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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

Oxygen chemisorption compressor study for cryogenic J-T refrigeration

Over twenty potentially reversible heat-powered oxide reactions have been studied and/or tested to determine their potential use as thermochemical oxygen compressors for cryogenic J-T LO2 refrigerators. One gas-solid compound family, Pr(1-n)Ce(n)O(x), proved to be completely reversible with fast kinetics for all pressure ranges tested below 650 C. With a heat-powered charcoal/methane physical adsorption upper stage and a Pr(1-n)Ce(n)O(x) chemisorption lower stage, temperatures should be attainable in the 55-80 K range for less power and over five times less weight than for charcoal/nitrogen sorption refrigeration systems. Total system power requirements with a hydride chemisorption lower stage (10 K to 7 K minimum) are about three times less than any mechanical refrigerator, and spacecraft refrigeration weights are about twenty times less. Due to the lack of wear-related moving parts in sorption refrigerators, life expectancy is at least ten years, and there essentially no vibration.

Jones, Jack A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Laboratory testing of a supercritical helium pump for a magnetic refrigerator

A supercritical helium testing system for a magnetic refrigerator has been built. Details of the supercritical helium pump, the test system, and the test instrumentation are given. Actual pump tests were not run during this ASEE term because of delivery problems associated with the required pump flow meter. Consequently, efforts were directed on preliminary design of the magnetic refrigeration system for the pump. The first concern with the magnetic refrigerator design was determining how to effectively make use of the pump. A method to incorporate the supercritical helium pump into a magnetic refrigerator was determined by using a computer model. An illustrated example of this procedure is given to provide a tool for sizing the magnetic refrigerator system as a function of the pump size. The function of the computer model and its operation are also outlined and discussed.

Wang, Pao-Lien↗
NASA NTRS1990

Dilution refrigeration for space applications

Dilution refrigerators are presently used routinely in ground based applications where temperatures below 0.3 K are required. The operation of a conventional dilution refrigerator depends critically on the presence of gravity. To operate a dilution refrigerator in space many technical difficulties must be overcome. Some of the anticipated difficulties are identified in this paper and possible solutions are described. A single cycle refrigerator is described conceptually that uses forces other than gravity to function and the stringent constraints imposed on the design by requiring the refrigerator to function on the earth without using gravity are elaborated upon.

Israelsson, U. E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Magnetic refrigeration using flux compression in superconductors

The feasibility of using flux compression in high-temperature superconductors to produce the large time-varying magnetic fields required in a field cycled magnetic refrigerator operating between 20 K and 4 K is presently investigated. This paper describes the refrigerator concept and lists limitations and advantages in comparison with conventional refrigeration techniques. The maximum fields obtainable by flux compression in high-temperature supercoductor materials, as presently prepared, are too low to serve in such a refrigerator. However, reports exist of critical current values that are near usable levels for flux pumps in refrigerator applications.

Israelsson, U. E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A rocket-borne He-3 refrigerator

A self-contained, recyclable He-3 refrigerator suitable for use in space has been developed. The refrigerator is compact, has no moving parts, and requires only electrical connections and thermal contact in order to operate from a 2 K cold stage. A charcoal adsorption pump is used to efficiently condense and cool the He-3. Sintered copper confines the He-3 to the evaporator in zero-gravity and, in fact, allows the refrigerator to operate upside-down in the laboratory. Mounted on a 2 K cold stage, the refrigerator provides 100 microwatts of cooling power at 346 mK, with a 7 hour hold time. On a 1.5 K cold stage, the lowest temperature achieved is 277 mK. The refrigerator has been vibration tested at 7.5 G amplitude from 30 to 400 Hz and 15 G amplitude from 400 to 2000 Hz.

Duband, L.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Thermoelectric refrigerator

A refrigerator is provided which combines the benefits of superinsulation materials with thermoelectric devices and phase change materials to provide an environmentally benign system that is energy efficient and can maintain relatively uniform temperatures for extended periods of time with relatively low electrical power requirements. The refrigerator includes a thermoelectric assembly having a thermoelectric device with a hot sink and a cold sink. The superinsulation materials include a plurality of vacuum panels. The refrigerator is formed from an enclosed structure having a door. The vacuum panels may be contained within the walls of the enclosed structure and the door. By mounting the thermoelectric assembly on the door, the manufacturer of the enclosed structure is simplified and the overall R rating of the refrigerator increased. Also an electrical motor and propellers may be mounted on the door to assist in the circulation of air to improve the efficiency of the cold sink and the hot sink. A propeller and/or impeller is preferably mounted within the refrigerator to assist in establishing the desired air circulation flow path.

