A Pulse Tube Cryocooler for Telecommunications Applications

Abstract

Superconducting Core Technologies (SCT) is developing a pulse tube cryocooler designed for cooling telecommunications equipment in outdoor installations. The cooler is based on a moving-magnet, flexure-bearing-supported linear compressor that is both inexpensive and scalable to a variety of power levels. The cryocooler is designed to support HTS superconducting filters and cryocooled low noise amplifiers in a commercial wireless telephone range extension product. The key components of the SCT cryocooler are the linear compressor, an efficient single-stage, in-line pulse tube cold head, a high-reliability electronic drive and an air-cooled heat rejection system.

This paper presents preliminary measurements of cooling performance, describes system weight and size envelope, and describes the trade-offs between system performance and production costs. Performance measurements for the 300 W, passively balanced compressor are given, along with predicted production costs in low and moderate volumes.