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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Three-stage sorption type cryogenic refrigeration systems and methods employing heat regeneration

A three-stage sorption type cryogenic refrigeration system, each stage containing a fluid having a respectively different boiling point, is presented. Each stage includes a compressor in which a respective fluid is heated to be placed in a high pressure gaseous state. The compressor for that fluid which is heated to the highest temperature is enclosed by the other two compressors to permit heat to be transferred from the inner compressor to the surrounding compressors. The system may include two sets of compressors, each having the structure described above, with the interior compressors of the two sets coupled together to permit selective heat transfer therebetween, resulting in more efficient utilization of input power.

Bard, Steven↗
NASA NTRS1988

Adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator for use in zero gravity

In this effort, a new design concept for an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) that is capable of operation in zero gravity has been developed. The design uses a vortex precooler to lower the initial temperature of magnetic salt from the initial space superfluid helium dewar of 1.8 K to 1.1 K. This reduces the required maximum magnetic field from 4 Tesla to 2 Tesla. The laboratory prototype vortex precooler reached a minimum temperature of 0.78 K, and had a cooling power of 1 mW at 1.1 K. A study was conducted to determine the dependence of vortex cooler performance on system element configuration. A superfluid filled capillary heat switch was used in the design. The laboratory prototype ADR reached a minimum temperature of 0.107 K, and maintained temperatures below 0.125 K for 90 minutes. Demagnetization was carried out from a maximum field of 2 T. A soft iron shield was developed that reduced the radial central field to 1 gauss at 0.25 meters.

Dingus, Michael L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Helium compressors for closed-cycle, 4.5-Kelvin refrigerators

An improved helium compressor for traveling-wave maser and closed-cycle refrigerator systems was developed and is currently being supplied to the DSN. This new 5-hp compressor package is designed to replace the current 3-hp DSN compressors. The new compressor package was designed to retrofit into the existing 3-hp compressor frame and reuse many of the same components, therefore saving the cost of documenting and fabricating these components when implementing a new 5-hp compressor.

Hanson, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Magnetic shielding for a spaceborne adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR)

The Goddard Space Flight Center has studied magnetic shielding for an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. Four types of shielding were studied: active coils, passive ferromagnetic shells, passive superconducting coils, and passive superconducting shells. The passive superconducting shells failed by allowing flux penetration. The other three methods were successful, singly or together. Experimental studies of passive ferromagnetic shielding are compared with calculations made using the Poisson Group of programs, distributed by the Los Alamos Accelerator Code Group of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Agreement between calculation and experiment is good. The ferromagnetic material is a silicon iron alloy.

Warner, Brent A.↗
NASA NTRS1947

Investigation of Thrust Augmentation of a 1600-pound Thrust Centrifugal-flow-type Turbojet Engine by Injection of Refrigerants at Compressor Inlets

Investigations were conducted to determine effectiveness of refrigerants in increasing thrust of turbojet engines. Mixtures of water an alcohol were injected for a range of total flows up to 2.2 lb/sec. Kerosene was injected into inlets covering a range of injected flows up to approximately 30% of normal engine fuel flow. Injection of 2.0 lb/sec of water alone produced an increase in thrust of 35.8% of rate engine conditions and kerosene produced a negligible increase in thrust. Carbon dioxide increased thrust 23.5 percent.

Jones, William L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Pilot retrofit test of refrigerant R-134a for GDSCC

NASA has issued an interim policy requiring all of its Centers to eliminate consumption (purchase) of stratospheric ozone-depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), by 1995. Also, plans must be outlined for the eventual phase out of their usage. The greatest source of CFC consumption and usage at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is refrigerant R-12, which is used in many of the facility's air-conditioning systems. A pilot retrofit test shows that retrofitting R-12 air-conditioning systems with hydrofluorocarbon R-13a would be a workable means to comply with the R-12 portion of NASA's policy. Results indicate acceptable cost levels and nearly equivalent system performance.

Albus, J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Stirling-Cycle Refrigerator Containing Piezoelectric Pumps

Advanced Stirling-cycle cryogenic apparatus suitable for cooling sensitive infrared detectors to very low temperatures. Working fluid in refrigerator helium. Working fluid compressed and circulated by three piezoelectrically actuated diaphragm pumps offering advantages of greater reliability, relative simplicity, and lower cost.

