High-power Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler: Observation and reduction of regenerator temperature-inhomogeneities

Operating characteristics of a single-stage Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler with high cooling power at liquid nitrogen temperatures

“…Experiments are performed on a single-stage high power SPTC designed and manufactured at the TransMIT-Center for Adaptive Cryotechnology and Sensors (Giessen, Germany) with the aid of a Sage model (Dietrich et al, 2007). The SPTC setup adopts an inline configuration of pulse tube and regenerator, as schematically shown in Fig.…”

“…High-power cryocoolers show promise in satisfying the increasing requirements of high temperature superconductor cooling and small-scale gas liquefaction (Gromoll et al, 2006;Dietrich et al, 2007;2010;Sun et al, 2009a). The Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (SPTC) is one of the best candidates among the regenerative cryocoolers, because of its advantages of compactness, low vibration, high reliability, and high efficiency (Gan et al, 2008;Yan et al, 2009).…”

“…Dietrich et al (2007) designed a single-stage high power SPTC. By use of sandwich type regenerator fillings, where a part of the original stainless screens was replaced by copper or brass screens with higher thermal conductance, the losses from streaming were significantly reduced and the refrigeration temperature was lowered to 34.5 K. Cooling power of 50 W at 45 K and 200 W at 70 K was available with electrical input power of 6.3 kW and 8.6 kW, respectively (Dietrich et al, 2007).…”

“…Dietrich et al (2007) designed a single-stage high power SPTC. By use of sandwich type regenerator fillings, where a part of the original stainless screens was replaced by copper or brass screens with higher thermal conductance, the losses from streaming were significantly reduced and the refrigeration temperature was lowered to 34.5 K. Cooling power of 50 W at 45 K and 200 W at 70 K was available with electrical input power of 6.3 kW and 8.6 kW, respectively (Dietrich et al, 2007). By optimizing the length to diameter ratio of the regenerator and the thickness of the flow straightener, the SPTC developed by Ercolani et al (2008) reached a no-load refrigeration temperature of 39.6 K. A cooling power of 302 W was achieved at 77 K with an input power of 7.5 kW.…”

Investigation of Flow Nonuniformities in a Large 50 K Pulse Tube Cryocooler

“…The design of the regenerator incorporated individual copper screen within the stainless steel screen matrix to enhance the regenerator performance by increasing the transfer heat conduction of the regenerator matrix. [3]. The required compressor swept volume was computed using the program PHASOR, which uses the conservation of mass and energy to tie all components together and visually indicate the relative phase of different oscillating parameters such as flow, pressure, and compressor volume variation when all these parameters are assumed to vary sinusoidally with time.…”