Abstract A 10 K JT cryostat was built for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which was incorporated in the Brilliant Eyes Ten-Kelvin Sorption Cryocooler Experiment (BETSCE) that flew on STS-77 in May 1996. The JPL system used three separate hydride beds, one to sorb H2 at a pressure of about 400 kPa during cool down and filling of a reservoir in < 2 minutes, and a second to sorb H2 at a pressure low enough to solidify the collected liquid and maintain a sublimation temperature below 11 K for more than 10 minutes. The sorption beds were then sequentially heated to transfer the H2 to a third that was then heated to repressurize the H2 storage bottle. Small Stirling cryocoolers were used to keep a thermal mass and the cold section of the cryostat at a temperature of about 65 K prior to a cool down. The Shuttle environment imposed requirements of designing for launch vibrations, limitations on radiant heat rejection, and the need to design the cooling system for a maximum pressure of 13.6 MPa. This paper describes many of the design concepts and details that solved problems which were unique to this system. These include the reservoir which collects liquid and retains it when it is rapidly depressurized then transfers heat through a heavy wall to the solid H2, the heat exchanger which has high efficiency but has small thermal mass, the dynamics of the thermal storage device, the support, cooling, and flexible coupling of the Stirling coolers, the structural support mechanisms, and the radiator design.
Periodic 10 K J-T Cryostat for Flight Demonstration
Cryocoolers 10 ; 535-543
2002-01-01
9 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Periodic 10 K J-T Cryostat for Flight Demonstration
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