Park, Brian V.↗
NASA NTRS2013

20 K Helium Refrigeration System for NASA-JSC Chamber-A

A new 20 K helium refrigerator installed at NASA Johnson Space Center's Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (SESL) was successfully commissioned and tested in 2012. The refrigerator is used to create a deep space environment within SESL s Chamber A to perform ground testing of the James Webb Space Telescope. The chamber previously and currently still has helium cryopumping panels (CPP) and LN2 shrouds used to create Low Earth Orbit environments. Now with the new refrigerator and new helium shrouds (45 x 65 ) the chamber can create a deep space environment. The process design, system analysis, specification development, and commissioning oversight were performed by the cryogenics department at Jefferson Labs, while the contracts and system installation was performed by the ESC group at JSC. Commissioning data indicate a inverse coefficient of performance better than 70 W/W for a 18 KW load at 20 K (accounting for liquid nitrogen precooling power) that remains essentially constant down to 1/3 of this load. Even at 10 percent of the maximum capacity, the performance is better than 140 W/W at 20K. The refrigerator exceeded all design goals and demonstrated the ability to support a wide load range from 10kW at 15 K to 100 kW at 100K. The refrigerator is capable of operating at any load temperature from 15K to ambient with tight temperature stability. The new shroud (36 tons of aluminum) can be cooled from room temperature to 20 K in 24 hours. This paper will outline the process design and commissioning results.

Homan, J.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Commissioning of a 20 K Helium Refrigeration System for NASA-JSC Chamber A

A new 20 K helium refrigerator installed at NASA Johnson Space Center s Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (SESL) was successfully commissioned and tested in 2012. The refrigerator is used to create a deep space environment within SESL s Chamber A to perform ground testing of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The chamber previously and currently still has helium cryo-pumping panels (CPP) and liquid nitrogen shrouds used to create low earth orbit environments. Now with the new refrigerator and new helium shrouds the chamber can create a deep space environment. The process design, system analysis, specification development, and commissioning oversight were performed by the cryogenics department at Jefferson Lab, while the contracts and system installation was performed by the ESC group at JSC. Commissioning data indicate an inverse coefficient of performance better than 70 W/W for a 18 kW load at 20 K (accounting for liquid nitrogen pre-cooling power) that remains essentially constant down to one third of this load. Even at 10 percent of the maximum capacity, the performance is better than 150 W/W at 20 K. The refrigerator exceeded all design goals and demonstrated the ability to support a wide load range from 10 kW at 15 K to 100 kW at 100 K. The refrigerator is capable of operating at any load temperature from 15 K to ambient with tight temperature stability. The new shroud (36 tons of aluminum) can be cooled from room temperature to 20 K in 24 hours. This paper will outline the process design and commissioning results.

Homan, J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Optimizing flow condensation models for next-generation refrigerants in axial micro-fin aluminum tubes

To support the transition to next-generation refrigerants, accurate modelling of heat transfer and pressure drop is essential for designing efficient heat exchangers. Current models, largely based on traditional refrigerants and unexpanded micro-fin tubes, may not reliably predict performance for new refrigerants and expanded micro-fin geometries. This study evaluates four condensation models using experimental data for six A2L refrigerants: R-32, R-454B, R-454C, R-455A, R-1234yf, and R-1234ze(E). For heat transfer models, the Han and Lee (2005) model initially yields the best accuracy (mean absolute Deviation, MAD = 22.1%). To further improve predictions, a correction factor reduces the Cavallini et al. (2009) model’s MAD from 68.2% to 15.4%, while optimization of the Kedzierski and Goncalves (1997) model achieves a MAD of 13.1%. For pressure drop, the Cavallini et al. (1997) model proves most accurate (MAD = 6.4%), with the simpler Haraguchi et al. (1993) model also effective (MAD = 9.4%). Keywords: Flow condensation models, heat transfer coefficient, frictional pressure drop, next-generation refrigerants, aluminum micro-fin tubes

Hu, Yifeng [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000242875185)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Modeling and Energy Analysis of Refrigeration Systems in Supermarkets: A Case Study

