Theoretical modeling and experimental verifications of the single-compressor-driven three-stage Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler

Abstract

This paper establishes a theoretical model of the single-compressor-driven (SCD) three-stage Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (SPTC) and conducts experimental verifications. The main differences between the SCD type and the multi-compressor-driven (MCD) crycooler are analyzed, such as the distribution of the input acoustic power in each stage and the optimization of the operating parameters, in which both advantages and difficulties of the former are stressed. The effects of the dynamic temperatures are considered to improve the accuracy of the simulation at very low temperatures, and a specific simulation example aiming at 10 K is given in which quantitative analyses are provided. A SCD three-stage SPTC is developed based on the theoretical analyses and with a total input acoustic power of 371.58 W, which reaches a no-load temperature of 8.82 K and can simultaneously achieve the cooling capacities of 2.4 W at 70 K, 0.17 W at 25 K, and 0.05 W at 10 K. The performance of the SCD three-stage SPTC is slightly poorer than that of its MCD counterpart developed in the same laboratory, but the advantages of lightweight and compactness make the former more attractive to practical applications.

Keywords

single-compressor-driven / three-stage / Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler / theoretical modeling / experimental verification

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