Heat exchangers for he II cooling loops with self-sustained fountain effect pumps

A cooling cycle with He II convection driven by self-sustained fountain effect pumps is being investigated. Special attention is drawn to the problem of heat transfer at both ends of the superfilter of this loop. The heat exchanger requirements are derived from theoretical considerations on the degradation of the cooling characteristic effected by non-perfect heat exchangers. A shell and tube type heat exchanger, optimized for the warm end of the filter has been operated in this loop with a thermal load of up to 9 W, with 2.8 g s⁻¹ maximum helium flow rate and with inlet temperatures between 1.8 and 3.4 K. Its performance is well described by computations. A different heat exchanger design with finned Cu walls is suggested for the cold end of the pump. Some considerations on its optimization are given.