Refrigeration systems are the single largest consumer of electricity in supermarkets, accounting for approximately 40–60% of total store electricity use. As supermarkets face increasing pressures to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs, understanding the energy performance of refrigeration systems in supermarkets has become essential. In this paper, we investigate the energy performance and patterns of the refrigeration system using field measurements in one supermarket. The compressor coefficient of performance (COP) averaged 4.5 during nighttime steady-state operation, providing a practical efficiency benchmark. We develop simple physical-based load models for the display cases in the supermarket, where the refrigeration system uses R404A. The results show the display case models achieve a good agreement with measured data, validating its utility for energy estimation during unoccupied hours. Finally, the analysis reveals several challenges of data collection systems for refrigeration systems in the supermarket industry as well.

Chen, Yimin [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000338181655)↗
NASA NTRS2014

Salt Pill Design and Fabrication for Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators

The performance of an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) is critically dependent on the design and construction of the salt pills that produce cooling. In most cases, the primary goal is to obtain the largest cooling capacity at the low temperature end of the operating range. The realizable cooling capacity depends on a number of factors, including refrigerant mass, and how efficiently it absorbs heat from the various instrument loads. The design and optimization of "salt pills" for ADR systems depend not only on the mechanical, chemical and thermal properties of the refrigerant, but also on the range of heat fluxes that the salt pill must accommodate. Despite the fairly wide variety of refrigerants available, those used at very low temperature tend to be hydrated salts that require a dedicated thermal bus and must be hermetically sealed, while those used at higher temperature - greater than about 0.5 K - tend to be single-­‐ or poly-­‐crystals that have much simpler requirements for thermal and mechanical packaging. This paper presents a summary of strategies and techniques for designing, optimizing and fabricating salt pills for both low-­‐ and mid-­‐temperature applications.

sub-kelvin cooling↗
DOE OSTI2026

Virtual refrigerant charge sensing algorithm for residential CO₂ heat pumps

Natural refrigerants are increasingly adopted in next-generation heat pump systems, among which CO₂ heat pumps have attracted significant attention. However, due to their high operating pressures, the leakage risk is higher, resulting in undercharge conditions and degraded heat pump performance. Thus, developing an accurate refrigerant charge level detection technique is necessary to guarantee safe and efficient operation. Although virtual refrigerant charge (VRC) level calculation algorithms for CO₂ heat pumps exist, they typically rely on empirically selected features without a systematic selection framework, leading to multicollinearity and potential overfitting, which limit their prediction accuracy and generalizability. To address these issues, this study proposes a VRC algorithm framework with a systematic feature selection method that identifies physically meaningful and statistically significant features, and is applied using a residential CO₂ heat pump as a case study. The method is extended from previous work on conventional refrigerants to account for charge behavior in CO₂ gas coolers. The selected features include gas cooler outlet density, evaporator pressure, and superheat temperature. The results demonstrate that the proposed feature selection method significantly improves prediction accuracy compared to existing VRC approaches. A relatively small training dataset (∼30 samples) is sufficient for feature identification and model development. The developed algorithm achieves less than 3% prediction error under both undercharge and overcharge conditions, representing reductions of 46.7% and 35.3% compared to two recent reference VRC algorithms for transcritical CO₂ heat pumps reported in the literature. The proposed algorithm and feature selection method enhance leakage detection capability, facilitate the deployment of CO₂ heat pump systems, and contribute to reduced energy waste and maintenance costs.

Guo, Fangzhou [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato↗
DOE OSTI2026

A 1-km photonic link connecting superconducting circuits in two dilution refrigerators

Superconducting quantum processors are a leading platform for implementing practical quantum computation algorithms. Although superconducting quantum processors with hundreds of qubits have been demonstrated, their further scale-up is constrained by the physical size and cooling power of dilution refrigerators. This constraint can be overcome by constructing a quantum network to interconnect qubits hosted in different refrigerators, which requires microwave-to-optical transducers to enable low-loss signal transmission over long distances. Although various designs and demonstrations have achieved high-efficiency and low-added-noise transducers, a coherent photonic link between separate refrigerators has not yet been realized. Here, in this work, we experimentally demonstrate coherent signal transfer between two superconducting circuits housed in separate dilution refrigerators, enabled by a pair of frequency-matched aluminium nitride electro-optic transducers connected via a 1-km telecom optical fibre. The optical frequency matching between two transducers is realized by an asymmetric photonic molecule design, and an overall 80 dB improvement in transduction efficiency over commercial electro-optic modulators is achieved, paving the way towards a fully quantum-enabled link. This work provides critical design guidelines for scalable superconducting quantum networks interconnected by photonic links.

