallel wire type is three to five times smaller than that of the screen mesh type. Second, thermal ineffectiveness is determined by measuring the instantaneous pressure, the flow rate and the gas temperature at the warm and cold ends of the regenerator. The measured ineffectiveness of the parallel wire regenerator is larger than that of the screen regenerator due to the excessive axial conduction loss. To alleviate the intrinsic axial conduction loss of the parallel wire regenerator, segmentation is introduced and the experimental results reveal the favorable effect of the segmentation. Entropy generation calculation is adopted to compare the total losses between the screen regenerator and the parallel wire regenerator for various operating ranges. Simulation results show that the parallel wire regenerator can be an attractive candidate to improve cryocooler performance especially for the case of smaller NTU and lower cold-end temperature.     

A numerical method of regenerator

A numerical method for regenerators is introduced in this paper. It is not only suitable for the regenerators in cryocoolers and Stirling engines, but also suitable for the stacks in acoustic engines and the pulse tubes in pulse tube refrigerators. The numerical model is one dimensional periodic unsteady flow model. The numerical method is based on the control volume concept with the implicitly solve method. The iteration acceleration method, which considers the one-dimensional periodic unsteady problem as the steady two-dimensional problem, is used for decreasing the calculation time. By this method, the regenerator in an inertance tube pulse tube refrigerator was simulated. The result is useful for understanding how the inefficiency of the regenerator changes with the inertance effect.     

Regenerator performance improvement of a single-stage pulse tube cooler reached 11.1 K

In order to improve the cooling performance of pulse tube cooler (PTC) at 20-40 K, hybrid regenerators are often employed. In this paper a three-layer regenerator, which consists of woven wire screen, lead sphere and Er₃Ni is optimized to enhance the cooling performance and explore the lowest attainable refrigeration temperature for a single-stage PTC. The efforts focus on the temperature range of 80-300 K, where woven wire screens are used. Theoretical and experimental studies are carried out to study the metal material and the mesh size effect of woven wire screens on the performance of the single-stage G-M type PTC. A lowest no-load refrigeration temperature of 11.1 K was obtained with an input power of 6 kW. The PTC can supply 17.8 W at 20 K and 39.4 W at 30 K, respectively.     

Heat exchanger versus regenerator: A fundamental comparison

Irreversible processes in regenerators and heat exchangers limit the performance of cryocoolers. In this paper we compare the performance of cryocoolers, operating with regenerators and heat exchangers from a fundamental point of view. The losses in the two systems are calculated from the entropy productions due to the various irreversible processes. Whether an optimized regenerator or heat exchanger performs better depends on the system parameters (molar flux, temperature, and pressure). At temperatures below 200 K the losses due to heat conduction in the axial direction are dominant.     

Experimental results for a magnetic refrigerator using three different types of magnetocaloric material regenerators

Magnetic refrigeration is a potentially environmentally-friendly alternative to vapor compression technology because it has a potentially higher coefficient of performance and does not use a gaseous refrigerant. The active magnetic regenerator refrigerator is currently the most common magnetic refrigeration device for near room temperature applications, and it is driven by the magnetocaloric effect in the regenerator material. Several magnetocaloric materials with potential magnetic refrigeration applications have recently been developed and characterized; however, few of them have been tested in an experimental device. This paper compares the performance of three magnetocaloric material candidates for AMRs, La(Fe,Co,Si)₁₃, (La,Ca,Sr)MnO₃ and Gd, in an experimental active magnetic regenerator with a parallel plate geometry. The performance of single-material regenerators of each magnetocaloric material family were compared. In an attempt to improve system performance, graded two-material regenerators were made from two different combinations of La(Fe,Co,Si)₁₃ compounds having different magnetic transition temperatures. One combination of the La(Fe,Co,Si)₁₃ materials yielded a higher performance, while the performance of the other combination was lower than the single-material regenerator. The highest no-load temperature span was achieved by the Gd regenerator.     

Hydrodynamic parameters of mesh fillers relevant to miniature regenerative cryocoolers

Directional hydrodynamic parameters of two fine-mesh porous materials that are suitable for miniature regenerative cryocoolers were studied under steady and oscillating flows of helium. These materials included stacked discs of #635 stainless steel (wire diameter of 20.3 μm) and #325 phosphor bronze (wire diameter of 35.6 μm) wire mesh screens, which are among the commercially available fillers for use in small-scale regenerators and heat exchangers, respectively. Experiments were performed in test sections in which pressure variations across these fillers, in the axial and lateral (radial) directions, were measured under steady and oscillatory flows. The directional permeability and Forchheimer’s inertial coefficient were then obtained by using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-assisted method. The oscillatory flow experiments covered a frequency range of 50–200 Hz. The results confirmed the importance of anisotropy in the mesh screen fillers, and indicated differences between the directional hydrodynamic resistance parameters for steady and oscillating flow regimes.     

Comparative evaluation of erbium and lead regenerator materials for low temperature cryocoolers

A new erbium-based alloy has been tested as an environmentally benign replacement for lead in the second stage regenerator of low temperature (8-16 K) cryocoolers. This work focuses on obtaining improved performance of a Gifford-McMahon cooler by material modification in the second stage regenerator. Properties and experimental results for an improved second stage regenerator using erbium-based alloys are presented. A slight improvement in performance was observed using the erbium regenerator material over lead.     

Heat transfer characteristics of oscillating flow regenerators in cryogenic temperature range below 20 K

Linearized thermoacoustic model considering temperature oscillation in the solid wall is applied to analyze the heat transfer characteristics of compressible oscillating flow in parallel-plate and circular-tube regenerators. In particular, the study focus results of heat transfer analysis are applicable in lower cryogenic temperature ranges (<20 K). Complete expression for Nusselt number is derived and it is shown to be the function of six nondimensional parameters when the shape of the regenerator is fixed. These parameters are discussed, respectively. Simplified expressions of the Nusselt numbers for both parallel plates and circular tubes structured regenerators are derived. Heat transfer characteristics can be evaluated via these simple expressions. Possible approaches of enhancing heat transfer in a thermoacoustic regenerator are discussed.