Abstract Mechanical cryogenic refrigerators, used to cool space based instruments, are often sized to provide constant cooling at a specified temperature and available input power. Intermittent sensor heat loads greater than the designed value will result in unsteady sensor temperatures. A thermal storage unit (TSU) is a device which absorbs the spike heat loads while providing a stable temperature reservoir for the sensor. The authors have constructed and tested a single volume TSU which absorbs heat loads by melting nonexpendable, totally-retained nitrogen at its triple point in a constant pressure-temperature-volume process. This system is designed to provide approximately 5 W-hr of thermal storage capacity at 63.1 K. Presented in this paper are the results of the measured thermal capacity and stability, investigating supercooling and superheating phenomena, and instrument simulations in 0° and 180° orientations.
Test Results of a Nitrogen Triple-Point Thermal Storage Unit
Cryocoolers 10 ; 697-706
2002-01-01
10 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
Test Results of a Nitrogen Triple-Point Thermal Storage Unit
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