Split-Stirling Cryogenic Refrigerators For Detector Cooling

Daniel Lehrfeld

doi:10.1117/12.934186

16 August 1983 Split-Stirling Cryogenic Refrigerators For Detector Cooling

Daniel Lehrfeld

Proceedings Volume 0364, Technologies of Cryogenically Cooled Sensors and Fourier Transform Spectrometers II; (1983) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.934186
Event: 26th Annual Technical Symposium, 1982, San Diego, United States

Abstract

Unfortunately, for user and manufacturer both, the closed-cycle cryogenic cooler to date has deserved its reputation as the "weak-link" in IR systems. When the cooler requires service at intervals of a few hundred hours at best, the quality of the system it serves is unfairly diminished. This paper addresses technological advances in the art of Stirling-cycle coolers which will increasingly cause that image of military cryocoolers to change for the better. A family of split-cycle coolers designed for long MTBF and in the final stages of development is the focus of the discussion. Their technological evolution, from multi-year-MTBF satellite system Stirling coolers developed in the U.S., and the UA 7011 cooler (tne first all-linear, military, production cooler) developed in Holland, is explained. Three new machines are discussed. Both 1/4 watt and 1 watt (nominal capacity) at 80°K linear-resonant, free-dispLacer Stirling coolers designed for thousands of hours of service-free operation are examined. The third machine is an advanced 1/4 watt at 80°K Stirling cooler incorporating the same component improvements in its free-displacer while utilizing a crankshaft-driven compressor. All three are designed to be compatible with standard U.S. 60 element and 120/180 element detector/dewars. The technologies of linear-resonant compressor and free-displacer expanders as embodied in these machines is discussed in sufficient detail that the reasons for their superior performance will he clear.

Citation Download Citation

Daniel Lehrfeld "Split-Stirling Cryogenic Refrigerators For Detector Cooling", Proc. SPIE 0364, Technologies of Cryogenically Cooled Sensors and Fourier Transform Spectrometers II, (16 August 1983); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.934186

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