Numerical investigation on a 300 Hz pulse tube cryocooler driven by a three-stage traveling-wave thermoacoustic heat engine

A 300 Hz pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) driven by a three-stage traveling-wave thermoacoustic heat engine (TSTHE) has been proposed and studied in this paper. In the configuration, three identical thermoacoustic heat engine units are evenly incorporated in a closed traveling-wave loop, in which three pulse tube cryocoolers are connected to the branch of each thermoacoustic heat engine. Compared with the conventional thermoacoustic heat engine which involves a traveling-wave loop and a long resonator, it has advantages of compact size and potentially high thermal efficiency. A TSTHE–PTC system was designed, optimized and studied in detail based on the thermoacoustic theory. Firstly, numerical simulation was conducted to design the system thus the optimum structure parameters of the system were obtained. With the operating condition of 4 MPa mean pressure and high working frequency, a cooling power of 7.75 W at 77 K and an overall relative Carnot efficiency of 11.78% were achieved. In order to better understand the energy conversion characteristics of the system, distributions of key parameters such as acoustic work, phase difference, dynamic pressure, volume flow rate and exergy loss were presented and discussed. Then, the coupling mechanism of the system was investigated. In addition, influence of coupling position on the system performance was further studied.     

CFD simulation of a miniature coaxial Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler operating at 128 Hz

A two-dimensional axis-symmetric CFD model of a miniature coaxial Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler with an overall weight of 920 g operating at 128 Hz is established, and systematic simulations of the performance characteristics at different temperatures are conducted. Both thermal equilibrium and non-equilibrium mechanisms for the porous matrix are considered, and the regenerator losses including the gas and solid conduction, the pressure drop and the imperfect interfacial heat transfer are calculated, respectively. The results indicate that the pressure drop loss is dominant during the first 85% and 78% of regenerator length for the thermal equilibrium and non-equilibrium models, respectively, and it decreases monotonously from warm to cold end due to the steadily decreasing Darcy and Forchheimer terms, whereas other entropy generations share similar changing tendencies, going up gradually near the warm end, increasing dramatically from about 60% of length and then decreasing sharply near the cold end. The reasons for these entropy variations are discussed.     

Study on a 10 W/90 K in-line pulse tube cryocooler

A Stirling-type in-line pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) has been designed, built and tested at Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (SITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. This PTC prototype can obtain a low-noise cooling capacity of more than 10 W at around 90 K cold head temperature and is used for cooling a space-borne infrared photo detector. In order to achieve a highly efficient PTC, a simplified numerical simulation model has been established for design and optimization. The simulation results of the regenerator, pulse tube and inertance tube are analyzed in detail. Besides, some key parameters of the PTC are listed in the paper. The PTC’s performances are tested at different operating frequencies from 42 Hz to 55 Hz and its reject temperature dependence is observed in the range of 290 K to 320 K. Furthermore, the map of the PTC’s performance characteristics is presented.     

A 300 Hz two-stage pulse tube cryocooler that attains 58 K

We present a two-stage pulse tube cryocooler working at 300 Hz driven by a thermoacoustic engine. Compared to the previous experimental results, the combined inertance tube with different diameters that is used in the second stage is found to play the key role in phase shifting and to lead to superior cooling. Two different wall thickness tubes are tested in the experiments. After the optimization, the second-stage cold end achieves a no-load temperature of 57.9 K with an average pressure of 3.8 MPa, and a cooling capacity of 0.5 W at 81.88 K.     

A pulse tube cryocooler with a cold reservoir

Phase difference between pressure wave and mass flow is decisive to the cooling capacity of regenerative cryocoolers. Unlike the direct phase shifting using a piston or displacer in conventional Stirling or GM cryocoolers, the pulse tube cyocooler (PTC) indirectly adjusts the cold phase due to the absence of moving parts at the cold end. The present paper proposed and validated theoretically and experimentally a novel configuration of PTC, termed cold reservoir PTC, in which a reservoir together with an adjustable orifice is connected to the cold end of the pulse tube. The impedance from the additional orifice to the cold end helps to increase the mass flow in phase with the pressure wave at the cold end. Theoretical analyses with the linear model for the orifice and double-inlet PTCs indicate that the cooling performance can be improved by introducing the cold reservoir. The preliminary experiments with a home-made single-stage GM PTC further validated the results on the premise of minor opening of the cold-end orifice.     

