Computational fluid dynamic simulation of an inter-phasing pulse tube cooler

An inter-phasing pulse tube cooler (IPPTC) consists of two pulse tube units, which are connected to each other at hot ends of the pulse tubes through a needle valve. This paper presents the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) results of an IPPTC using a 2D axis-symmetrical model. General results such as the phase difference between pressure and velocity at cold end and hot end, the temperature profiles along the wall, the available lowest temperature as well as its oscillations and the coefficient of performance (COP) for IPPTC are presented. The formation of DC flow and its effects on the performance of the cooler are investigated and analyzed in detail. Turbulence, which is partially responsible for the poor overall performance of a single orifice pulse tube cooler (OPTC), is found to be much reduced in IPPTC and its performance is improved significantly compared with the single OPTC.

DC FLOW SUPPRESSION IN A SINGLE-STAGE G-M TYPE PULSE TUBE COOLER

An experimental investigation on DC flow suppression in a single-stage G-M type pulse tube cooler is made. The influence of DC flow induced by the introduction of the double-inlet on the refrigeration performance of the cooler is experimentally examined. Two parallelplaced needle valves with an opposite flow direction called as double-valved configuration, instead of conventional single-valved configuration as the double-inlet is used to reduce the DC flow. With the double-valved configuration, the minimum temperatures of 18.4 K and 14.7 K, and the cooling powers of 11.5 W and 29.5 W are also obtained by RW2 and CP4000, respectively.

35 K空间深低温热传输系统性能天地差异

为了解决空间红外探测系统的深低温散热问题,保证红外探测器的低温工作环境,基于脉冲管制冷机和深冷环路热管,设计研制了一套35 K温区的深低温获取与热传输集成系统.该系统由一套35 K温区氖工质深冷环路热管、两台35 K温区脉冲管制冷机、一台150 K温区脉冲管制冷机、隔热冷屏、测温/加热组件、控制系统等组成.完成了地面单机级、整星级热真空测试,并于2020年完成空间飞行测试.在地面单机试验中开展了水平姿态和逆重力恶劣姿态下的传热测试,保证了空间微重力下必定能稳定工作;整星级测试验证了系统在卫星平台散热工况下的工作特性,空间飞行测试获得了系统的空间微重力下的工作性能.本文分析了系统在上述不同阶段的热性能,包括超临界启动特性,稳态运行性能等,验证了相关设计的正确性,重点对比了不同阶段的性能差异,分析其可能的原因.

A novel coupling configuration for thermoacoustically-driven pulse tube coolers: Acoustic amplifier

Thermoacoustically-driven pulse tube cooler can provide cryogenic cooling power with no moving com-ponents. Up to now, pulse tube cooler is directly coupled with the thermoacoustic engine and obtainable pressure ratio for the pulse tube cooler is limited by the capability of the ther-moacoustic engine. The authors propose here the concept of acoustic amplifier, which is actually a long tube connecting the engine with the pulse tube cooler. Theoretical calculation shows that suitable length and diameter of the tube can lead to a pressure wave amplification effect which means that pressure wave amplitude coming from the thermoacoustic engine can be much amplified to drive the pulse tube cooler. Based on this, a 2.8 m long copper tube with 8 mm inner diameter is used as the acoustic amplifier in experiments. The experimental results show that due to the amplification effect, pressure wave amplitude at the inlet of the pulse tube cooler is over 2.5 times of that at the engine outlet. Typically, with 1.67 kW heating power, the pressure ratio provided by the engine is 1.11 while at the inlet of the pulse tube cooler the pressure ratio is 1.32, which leads to a lowest no-load temperature of 65.7 K.

A separate two-stage pulse tube cooler working at liquid helium temperature

A novel 4 K separate two-stage pulse tube cooler (PTC) was designed and tested. The cooler consists of two separate pulse tube coolers, in which the cold end of the first stage regenerator is thermally connected with the mid- dle part of the second regenerator. Compared to the tradi- tional coupled multi-stage pulse tube cooler, the mutual interference between stages can be significantly eliminated. The lowest refrigeration temperature obtained at the first stage pulse tube was 13.8 K. This is a new record for single stage PTC. With two compressors and two rotary valves driving mode, the separate two-stage PTC obtained a refrig- eration temperature of 2.5 K at the second stage. Cooling capacities of 508 mW at 4.2 K and 15 W at 37.5 K were achieved simultaneously. A one-compressor and one-rotary valve driving mode has been proposed to further simplify the structure of separate type PTC.

