Share

Proposed rapid cooldown technique for pulse tube cryocoolers.

Author(s) : RADEBAUGH R., O'GALLAGHER A., LEWIS M. A., et al.

Summary

Some cryocooler applications, such as those for military operations dealing with high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets, motors, or generators, require faster cooldown times than what can normally be provided with a cryocooler designed to accommodate a relatively small steady-state heat load. The current approach to achieve fast cooldown is to use a cryocooler oversized for steady-state operation. This paper proposes a new method applicable only to pulse tube cryocoolers that may decrease cooldown times by a factor of two or three when cooling to temperatures in the range of 50 to 80 K from room temperature without increasing the size of the cryocooler. Such temperatures are appropriate for HTS magnets, generators, or motors. The proposed method makes use of the resonance phenomenon that occurs with an appropriately sized combination of inertance tube and reservoir volume. With a small reservoir, an LC resonance effect can occur at typical operating frequencies, with C being the compliance (volume) of the reservoir and inertance tube and L being the inertance of the inertance tube. At or near resonance the input acoustic impedance to the inertance tube is low, which allows for a high acoustic power flow at the cold end of the pulse tube for a given pressure amplitude. When the reservoir volume is increased to its normal size, the impedance increases to the value optimized for steady-state operation. A simple ball valve can then be used to change the reservoir volume and to switch from the fast cooldown mode to the steady-state mode.

Details

  • Original title: Proposed rapid cooldown technique for pulse tube cryocoolers.
  • Record ID : 2008-1056
  • Languages: English
  • Publication date: 2006/06/14
  • Source: Source: Proc. 14th int. Cryocooler Conf., Annapolis, MD
    231-240; fig.; 9 ref.

Indexing