Jalink, Antony, Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Direct-Circulation Stirling-Cycle Refrigerator

In proposed cryogenic system, cold working fluid (helium) circulated directly from Stirling-cycle refrigerator machinery through loop of tubing to provide 15 W of cooling power at temperature of 80 K to scientific instruments or other devices located at some distance from machinery. (Separation of cooled devices from machinery may be dictated by engineering requirements including, need to isolate cooled devices from vibrations of machinery.) Advantages include less complexity, smaller size, lighter weight, and lower power consumption.

Ellison, Woody↗
NASA NTRS1999

Ferroelectric Stirling-Cycle Refrigerator

A Stirling-cycle refrigerator has a three-pump configuration and pumping sequence, in which one pump serves as a compressor. one pump serves as an expander, and one pump serves as a displacer. The pumps are ferroelectrically actuated diaphragm pumps which are coordinated by synchronizing the ferroelectric-actuator voltages in such a way that the net effect of the displacer is to reduce the deleterious effect of dead space; that is, to circulate a greater fraction of the working fluid through the heat exchangers than would be possible by use of the compressor and expander alone. In addition. the displacer can be controlled separately to make the flow of working fluid in the heat exchangers turbulent (to increase the rate of transfer of heat at the cost of greater resistance to flow) or laminar (to decrease the resistance to flow at the cost of a lower heat-transfer rate).

Jalink, Antony, Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1999

A Multi-Stage Continuous-Duty Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator

The design for a multi-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) that can provide continuous cooling at very low temperatures is presented. The ADR is being developed for use in x-ray, IR and sub-millimeter space astronomy missions which will employ large format detector arrays operating at 50 mK and lower and which may dissipate up to 10 microwatts. It is also being designed to reject heat slowly to a relatively warm heat sink (in the 6-10 K range), so that future missions may use mechanical cryocoolers instead of liquid helium for pre-cooling. The continuous nature of the device gives it a much higher cooling power per unit mass, allowing it to be much smaller and lighter than existing ADRs with comparable performance. Design details are discussed along with prototype test results.

Shirron, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Detector Assembly and the Ultralow-Temperature Refrigerator for XRS

The X-ray spectrometer (XRS) on the Japanese Astro-E Spacecraft is the first ultra low temperature space borne instrument. The system utilizes a 900g Ferric Ammonium Alum (FAA) Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (ADR) with a helium-3 gas gap heat switch to cool the detector assembly to 0.060K. The system operates in a "single shot" configuration allowing the system to remain at its operating temperature for about 40 hours in the lab. The on-orbit performance is expected to be about 35 hours with a 97% duty cycle. The detector assembly for XRS consists of a 32 channel microcalorimeter array bias electronics, thermometry, and an anti-coincidence detector that are attached to the cold stage of the ADR. To thermally Isolate the detector system from the superfluid helium reservoir, the detector system is suspended by Kevlar cords and electrical connection in made by L30, 17-micron diameter, tensioned NbTi leads. The detectors are read out in a source-follower arrangement using FET amplifiers operating at 130K mounted in multiply-thermally-isolated assemblies that also use Kevlar and stainless steel wiring. The design and thermal performance of this system will be discussed and compared to the theoretical limits.

Porter, F. S.↗
NASA NTRS2000

A Continuous Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator for Use with Mechanical Coolers

We have begun developing an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) which can produce continuous cooling at temperatures of 50 mK or lower, with high cooling power (goal of 10 PW). The design uses multiple stages to cascade heat from a continuously-cooled stage up to a heat sink. The serial arrangement makes it possible to add stages to extend the operating range to lower temperature, or to raise the heat rejection temperature. Compared to conventional single-shot ADRS, this system achieves higher cooling power per unit mass and is able to reject its heat at a more uniform rate. For operation with a mechanical cryocooler, this latter feature stabilizes the heat sink temperature and allows both the ADR and cryocooler to operate more efficiently. The ADR is being designed to operate with a heat sink as warm as 10-12 K to make it compatible with a wide variety of mechanical coolers as part of a versatile, cryogen-free low temperature cooling system. A two-stage system has been constructed and a proof-of-principle demonstration was conducted at 100 mK. Details of the design and test results, as well as the direction of future work, are discussed.

