Mixed refrigerant Joule-Thomson sorption cryocoolers

Abstract

Joule-Thomson (JT) sorption cryocooling is the most mature technology for cooling from a normal Room-Temperature (RT) down to temperatures below 100 K in the absence of moving parts. Therefore, high reliability and no vibrations are attainable, in comparison with other cryocoolers. Cooling to 80 – 100 K with JT cryocoolers is often implemented with pure nitrogen. Alternatively, mixed refrigerants have been suggested for reducing the operating pressures to enable closed cycle cryocooling. There is a variety of publications describing nitrogen sorption cryocoolers with different configurations of sorption compressors. In the present research we suggest a novel sorption JT cryocooler that operates with a mixed refrigerant. Merging of sorption cryocooling and a mixed refrigerant enables the use of a simple, single stage compressor for cooling to 80 – 100 K, lower operating temperatures of the sorption cycle, and thus - reduced power consumption. In previous studies we have analyzed sorption compressors for mixed gases and mixed refrigerants for JT cryocoolers, separately. In this paper the option of mixed refrigerant sorption JT cryocoolers is explored. The considerations for developing mixed refrigerants to be driven by sorption compressors and to be utilized with JT cryocoolers are provided. It appears that, unlike with pure nitrogen, mixed refrigerants can be suitable for JT cryocooling with a single stage sorption compressor.