Compact Low-power Cryo-Cooling Systems for Superconducting Elements

Abstract

A compact, low power cryo-cooler for cryogenic systems capable of cooling gas to at least as low as 2.5 K. The cryo-cooler has a room temperature compressor followed by filtration. Within the cryostat, four counterflow heat exchangers precool the incoming high-pressure gas using the outflowing low-pressure gas. The three warmest heat exchangers are successively heat sunk to three stages of a pulse tube to absorb residual heat from the slight ineffectiveness of the heat exchangers. The pulse tube cold head also absorbs loads from instrumentation leads and radiation loads. The pulse tube stages operate at around 80 K, 25 K, and 10 K. The entire system—cryo-cooler, drive and control electronics, and detector instrumentation, fits in a standard electronics rack mount enclosure, and requires around 300 W or less of power.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention was made with government support under grant number 70NANB14H095 awarded by NIST. The government has certain rights in the invention.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to compact, low-power cryo-cooling systems for superconducting elements. In particular, the present invention relates to such systems having a pulse tube compressor and a Joule-Thomson (JT) coolerDISCUSSION OF RELATED ART[0003]Applications for superconductor-based sensors and electronics have been steadily increasing over the past several years in diverse areas such as astrophysics / cosmology, X-ray spectroscopy, gamma-ray spectroscopy, quantum information, and photon science. These systems operate at temperatures ranging from above 4 K to lower than 50 mK. Although these systems are developed by scientists with low-temperature expertise, end users typically have minimal cryogenic experience, and therefore acceptance has been greatly facilitated by ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a new design of a cooler for a standard rack-mountable electronics instrument that has increased cooling capacity and reduced minimum temperature. The cooler is a hybrid of a pulse tube and a Joule-Thomson (JT) stage, with the JT stage providing efficient cooling at a lower temperature and the pulse tube providing cooling at three different stages. The design is optimized for thermodynamic efficiency, production costs, and risk, using stainless steel tubing instead of titanium tubing to achieve the desired cooling. The design also minimizes the effects of secondary flows within the pulse tube and regenerator. Overall, this new design reduces the cooler's size and power draw, making it suitable for spaceflight applications.

Problems solved by technology

Although a [3] He JT would reach temperatures approaching 1 K, [4] He was selected for the initial development because of the relative high cost and rarity of [3] He.

Preferred embodiments avoid complex, costly components and fabrication processes typically used in spaceflight coolers, resulting in thermodynamic efficiencies lower than those coolers.

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