nonlinear optics↗
DOE OSTI2024

ANALYSIS OF SUITABLE METHODOLOGIES FOR COMPRESSOR MASS FLOW RATE CORRECTION TO OTHER SUPERHEAT LEVELS AND REFRIGERANTS

This paper investigates the impact of suction conditions and refrigerant on scroll compressor mass flow rate by using calorimeter tests from AHRI-11 and AHRI-21 reports, published by AHRI's Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants Evaluation program. Two Copeland scroll compressors (20 and 51 cm3) have been analyzed including different suction conditions (SH = 11K, SH = 22K, Ti = 18ºC) and several refrigerants (R134a, R32, R410A, R404A, etc.). Previous studies have explored response surfaces for energy consumption and mass flow rate variables. This study aims to expand the analysis by identifying the optimal approach to extrapolate mass flow rate from specific suction conditions to others SH or suction temperature levels and refrigerants. The current compressor characterization standard relies on the 1981 Dabiri correlation to correct compressor mass flow rate with suction conditions. Thus, this study aims to assess the adequacy of this correction and explore alternative correction methods for improved results.

Marchante Avellaneda, Javier↗
NASA NTRS1971

Evaluation and selection of refrigeration systems for lunar surface and space applications

Evaluated are the various refrigeration machines which could be used to provide heat rejection in environmental control systems for lunar surface and spacecraft applications, in order to select the best refrigeration machine for satisfying each individual application and the best refrigeration machine for satisfying all of the applications. The refrigeration machine considered include: (1) vapor comparison cycle (work-driven); (2) vapor adsorption cycle (heat-driven); (3) vapor absorption cycle (heat-driven); (4) thermoelectric (electrically-driven); (5) gas cycle (work driven); (6) steam-jet (heat-driven).

Copeland, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Selected Vuilleumier refrigerator performance characteristics

Study of the performance characteristics of the Vuilleumier refrigerator for spacecraft applications. The effect on refrigerator performance of several important components and design parameters is examined. The components and design parameters selected for investigation include the cold-end heat conductance, cold regenerator, refrigerator rpm, and refrigerator sump temperature.

Sherman, A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Shuttle Kit Freezer Refrigeration Unit Conceptual Design

The refrigerated food/medical sample storage compartment as a kit to the space shuttle orbiter is examined. To maintain the -10 F in the freezer kit, an active refrigeration unit is required, and an air cooled Stirling Cycle refrigerator was selected. The freezer kit contains two subsystems, the refrigeration unit, and the storage volume. The freezer must provide two basic capabilities in one unit. One requirement is to store 215 lbs of food which is consumed in a 30-day period by 7 people. The other requirement is to store 128.3 lbs of medical samples consisting of both urine and feces. The unit can be mounted on the lower deck of the shuttle cabin, and will occupy four standard payload module compartments on the forward bulkhead. The freezer contains four storage compartments.

Copeland, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Study of a Vuilleumier cycle cryogenic refrigerator for detector cooling on the limb scanning infrared radiometer

A program to detect and monitor the presence of trace constituents in the earth's atmosphere by using the Limb Scanning Infrared Radiometer (LSIR) is reported. The LSIR, which makes radiometric measurements of the earth's limb radiance profile from a space platform, contains a detector assembly that must be cooled to a temperature of 65 + or - 2 K. The feasibility of cooling the NASA-type detector package with Vuilleumier (VM) cryogenic refrigerator was investigated to develop a preliminary conceptual design of a VM refrigerator that is compatible with a flight-type LSIR instrument. The scope of the LSIR program consists of analytical and design work to establish the size, weight, power consumption, interface requirements, and other important characteristics of a cryogenic cooler that would meet the requirements of the LSIR. The cryogenic cooling requirements under the conditions that NASA specified were defined. Following this, a parametric performance analysis was performed to define the interrelationships between refrigeration characteristics and mission requirements. This effort led to the selection of an optimum refrigerator design for the LSIR mission.

Russo, S. C.↗