Design and preliminary experimental investigation of a 4K Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler with precooling

A Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) with precooling was designed and manufactured to investigate its performance at 4 K. Numerical simulation was carried out based on the well-known regenerator model REGEN with an emphasis on the performance of a 4 K stage regenerator of the Stirling-type PTC as influenced by the warm end temperature, pressure ratio, frequency and average pressure with helium-4 and helium-3 as the working fluid respectively. This study demonstrates that the use of a cold inertance tube can significantly improve the efficiency of a 4 K Stirling-type PTC. A preliminary experimental investigation was carried out with helium-4 as the working fluid and a refrigeration temperature of 4.23 K was achieved. The experimental results show that the operating frequency has a significant influence on the performance of the Stirling-type PTC and a relatively low average pressure is favorable for decreasing the loss associated with the real gas effects of a 4 K Stirling-type PTC.

A 300 Hz high frequency thermoacoustically driven pulse tube cooler

This article introduces the latest progress of a 300 Hz thermoacoustically driven pulse tube cooler. Based on the experience of former experiments, improvements have been made in the standing-wave engine, pulse tube cooler and their coupling mechanism. An inlet pressure ratio of 1.248 was obtained with the mean pressure and heating power of 4.13 MPa and 1760 W, respectively. A lowest no-load temperature of 69.5 K has been reached under this condition. This is the first time for thermoacousti- cally driven pulse tube coolers to reach the temperature below 70 K with such a high frequency.

A Computational Model for Two-Stage 4K-Pulse Tube Cooler: Part Ⅱ. Predicted Results

The internal physical processes and performance of a two-stage pulse tube cooler operating at 4 K-temperature region are numerically analyzed by a new mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian computational model. The detailed time-variations of gas temperature, pressure, mass flow rate, enthalpy flow in a cycle, in the first and the second-stage regenerators are presented in the paper. The behavior of the various gas elements, which enter the pulse tube from its cold end has been revealed and discussed. More attention is paid to the effects of different regenerative materials on the performance of the 4 K two-stage pulse tube cooler.

A Computational Model for Two-stage 4K-Pulse Tube Cooler: Part I. Theoretical Model and Numerical Method

A new mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian computational model for simulating and visualizing the internal processes and the variations of dynamic parameters of a two-stage pulse tube cooler (PTC) operating at 4 K-temperature region has been developed. We use the Lagrangian method, a set of moving grids, to follow the exact tracks of gas particles as they move with pressure oscillation in the pulse tube to avoid any numerical false diffusion. The Eulerian approach, a set of fixed computational grids, is used to simulate the variations of dynamic parameters in the regenerator. A variety of physical factors, such as real thermal properties of helium, multi-layered magnetic regenerative materials, pressure drop and heat transfer in the regenerator, and heat exchangers, are taken into account in this model. The present modeling is very effective for visualizing the internal physical processes in 4 K-pulse tube coolers.

三级同轴型脉冲管制冷机温度分布对回热器损失影响的数值研究

采用数值模拟方法研究三级同轴脉冲管制冷机,比较分析了同截面回热器和脉冲管的温度差异,并由此研究探讨了回热器各项损失与温度分布的相关性。结果表明,同一级回热器里不同形状的蓄冷材料之间的温度梯度会有较大的变化,导致轴向导热损失的明显增加。

行波热声发动机驱动的脉管制冷机研究

通过改变热声发动机谐振直路长度,研究系统在不同工作频率下的性能。研究发现,在一定条件下降低频率可以显著改善脉管制冷机的性能。在工作压力为 2 7MPa,加热功率为 2 350W,工作频率为 45Hz时,双向进气型单级脉管制冷机获得了 80 9K的最低制冷温度,这是目前用热声制冷方法获得的最低制冷温度。

20K以下温区单级脉管制冷机直流控制实验研究

开展了 2 0K以下温区单级脉管制冷机的实验研究 ,考察了直流流动对制冷机性能的影响 ,估算了不同制冷温度下制冷机循环的需气量 ,在对直流进行控制的情况下 ,采用 2kW (RW2 )和 4kW (CP4 )压缩机分别获得了 1 8 7K和1 4 7K的最低制冷温度 ,对应的在 30K的制冷量分别为 1 0W和 2 9 5W。

超长线列红外焦平面杜瓦冷链设计

针对采用直线脉管制冷的超长线列红外焦平面器件杜瓦封装的需求,提出了一种弹性冷链的设计方案。介绍了超长线列焦平面器件及直线脉管制冷机的特点以及对冷链的力学、热学要求,针对超长线列焦平面杜瓦冷链的设计思路、设计方法进行了研究,针对某型号脉管制冷机及典型超长线列探测器的尺寸、工作温度等要求,采用局部弹性冷链方案,通过有限元仿真工具对冷链进行优化设计,使其能够满足设计指标要求。根据设计结果制作了冷链及测试杜瓦,对冷链温差、器件拼接基板温度均匀性及低温形变进行了测试,并通过振动试验对力学可靠性进行了验证。试验结果证明局部弹性冷链设计方案的正确性和可行性。

