Modeling and performance analysis of energy selective electron (ESE) engine with heat leakage and transmission probability

A model of an energy selective electron (ESE) engine with linear heat leakage and Lorentzian transmission probability is established in this paper.The expressions for the main performance parameters of the ESE engine operating as a heat engine or a refrigerator are derived by using the theory of finite time thermodynamics.The optimum performances of the ESE engine are explored and the influences of the heat leakage,the central energy level of the resonance,and the width of the resonance on the performance of the ESE engine are analyzed by using detailed numerical examples.The optimal operation regions of power output and efficiency (or cooling load and coefficient of performance (COP)) are also discussed.Moreover,the performances of the ESE engine with Lorentzian transmission probability are compared with those with rectangular transmission probability.It is shown that the power output versus efficiency (or cooling load versus COP) characteristic curves with and without heat leakage are all closed loop-shaped ones.The efficiency (or COP) of the ESE engine decreases as the heat leakage increases.It is found that as the resonance width increases,the power output and efficiency (or cooling load and COP) increase to a maximum and then decrease due to the finite range of energies which contribute positively to the power generation or refrigeration in the electron system.Especially,when heat leakage is taken into account,the characteristic curves of maximum efficiency (or maximum COP) versus half resonance width are parabolic-like ones,which are quite different from the monotonic decreasing characteristic curves obtained in previous analyses without considering heat leakage.The results obtained in this paper can provide some theoretical guidelines for the design and operation of practical electron energy conversion devices such as solid-state thermionic refrigerators.

Performance improvement of a pulse tube cryocooler with a single compressor through cascade utilization of cold energy

The high-frequency pulse tube cryocooler(HPTC)has been attracting increasing and widespread attention in the field of cryogenic technology because of its compact structure,low vibration,and reliable operation.The gas-coupled HPTC,driven by a single compressor,is currently the simplest and most compact structure.For HPTCs operating below 20 K,in order to obtain the mW cooling capacity,hundreds or even thousands of watts of electrical power are consumed,where radiation heat leakage accounts for a large proportion of their cooling capacity.In this paper,based on SAGE10,a HPTC heat radiation calculation model was first established to study the effects of radiation heat leakage on apparent performance parameters(such as temperature and cooling capacity),and internal parameters(such as enthalpy flow and gas distribution)of the gas-coupled HPTC.An active thermal insulation method of cascade utilization of the cold energy of the system was proposed for the gas-coupled HPTC.Numerical simulations indicate that the reduction of external radiation heat leakage cannot only directly increase the net cooling power,but also decrease the internal gross losses and increase the mass and acoustic power in the lower-temperature section,which further enhances the refrigeration performance.The numerical calculation results were verified by experiments,and the test results showed that the no-load temperature of the developed cryocooler prototype decreased from 15.1 K to 6.4 K,and the relative Carnot efficiency at 15.5 K increased from 0.029%to 0.996%when substituting the proposed active method for the traditional passive method with multi-layer thermal insulation materials.