Influence of resonance tube length on performance of thermoacoustically driven pulse tube refrigerator

A resonance tube is an important component of a thermoacoustic engine, which has great influence on the performance of the thermoacoustically driven pulse tube refrigerator. A standing wave thermoacoustic engine is simulated with linear thermoacoustics. Computed results show that an appropriate accretion of the resonance tube length may lead to a decrease of the working frequency and an increase of the pressure amplitude, which will improve the match between the thermoacoustic engine and the pulse tube refrigerator. The theoretical prediction is verified by experiments. A refrigeration temperature as low as 88.6 K has been achieved with an optimized length of the resonance tube, helium as working gas, and 2200 W of heating power.     

Investigation on a thermoacoustically driven pulse tube cooler working at 80 K

The pulse tube cooler (PTC) driven by a thermoacoustic engine can completely eliminate mechanical moving parts, and then achieves a simpler and more reliable device. A Stirling thermoacoustic heat engine has been constructed and tested. The heat engine can generate a maximal pressure ratio of 1.19, which makes it possible to drive a PTC and get good performance. Frequency is one of the key operating parameters, not only for the heat engine but also for the PTC. In order to adapt to the relatively low design frequency of the PTC, the operating frequency of the thermoacoustic heat engine was regulated by varying the length of the resonance tube. Driven by the thermoacoustic engine, a single stage double-inlet PTC obtained the lowest refrigeration temperature of 80.9 K with an operating frequency of 45 Hz, which is regarded as a new record for the reported thermoacoustically driven refrigerators.     

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.     

A two-stage Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler with a cold inertance tube

A thermally coupled two-stage Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) with inertance tubes as phase shifters has been designed, manufactured and tested. In order to obtain a larger phase shift at the low acoustic power of about 2.0 W, a cold inertance tube as well as a cold reservoir for the second stage, precooled by the cold end of the first stage, was introduced into the system. The transmission line model was used to calculate the phase shift produced by the cold inertance tube. Effect of regenerator material, geometry and charging pressure on the performance of the second stage of the two-stage PTC was investigated based on the well known regenerator model REGEN. Experimental results of the two-stage PTC were carried out with an emphasis on the performance of the second stage. A lowest cooling temperature of 23.7 K and 0.50 W at 33.9 K were obtained with an input electric power of 150.0 W and an operating frequency of 40 Hz.     

Characterization of a 300 Hz thermoacoustically-driven pulse tube cooler

This article introduces our recent experimental advances on a 300 Hz pulse tube cooler driven by a thermoacoustic standing-wave engine. After some modifications on the engine, the integral system performance is improved, which leads to a better cooling performance of the high frequency pulse tube cooler compared with that in former reports. Cooling powers of the pulse tube cooler with different operating conditions have been measured in detail for the first time. So far, a lowest no-load temperature of 68 K and a maximum cooling power of 1.16 W at 80 K have been obtained with the mean pressure and the heating power being 4.1 MPa and 1 kW, respectively.     

A 115 K thermoacoustically driven pulse tube refrigerator with low onset temperature

After the modifications of jacket type water coolers and stacks, and the optimizations of the openings of orifice and double inlet valves, a refrigeration temperature as low as 115.4 K has been achieved by a thermoacoustically driven pulse tube refrigerator. By operating the double inlet valve of the pulse tube refrigerator, the onset temperature of the thermoacoustic system decreases from 550 to 340 °C. It provides the possibility of utilizing the low-grade heat energy.     

300 Hz脉冲管制冷机特性研究

从实验和数值计算两个方面研究了1台工作频率为300 Hz的单级脉冲管制冷机的制冷特性.实验方面,验证了平均压力、入口压比、惯性管长度以及均流化元件对其制冷性能的影响,该制冷机在平均压力为3.96 MPa、入口压比为1.21时获得了79.6 K的最低制冷温度;数值计算方面,基于线性热声理论的模拟结果与实验结果进行了比较,以验证程序的有效性.     

