Abstract
A lightweight, high efficiency cryocooler has been tested. The design operating point of the cooler is 10 W at 95 K with a rejection temperature of 300 K, and the goal is a 10 yr operating lifetime. The cooler has a mass of less than 4.0 kg. The cooler efficiency at the design operating point is 12.6 W/W. These values represent approximately a one-third decrease in mass and a one-third increase in efficiency over previous designs.
The pulse tube is built by TRW, and the compressor is built by Hymatic Engineering, UK. TRW integrates the compressor with the pulse tube and performs final testing of the assembly. Development of the cooler was performed by TRW under a joint NASA-DOD program.
Data presented were taken at controlled rejection temperatures of 285 K and 300 K using a cold-water heat exchanger bolted to the cooler. Heat loads were varied between 1W and 10 W by supplying current to a 25.6Ω resistor mounted on the cooler cold block. Input power to the compressor was limited to 180 W.
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References
Salerno, L. J., Valentian, D., Plachta, D., Kittel, P., Hastings, L. J., “Zero Boil off Cryogen Storage for Future Launchers”, Proc. of the 3rd European Conference on Launcher Technology, Strasbourg, France, Dec 11–14, 2001, pp. 399
Hastings, L. J., Plachta, D., Salerno, L., and Kittel, P., “An Overview of NASA Efforts on Zero Boiloff Storage of Cryogenic Propellents”, presented at the Space Cryogenics Workshop, July 2001, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Cryogenics, vol. 41, no.12, (2001), pp. 833–839
Tward, E., Chan, C. K., Colbert, R., Jaco, C., Nguyen, T., Orsini, R., Raab, J., “High Efficiency Cryocooler”, Adv. in Cryo Eng, 47, American Institute of Physics, Melville, New York (2002), pp. 1077–1084
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© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Salerno, L.J., Kittel, P., Helvensteijn, B.P.M., Kashani, A. (2003). Performance Testing of a Lightweight, High Efficiency Cooler. In: Ross, R.G. (eds) Cryocoolers 12. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47919-2_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47919-2_27
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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