Abstract A single stage reverse Brayton cryocooler being developed for the cooling of spaceborne surveillance sensors will provide 1 W of cooling at 35 K with less than 100 W of input power. This application is an extension to lower power levels of the technology of the 5 W, 65 K reverse Brayton cryocooler presently under life test at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The reverse Brayton technology features miniature high performance turbomachines running on self-acting gas bearings. These machines provide high reliability, long life, and negligible vibration. The critical components of the reverse Brayton cooler are a centrifugal compressor, high effectiveness recuperator, and cryogenic expansion turbine. The 35 K cooler uses advanced designs for the compressor and turbine in which high energy permanent magnets in the rotating elements provide electromechanical energy conversion. A turboalternator operating at cryogenic temperature converts the turbine power from the expansion of the gas to electric power that is dissipated through a resistive load at room temperature. The miniature centrifugal compressor is driven by a high efficiency three-phase AC motor using features that are similar to those of the turboalternator. The recuperator will use either the slotted plate heat exchanger of the 5 W, 65 K SSRB cooler, or an advanced lighter weight parallel plate heat exchanger. This paper presents the component and system designs and performance predictions for the 35 K cooler. Results of recent system tests with brassboard components are also presented.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Design and Test of Low Capacity Reverse Brayton Cryocooler for Refrigeration at 35K and 60K


    Contributors:
    McCormick, J. A. (author) / Nellis, G. F. (author) / Swift, W. L. (author) / Sixsmith, H. (author) / Reilly, J. (author)

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2002-01-01


    Size :

    9 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Design and Test of Low Capacity Reverse Brayton Cryocooler for Refrigeration at 35 K and 60 K

    McCormick, J. / Nellis, G. / Swift, W. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999


    Reverse Brayton Cryocooler for NICMOS

    Nellis, G. / Dolan, F. / McCormick, J. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999


    Reverse Brayton Cryocooler for NICMOS

    Nellis, G. / Dolan, F. / McCormick, J. et al. | Springer Verlag | 2002



    Single-Stage Reverse Brayton Cryocooler: Performance of the Engineering Model

    Swift, W. L. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1995