100-140 Hz脉冲管制冷机耦合特性的实验研究

为研究惯性管长度变化对压缩机输出效率和压缩机与冷指之间的耦合特性的影响,对100-140 Hz的2 kg级的高频脉冲管制冷机的整机效率进行了理论分析,通过实验研究了不同惯性管长度对压缩机活塞位移、相位、压力波的影响,并得出了压缩机输出PV功.实验结果表明不同惯性管长度组合,对应不同频率压缩机的效率最高;制冷机整机效率最...     

18.6 K single-stage high frequency multi-bypass coaxial pulse tube cryocooler

A single-stage high frequency multi-bypass coaxial pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) has been developed for physical experiments. The performance characteristics are presented. At present, the cooler has reached the lowest temperature of 18.6 K with an electric input power of 268 W, which is the reported lowest temperature for single-stage high frequency PTC. The cooler typically provides 0.2 W at 20.6 K and 0.5 W at 24.1 K with the input power of 260 W at 300 K ambient temperature. The cooperation phase adjustment method of multi-bypass and double-inlet shows its advantages in experiments, they might be the best way to get temperature below 20 K for single-stage high frequency PTC. The temperature stability of the developed PTC is also observed.     

线性压缩机驱动的80K单级脉管制冷机设计与实验研究

结合美国标准与技术研究院(NIST)的回热器计算软件REGEN3.2,成功设计了1台单级斯特林型脉管制冷机.采用惯性管调相,在2.5MPa充气压力和60Hz频率下,获得无负荷制冷温度59K.在压缩机输入电功率为250W时,80K获得了3.8W的制冷量,与设计计算结果吻合得较好.     

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.     

Operating characteristics of a three-stage Stirling pulse tube cryocooler operating around 5 K

A Stirling pulse tube cryocooler (SPTC) operating at the liquid-helium temperatures represents an excellent prospect for satisfying the requirements of space applications because of its compactness, high efficiency and reliability. However, the working mechanism of a 4 K SPTC is more complicated than that of the Gifford McMahon (GM) PTC that operates at the relatively low frequency of 1–2 Hz, and has not yet been well understood. In this study, the primary operating parameters, including frequency, charge pressure, input power and precooling temperature, are systematically investigated in a home-developed separate three-stage SPTC. The investigation demonstrates that the frequency and precooling temperature are closely coupled via phase shift. In order to improve the cooling capacity it is important to lower the frequency and the precooling temperature simultaneously. In contrast to the behavior predicted by previous studies, the pressure dependence of the gas properties results in an optimized pressure that decreases significantly as the temperature is lowered. The third stage reaches a lowest temperature of 4.97 K at 29.9 Hz and 0.91 MPa. A cooling power of 25 mW is measured at 6.0 K. The precooling temperature is 23.7 K and the input power is 100 W.     

Numerical simulation of a GM-type pulse tube cryocooler system: Part II. Rotary valve and cold head

A simplified model to characterise a rotary valve is proposed. This model is used inside a complete GM-type pulse tube cryocooler (GMPTC) simulation including the compressor, rotary valve and cold head. The verification of the model is presented including the pressure wave, cooling power and COP by comparing the simulation results to the experimental data of an existing GMPTC system. The exergy losses produced by the compressor, rotary valve and cold head are discussed. This paper is aimed to propose a simulation method which can be applied to analyse and optimise a GMPTC cold head by using the characteristics of a specific compressor and rotary valve.     

Vibration reduction of pulse tube cryocooler driven by single piston compressor

The development of pulse tube coolers has progressed significantly during the past two decades. A single piston linear compressor is used to in order to reduce the size and mass of a high frequency pulse tube cryocooler. The pulse tube achieved a no-load temperature of 61 K and a cooling power of 1 W@80 K with an operating frequency of 80 Hz and an electrical input power of 50 W. By itself, the single piston compressor generates a large vibration, so a set of leaf springs with an additional mass is used to reduce the vibration. The equation relating the mass, the elasticity coefficient of leaf spring and the working frequency is obtained through an empirical fit of the experimental data. The vibration amplitude is reduced from 55 mm/s to lower than 5 mm/s by using a proper leaf spring. This paper demonstrates that a single piston compressor with vibration reduction provides a good choice for a PTC.     

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.