Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

DEMONSTRATION OF AN INTEGRATED MICRO CRYOGENIC COOLER AND MINIATURE COMPRESSOR FOR COOLING TO 200 K

Published

Author(s)

Ryan J. Lewis, Mu Hong Lin, Yunda Wang, Jill Cooper, Peter E. Bradley, Ray Radebaugh, Marcia L. Huber, Yung-Cheng Lee

Abstract

Joule-Thompson (J-T) based micro cryogenic coolers (MCCs) are attractive because they can provide the cryogenic temperatures needed for small electronic devices while having a low cost and small volumetric footprint. A compressor is a major part of a cryogenic system, but so far J-T based MCCs have not used miniature or micro scale compressors. This work demonstrates a J-T based MCC coupled with a miniature compressor for cooling to 200 K, using a custom hydrocarbon mixture as refrigerant. The compressor is formed by coupling a miniature piston oscillator built for Sterling coolers with a micromachined check valve assembly. The MCC is formed by glass fibers within a capillary forming a counter flow heat exchanger, and a silicon and glass chip forming a J-T valve. Minimum temperatures of 166 K have been observed in transient, and stable temperatures of 200 ±1 K have been observed for >1 hour. Some insight is given into the unstable performance in terms of intermittent liquid accumulation. The coefficient of performance is analyzed for the system, and it is found that most of the inefficiencies arise at the compressor.
Proceedings Title
Proceedings of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition
ASME 2011
Conference Dates
November 14-17, 2011
Conference Location
Denver, CO, US

Keywords

cryocooler, Joule-Thompson, micro cryogenic cooler

Citation

Lewis, R. , Lin, M. , Wang, Y. , Cooper, J. , Bradley, P. , Radebaugh, R. , Huber, M. and Lee, Y. (2011), DEMONSTRATION OF AN INTEGRATED MICRO CRYOGENIC COOLER AND MINIATURE COMPRESSOR FOR COOLING TO 200 K, Proceedings of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition ASME 2011 , Denver, CO, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909136 (Accessed December 10, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created November 16, 2011, Updated October 12, 2021