A cryogen-free Vuilleumier type pulse tube cryocooler operating below 10 K

Vuilleumier (VM) type pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) utilizes the thermal compressor to drive the low temperature stage PTC. This paper presents the latest experimental results of a cryogen-free VM type PTC that operates in the temperature range below 10 K. Stirling type pre-coolers instead of liquid nitrogen provide the cooling power for the thermal compressor. Compared with previous configuration, the thermal compressor was improved with a higher output pressure ratio, and lead and HoCu₂ spheres were packed within the regenerator for the low temperature stage PTC for a better match with targeted cold end temperature. A lowest no-load temperature of 7.58 K was obtained with a pressure ratio of 1.23, a working frequency of 3 Hz and an average pressure of 1.63 MPa. The experimental results show good consistency in terms of lowest temperature with the simulation under the same working condition.     

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.     

High-efficiency 3 W/40 K single-stage pulse tube cryocooler for space application

Temperature is an extremely important parameter for space-borne infrared detectors. To develop a quantum-well infrared photodetector (QWIP), a high-efficiency Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) has been designed, manufactured and experimentally investigated for providing a large cooling power at 40 K cold temperature. Simulated and experimental studies were carried out to analyse the effects of low temperature on different energy flows and losses, and the performance of the PTC was improved by optimizing components and parameters such as regenerator and operating frequency. A no-load lowest temperature of 26.2 K could be reached at a frequency of 51 Hz, and the PTC could efficiently offer cooling power of 3 W at 40 K cold temperature when the input power was 225 W. The efficiency relative to the Carnot efficiency was approximately 8.4%.     

Study on a high frequency pulse tube cryocooler capable of achieving temperatures below 4 K by helium-4

High-frequency pulse tube cryocooler (HPTC) has advantages of compact structure, low vibration, high reliability and long operation time. In this study, Theoretical analysis and experimental tests have been conducted in four aspects based on a developed 4 K HPTC. Firstly, a compressor with larger power output capability was employed and the impedance match between the cold head and the compressor was discussed. Secondly, simply using inertance tube configuration to replace the traditional inertance tube-gas reservoir structure. Then, the type and the size of the regenerator materials working at 4–20 K have been experimentally optimized. Finally, the performance of double-inlet working at as low as 20 K has also been tested for the first time for the HPTC. The present prototype achieved a no-load temperature of 3.6 K, which is the lowest temperature record ever reported for HPTC using helium-4 as working gas. A cooling power of 6 mW/4.2 K was also obtained with 250 W input power and a precooling power of 12.1 W/77 K.     

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.     

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.     

CFD modeling and experimental verification of a single-stage coaxial Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler without either double-inlet or multi-bypass operating at 30–35 K using mixed stainless steel mesh regenerator matrices

This paper presents the CFD modeling and experimental verifications of a single-stage inertance tube coaxial Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler operating at 30–35 K using mixed stainless steel mesh regenerator matrices without either double-inlet or multi-bypass. A two-dimensional axis-symmetric CFD model with the thermal non-equilibrium mode is developed to simulate the internal process, and the underlying mechanism of significantly reducing the regenerator losses with mixed matrices is discussed in detail based on the given six cases. The modeling also indicates that the combination of the given different mesh segments can be optimized to achieve the highest cooling efficiency or the largest exergy ratio, and then the verification experiments are conducted in which the satisfactory agreements between simulated and tested results are observed. The experiments achieve a no-load temperature of 27.2 K and the cooling power of 0.78 W at 35 K, or 0.29 W at 30 K, with an input electric power of 220 W and a reject temperature of 300 K.     

Dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of the moving-coil linear compressor for the pulse tube cryocooler: Part B – Experimental verifications

Experimental investigations are carried out to verify the theoretical analyses and modeling conducted in Part A. Some empirical corrections are made and two sets of experiments are arranged based on the same compressor coupled with two different coaxial cold fingers typically operating at 80 K and 60 K, respectively. The variations of φ, ΔP, I, θ; the input electric power, η_motor; the cooling capacity and ηCarnot with the operating frequency at the given cooling temperatures are tested and compared with the simulation results, and fairly good agreements are found in both cases. The effects of the cooling temperature on these characteristics are also tested and discussed. Experimental results verify the validity of the theoretical investigations in Part A. The results also indicate that the theoretical studies can apply to wide ranges of both the operating frequency and the cooling temperature.     

