Abstract
A Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) with precooling was designed and manufactured to investigate its performance at 4 K. Numerical simulation was carried out based on the well-known regenerator model REGEN with an emphasis on the performance of a 4 K stage regenerator of the Stirling-type PTC as influenced by the warm end temperature, pressure ratio, frequency and average pressure with helium-4 and helium-3 as the working fluid respectively. This study demonstrates that the use of a cold inertance tube can significantly improve the efficiency of a 4 K Stirling-type PTC. A preliminary experimental investigation was carried out with helium-4 as the working fluid and a refrigeration temperature of 4.23 K was achieved. The experimental results show that the operating frequency has a significant influence on the performance of the Stirling-type PTC and a relatively low average pressure is favorable for decreasing the loss associated with the real gas effects of a 4 K Stirling-type PTC.
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Project (No. 50676081) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
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Gan, Zh., Li, Zp., Chen, J. et al. Design and preliminary experimental investigation of a 4 K Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler with precooling. J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. A 10, 1277–1284 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.A0920095
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.A0920095