Shirron, P.↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Compact, High-Performance Continuous Magnetic Refrigerator

We present test results of the first adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) that can produce continuous cooling at sub-kelvin temperatures. This system uses multiple stages that operate in sequence to cascade heat from a continuous stage up to a heat sink. Continuous operation aids the usual constraints of long hold times and short recycle times that lead to the generally large mass of single-shot ADRs, and allows us to achieve much higher cooling power per unit mass. Our design goal is 10 microW of cooling at 50 mK while rejecting heat to a 6-10 K heat sink. The total cold mass is estimated to be less than 10 kg, including magnetic shielding of each stage. These parameters envelop the requirements for currently planned astronomy missions. The relatively high heat rejection capability allows it to operate with a mechanical cryocooler as part of a cryogen-free, low temperature cooling system. This has the advantages of long, mission life and reduced complexity and cost. At present, we have assembled a three-stage ADR that operates with a superfluid helium bath. Additional work is underway to develop magnetocaloric materials that can extend its heat rejection capability up to 10 K. This paper discusses the design and operation of the ADR, as well as interface requirements for cryocooler-based operation.

Shirron, Peter↗
NASA NTRS2001

The HAWC and SAFIRE Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators

The High-Resolution Airborne Wide-band Camera (HAWC) and Submillimeter and Far Infrared Experiment (SAFIRE) are far-infrared experiments which will fly on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft. HAWC's detectors will operate at 0.2 Kelvin, while those of SAFIRE will be at 0.1 Kelvin. Each instrument will include an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) to cool its detector stage from the liquid helium bath temperature (HAWC's at 4.2 Kelvin and SAFIRE's pumped to about 1.3 Kelvin) to its operating temperature. Except for the magnets used to achieve the cooling and a slight difference in the heat switch design, the two ADRs are nearly identical. We describe the ADR design and present the results of performance testing.

Tuttle, Jim↗
NASA NTRS1994

Steady Secondary Momentum and Enthalpy Streaming in the Pulse Tube Refrigerator

Our study investigates the steady secondary streaming that occurs in the pulse tube refrigerator through application of the conservation laws and support by flow visualization experiments. A series expansion of the mass, momentum and energy conservation laws for an axisymmetric system yields a set of linear differential equations. The series solution is expanded in the small parameter epsilon = 1/Str where Str is the Strouhal number. The O(1) basic flow problem is solved for the case of a compressible ideal gas oscillating within a cylindrical tube. The phase and amplitude of the boundary conditions on axial velocity are treated as independent parameters. The basic solution for the gas domain is solved for the case of temperature and heat flux coupling to the tube wall. The temperature coupled solution shows how the Fourier number of the tube wall affects the gas temperature, phase angle, and time-averaged enthalpy flow. The basic solution is also examined for the time-averaged Reynolds stresses which are shown to be the driving force that produces steady secondary momentum streaming. Calculated solutions to the steady momentum streaming are shown to be in qualitative agreement with flow visualization experiments.

Lee, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Progress in the Development of a Continuous Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator

We report on recent progress in the development of a continuous adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (CADR). Continuous operation avoids the constraints of long hold times and short recycle times that lead to the generally large mass of single-shot ADRs, allowing us to achieve an order of magnitude larger cooling power per unit mass. Our current design goal is 10 micro W of cooling at 50 mK using a 6-10 K heat sink. The estimated mass is less than 10 kg, including magnetic shielding of each stage. The relatively high heat rejection capability allows it to operate with a mechanical cryocooler as part of a cryogen-free, low temperature cooling system. This has the advantages of long mission life and reduced complexity and cost. We have assembled a three-stage CADR and have demonstrated continuous cooling using a superfluid helium bath as the heat sink. The temperature stability is 8 micro K rms or better over the entire cycle, and the cooling power is 2.5 micro W at 60 mK rising to 10 micro W at 100 mK.

Shirron, Peter↗
NASA NTRS1986

Supercooling Refrigerator

A Goddard/Philips research project resulted in a refrigeration system which works without seals, lubricants or bearings. The system, originally developed to cool satellite-based scientific instruments, has an extensive range of potential spinoffs. It is called the Stirling Cycle Cryogenic Cooler and eliminates friction by using electronically controlled linear magnetic bearings. Mechanical failure, contamination are eliminated.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2002

A Cryogenic, Insulating Suspension System for the High Resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC)and Submillemeter And Far Infrared Experiment (SAFIRE) Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators (ADRs)

The High Resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC) and the Submillimeter And Far Infrared Experiment (SAFIRE) will use identical Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators (ADR) to cool their detectors to 200mK and 100mK, respectively. In order to minimize thermal loads on the salt pill, a Kevlar suspension system is used to hold it in place. An innovative, kinematic suspension system is presented. The suspension system is unique in that it consists of two parts that can be assembled and tensioned offline, and later bolted onto the salt pill.

Voellmer, George M.↗