Development of a 30–50 K dual-stage pulse tube space cooler

There has been a trend towards increasing heat loads for cryogenically cooled Earth Observation instruments in recent years.This is the case at both the current operational temperature levels (∼50K), as well as at lower operational temperature levels (30–50 K). One solution to meet this trend is to use existing pulse tube technology in a double stage configuration. With such technology increased cooling power at a lower temperature can be achieved at the payload detector. Another advantage of such a system is the possibility to increase overall system efficiency by cooling an intermediate shield to avoid parasitic heat losses towards the detector.Therefore a consortium consisting of Thales Cryogenics B.V. (TCBV), Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Absolut System (AS) is working on the development of a space cryostat actively cooled by a 2-stage high reliability pulse tube cryocooler. This work is being performed in the frame of an European Space Agency (ESA) Technical Research Program (TRP) (refer 4000109933/14/NL/RA) with a target TRL of 6.This paper presents the design of the overall equipped cryostat and cryostat itself but is mainly focused on the 2-stage cryocooler. Design, manufacturing and test aspects of cryocooler and its the lower level components such as the compressor and cold finger are discussed in detail in this paper. The cryocooler test campaign is meanwhile in final stages of completion and the obtained test results are in line with program objectives.     

Investigation on phase shifter of a 10 W/70 K inertance pulse tube refrigerator

A 10 W/70 K inertance pulse tube refrigerator (IPTR) has been developed for cooling infrared focal-plane array in a space mission. To investigate the influences of the phase shifter (inertance tube and reservoir) on the cooling performance, simulation models of the IPTR were built and experimental studies were conducted. The effects of reservoir volume and the surface roughness inside the inertance tube on cooling performance of the IPTR were investigated in detail. The optimized parameters of the phase shifter were developed to improve the cooling performance of the IPTR. The results show that a large reservoir volume reduces the optimal operating frequency, decreases the losses in the regenerator and improves the cooling performance of the IPTR. Because of the small surface roughness inside the stainless steel inertance tube, the input electric power of the IPTR is decreased, with a cooling power of 10 W at 70 K. The IPTR achieves 14.75% of the relative Carnot efficiency at 70 K by optimizing the inertance tube and reservoir.     

Development and experimental investigation of Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerator (PTR) below 20 K; cold compressor and colder expander

This research paper focuses on the experimental investigation of the Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerator with cold compression concept. Due to this innovative feature, the pulse tube refrigerator can reach lower temperature effectively other typical single-stage Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerators. The experiment as a proof of concept is carried out to demonstrate the capability of the pulse tube refrigerator operating between 80 K and 20 K. The cold linear compressor, which is submerged in a liquid nitrogen bath, produces cold mass flow with the efficiency of 85% for all the frequencies. At the lowest temperature part of the pulse tube refrigerator, the no-load temperature of 18.7 K is recorded and the cooling power of 0.4 W is measured at 20 K. The experimental results are analyzed in dynamic and thermal aspects by using the numerical model. The model can well explain how much losses are distributed in the system.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of high purity nanostructured titanium processed by high pressure torsion at temperatures 300 and 77 K

Several structural states of nanostructured high purity Ti with average grain size down to 100 nm were achieved by high pressure torsion (HPT) at temperatures 300 and 77 K. As a result of HPT processing, changes of crystallographic texture, of grain and crystallite size, and of the dislocation density have been measured and analyzed. Mechanical properties of the nanostructured Ti were studied by uniaxial compression at temperatures 300, 77, and 4.2 K. The texture components indicate simple shear deformation arising from HPT. With subsequent compression, the yield strength appears to be governed by the grain size rather than by crystallite size, dislocation density, and/or impurity content. Considerable changes of texture were observed after low temperature compressive deformation indicating that twinning markedly contributes to plasticity.     

