Hybrid Cryogen Cooling with Detachable Cold Split Joint
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems for semiconductor radiation detectors, such as those using liquid nitrogen or melting cryogens, face challenges in efficiency, portability, and reusability, particularly in maintaining optimal energy resolution and reducing mechanical vibrations during spectrometric measurements.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid cooling system combining a melting cryogen as a passive cooling element and an electromechanical cryocooler as an active cooling element, allowing for the cryocooler to be switched off during measurements and enabling repeatable detachment and attachment without waiting for the cryogen to warm up.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If an electromechanical cryocooler is continuously operated to maintain cryogenic temperatures, then the detector temperature is stabilized, but mechanical vibrations deteriorate energy resolution during spectrometric measurements
Solution Approach 1:
The cryocooler is operated periodically rather than continuously - it cools the cryogen to solid state, then is switched off during spectrometric measurements. The cooling cycle is restarted when measurements are complete, allowing the cryogen to be re-cooled. This periodic operation eliminates vibrations during critical measurement periods while maintaining cryogenic temperatures when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a melting cryogen as an intermediary thermal storage medium between the cryocooler and the detector. The cryogen absorbs cooling energy when solidified and releases it during melting, acting as a thermal buffer that maintains detector temperature stability without requiring continuous cryocooler operation, thereby eliminating vibration-induced resolution degradation.
2Duration of action of moving object
If the cryocooler is detached from the cryogen after cooling to solid state, then heat load to the cryogen is decreased and device mass is reduced, but the system becomes non-reusable without waiting for cryogen warm-up
Solution Approach 1:
The cryocooler is detached from the cryogen in advance - specifically after the cryogen reaches solid state but while still below 0°C. This preliminary detachment allows the main operational device to be used immediately without waiting for warm-up, while the cryocooler can be stored and reattached later for another cooling cycle, enabling reusability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameter of the cryogen temperature - allowing detachment at temperatures below 0°C (such as -20°C to -80°C) rather than waiting for warm-up above 0°C. This parameter change enables the cryocooler to be reused after detachment while maintaining the cryogen in a usable cold state for subsequent operations.
3Temperature
If liquid nitrogen is used for cooling the detector, then the detector operates at cryogenic temperatures, but the system lacks portability and requires continuous supply
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a self-contained melting cryogen that provides autonomous cooling without requiring external liquid nitrogen supply. The cryogen is cooled to solid state by the electromechanical cryocooler and then maintains detector temperature through its melting process, making the system portable and independent of continuous external cooling supply.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the phase transition (melting) of a solid cryogen as the cooling mechanism. The cryogen is frozen to solid state and then allowed to melt, absorbing heat and maintaining detector temperature. This phase transition provides a portable, self-contained cooling solution that eliminates the need for continuous liquid nitrogen supply required by traditional systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The hybrid cooling system provides optimal energy resolution for semiconductor radiation detectors, reduces mechanical vibrations, and enhances portability by decreasing the heat load on the cryogen and allowing for the removal of the cryocooler, thereby extending autonomous operation time and reducing device weight.
Implementation Method 1
The cryogen is cooled to a solid crystalline state using an electromechanical cryocooler
Implementation Method 2
the energy barrier (characterized by the enthalpy of fusion) at the phase transition from solid to liquid state was used to keep the detector cold
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a cooling system of a semiconductor radiation detector or any other electronic or optical component that needs to be cooled to operate or to achieve optimal signal-to-noise ratio; such components as field-effect transistors, superconducting magnets, optical lenses, or infrared sensors. The hybrid cooling system is based on a melting cryogen 14 cooled to the solid state by a detachable electromechanical cryocooler 23. The melting cryogen works as a thermal buffer keeping the temperature of an object of cooling 1 low enough and stable using an energy barrier accumulated at the phase transition. The hybrid cooling system is the most effective when a cryocooler cold tip 15 is detached from a vessel filled with a cryogen and optimal weight and size characteristics of an operating device are provided when the cryocooler itself is removed from the device after the cryogen cooling to the solid state. The invention allows multiple attachments and detachments to be made between the cooled cryogen and the cryocooler cold tip without the necessity to wait for the cryogen warm-up above its melting point and without the necessity in generation or restoration of vacuum (reduced air pressure) in the connection chamber afterwards; therefore, the invention represents a reusable hybrid cooling system of a cold split and joint.