10K单级脉管制冷机性能研究

20K温区大功率低温制冷机在超导体冷却、液氢无损贮存和低温泵等方面有着广阔的应用前景。为了探索单级脉管制冷机的极限制冷温度同时提高脉管制冷机在20K温区的制冷量,本文开展了计算模拟和实验研究。回热器模拟软件REGEN3.2的模拟结果显示,在不同的冷端质量流量下,单级脉管制冷机所能达到的最低制冷温度均为9.5K。在此基础上,本文设计了一台单级脉管制冷机,对回热器冷端10～80K温区的回热材料作了进一步优化。采用由不锈钢丝网、铅丸和稀土磁性蓄冷材料Er3Ni构成的复合式回热器,该单级脉管制冷机获得了10.9K的最低制冷温度,这是目前公开报道的单级脉管制冷机最低制冷温度。该制冷机在20.9K可获得20W的制冷量或在29.9K可获得40W的制冷量,输入功率为7.5kW。

300Hz脉冲管制冷机特性研究

从实验和数值计算两个方面研究了1台工作频率为300 Hz的单级脉冲管制冷机的制冷特性。实验方面,验证了平均压力、入口压比、惯性管长度以及均流化元件对其制冷性能的影响,该制冷机在平均压力为3.96 MPa、入口压比为1.21时获得了79.6 K的最低制冷温度;数值计算方面,基于线性热声理论的模拟结果与实验结果进行了比较,以验证程序的有效性。

一种逼近卡诺制冷效率的级联脉管法及其两级验证

理论分析表明,通过多级级联脉管组成的新结构,其理论制冷效率有望达到卡诺效率。给出了这样一种具有传输管声功回收装置的级联型脉管制冷机,传输管能将主级制冷机脉管热端压力波领先质量流的相位扭转为质量流领先压力波,同时实现能量最大化的传输,用以驱动次级制冷机。实验结果表明,两级级联型脉管制冷机在233K工作时,制冷效率比单级结构提高了33%。

脉冲管制冷机调相机构的研究第二部分：惯性管有无气库的研究

基于线性热声理论,通过计算证明了在层流状态下,带气库的惯性管调相机构可以用不带气库的单纯惯性管结构取代,单纯的惯性管结构更加便于在实验中进行调节变化,并且在尺寸的选择上具有更大的灵活性。在一台脉冲管制冷机上分别采用单纯惯性管和带气库的惯性管作为调相机构获得了相同的温度。

高性能G-M型单级脉管制冷机研究

从直流抑制角度出发 ,开展了高性能 G-M型单级脉管制冷机的研究。在对各种直流抑制方式进行比较的基础上 ,利用双向进气阀流量系数的方向性 ,采用两个并联排列、指示箭头方向相反的阀门 ,称之为并联逆向双阀双向进气结构对直流进行抑制 ,成功地解决了传统单阀双向进气结构脉管制冷机的直流问题。在 2 k W( RW2 )和 4k W( CP40 0 0 )压缩机驱动时分别获得了 1 8.4K和 1 4.7K的最低制冷温度 ,对应在 3 0 K的制冷量为 1 1 .5 W和 2 9.5 W,这些都是目前单级脉管制冷机公开报道的最好结果。

基于流体网络理论的脉管制冷机调相机理

开展了脉管制冷机调相机理研究,从调相和调幅两方面出发,理论分析了各种形式脉管制冷机的调相特性,为探索其工作机理开辟了新途径。该方法很好地弥补了传统相位理论片面注重各种结构的调相功能而忽略其调幅功能的不足,更好地揭示了它们的作用机理,具有简单、直观的突出优点。进一步对其完善,该理论成果可用于脉管制冷机的定量设计和新结构的研发。

热声驱动脉管制冷机系统的效率评价

采用热声压缩机驱动脉管制冷机将完全消除系统的机械运动部件 ,大大提高了运行的可靠性。随着热声驱动脉管制冷机研究的不断深入 ,人们迫切需要能真实反映系统效率的评价标准 ,文中给出三种评价方法 :(1 )系统的总效率 ;(2 )系统的相对卡诺效率 ;(3)系统的火用效率。建议采用火用效率对系统效率进行综合评价 。