Mechanical properties of polymer matrix composites at 77 K and at room temperature after irradiation with 60Co γ-rays

Ten different polymer matrix composites were irradiated with ⁶⁰Co γ-rays at room temperature, and were examined with regard to the mechanical properties at 77 K and at room temperature. The radiation-induced degradation of these composites is observed much more significantly in the ultimate strength and in the shear modulus than in the Young's modulus. The radiation resistance of these composites depends primarily on the radiation resistance of matrix resins, which increases in the order diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A < tetraglycidyl| diaminodiphenyl methane < Kerimid 601. Comparison of the mechanical properties tested at 77 K and at room temperature demonstrates that the extent of radiation-induced decrease in the composite strength is appreciably greater in the 77 K test than in the room temperature test. Interpretation of these results is based on the competition between the two opposing effects due to the hardness and brittleness of matrix resins.     

Stretch formability of Mn-free AZ31 Mg alloy rolled at high temperature (723 K)

Stretch formability of Mn-free AZ31 Mg alloys rolled at 618 and 723 K was investigated at room temperature. The specimen rolled at 723 K showed superior stretch formability to that of the specimen rolled at 618 K. The (0002) plane texture of the specimen rolled at 723 K exhibited a low texture intensity compared with that of the specimen rolled at 618 K. It is suggested that the modification of basal texture by the high temperature rolling contributes to activation of basal slips, resulting in an enhancement of the stretch formability. Besides, it is suggested that coarse grain size of a Mn-free AZ31 alloy seems to enhance a stretch formability, because twins become easily generated during tensile loading.     

A Study of the Isothermal Section in the W-Fe-Co Ternary System at 1380K

The purpose of the present paper isto determine the composition range ofthe θ intermediate phase and establishthe phase equilibria relation in theW-Fe-Co ternary system.The experimentalresult was compared with the calculationof phase diagrams in Guillermet's work.1.Experimental ProcedureThe diffusion couple specimen usedin this investigation was prepared fromthe tungsten bar (99.96 wt-%),electro-     

Transient interferometric technique for measuring thermal expansion at high temperatures: Thermal expansion of tantalum in the range 1500–3200 K

The design and operational characteristics of an interferometric technique for measuring thermal expansion of metals between room temperature and temperatures in the range 1500 K to their melting points are described. The basic method involves rapidly heating the specimen from room temperature to temperatures above 1500 K in less than 1 s by the passage of an electrical current pulse through it, and simultaneously measuring the specimen expansion by the shift in the fringe pattern produced by a Michelson-type polarized beam interferometer and the specimen temperature by means of a high-speed photoelectric pyrometer. Measurements of linear thermal expansion of tantalum in the temperature range 1500–3200 K are also described. The results are expressed by the relation: $$\begin{gathered} (l - l_0 )/l_0 = 5.141{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{4}}} + 1.445{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{6}}} T + 4.160{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{9}}} T^2 \hfill \\ {\text{ }} - 1.309{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{12}}} T^3 + 1.901{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{16}}} T^4 \hfill \\ \end{gathered}$$ where T is in K and l₀ is the specimen length at 20°C. The maximum error in the reported values of thermal expansion is estimated to be about 1% at 2000 K and not more than 2% at 3000 K.     

A high-temperature Auger electron spectrometer setup and its application to reactive wetting experiments at 1700 K

A high-temperature Auger electron spectroscopy setup and its in situ application to sessile drop experiments of molten silicon on oxide substrates are presented. The experimental setup allows for measurements of previously inaccessible surface reactions at temperatures up to 1700 K. Auger electron spectra of SiO₂, MgO, and liquid Si are presented. Furthermore, the areas of the substrates that have been transiently wetted by the silicon melt are investigated. The results are discussed with respect to questions concerning reactive wetting of oxides by metal melts, which are important for the material science of joining processes.