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The Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) mission is to be launched into orbit around the second Lagrangian point (L2) in the Sun-Earth system. Taking advantage of the thermal environment in L2, a 2.5m-class large IR telescope is cooled below 8K in combination with effective radiant cooling and a mechanical cooling system. SPICA adopts a cryogen-free system to prevent the mission operation lifetime being limited by the amount of cryogen as a refrigerant. Currently, the mechanical cooler system with the feasible solution giving a proper margin is proposed. As a baseline design, 4K / 1K-class Joule-Thomson coolers are used to cool the telescope and thermal interface for Focal Plane Instruments (FPIs). Additionally, two sets of double stage stirling coolers (2STs) are used to cool the telescope shield. In this design, nominal operation of FPIs can be kept when one mechanical cooler is in failure. In this paper, current baseline configuration of the mechanical cooler system and current status of mechanical coolers developments which need to satisfy the specific requirements of SPICA cryogenic system are presented.

著者人数: 12名, Accepted: 2017-10-01, 資料番号: SA1170240000

To cool far infrared detectors for infrared observation or superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) mixers for atmospheric observation, 1 K-class and 4 K-class coolers have been developed. These coolers consist of a two-stage Stirling cooler for pre-cooling and a Joule–Thomson (JT) cooler with a single JT valve. This paper presents descriptions of theoretical analyses based on enthalpy balance to elucidate the benefits of a two-stage JT valve type compared with those of a single JT valve type in a JT cooler. First, relational expressions for heat balance analysis of enthalpy for single-stage JT expansion are introduced. Then similar relational expressions for two-stage JT expansion are introduced under some assumptions. Results of heat balance analyses using several parameters demonstrated that, using two-stage JT expansion, the cooling capacity for a 1 K-class cooler is improved by 100%; that of a 4 K-class cooler is improved by about 30%.

Two-stage Stirling cryocoolers (2ST cooler) produced by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. have been launched into orbit on three satellites: the “AKARI (ASTRO-F)” infrared astronomical satellite, JEM/SMILES on ISS, and the “HITOMI (ASTRO-H)” X-ray astronomical satellite. A 2ST cooler compressor has a linear-ball-bearing system as a piston-supporting structure. The linear ball bearing system is a key components to realize a lower drive frequency (15 Hz), a long piston stroke (30 mm). Its typical cooling power is 200 mW at 20 K for the second stage and 1000 mW at 100 K for the first stage, with 90 W electrical input power. During the test of the “HITOMI” engineering model, the energy resolution of the detector was found to be degraded when cryocoolers were in operation. After investigation, it was found that micro vibration from 2STs caused the degradation. The continuum in the vibration spectrum propagated into sub-Kelvin region and generated thermal noise. The continuum has origin in linear ball bearing in the compressor. In the case of “HITOMI”, vibration isolators were introduced to resolve this issue. For future mission, we are required to reduce microvibration of cryocooler itself. Therefore, the piston support mechanism in the compressor was modified from linear ball bearings to triangle shape flexure springs in order to reduce the continuum in vibration spectrum. In order to achieve a long piston stroke (±15 mm), the generated stress could be reduced to 400 MPa (Less than 1/2 of fatigue limit) or less even when the shape of the triangle shape flexure spring was devised and displaced by 15 mm. The typical vibration level has been reduced to 1 × 10−5 Nrms2 / Hz or less at a frequency of 200 Hz or less and 1/10 times or less at 200–600 Hz than that of a compressor with a linear ball bearing system. The cooling power is kept to 260 mW at 20 K, with 90 W electrical input power. This low vibration cooler is expected to be an improved cryogenic system for use in future projects with sub-Kelvin detectors.

著者人数: 17名, 資料番号: SA1004974000

著者人数: 18名, 資料番号: SA1004976000

The Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) is a pre-project of JAXA in collaboration with ESA to be launched in the 2020s. The SPICA mission is to be launched into a halo orbit around the second Lagrangian point in the Sun-Earth system, which allows us to use effective radiant cooling in combination with a mechanical cooling system in order to cool a 2.5m-class large IR telescope below 8K. Recently, a new system design in particular thermal structure of the payload module has been studied by considering the technical feasibility of a cryogenic cooled telescope within current constraints of the mission in the CDF (Concurrent Design Facility) study of ESA/ESTEC. Then, the thermal design of the mechanical cooler system, for which the Japanese side is responsible, has been examined based on the CDF study and the feasible solution giving a proper margin has been obtained. As a baseline, 4K / 1K-class Joule-Thomson coolers are used to cool the telescope and thermal interface for Focal Plane Instruments (FPIs). Additionally, two sets of double stirling coolers (2STs) are used to cool the Telescope shield. In this design, nominal operation of FPIs can be kept when one mechanical cooler is in failure.

The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) is a cryogenic high-resolution X-ray spectrometer onboard the ASTRO-H satellite, that achieves energy resolution better than 7 eV at 6 keV, by operating the detector array at 50 mK using an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The cooling chain from room temperature to the ADR heat sink is composed of 2-stage Stirling cryocoolers, a 4He Joule-Thomson cryocooler, and super uid liquid He, and is installed in a dewar. It is designed to achieve a helium lifetime of more than 3 years with a minimum of 30 liters. The satellite was launched on 2016 February 17, and the SXS worked perfectly in orbit, until March 26 when the satellite lost its function. It was demonstrated that the heat load on the He tank was about 0.7 mW, which would have satisfied the lifetime requirement. This paper describes the design, results of ground performance tests, prelaunch operations, and initial operation and performance in orbit of the flight dewar and cryocoolers.

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, ltd. (SHI) has been developing cooler and Dewar technology for space application with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. SHI has four types of coolers to cover temperature range from 1.7K to 80K or more. Those are Single stage Stirling coolers for 80K, two-stage Stirling coolers for 20K, 4K-class cooler and 1K-class cooler. 4K and 1K class coolers consist of a Joule-Thomson cooler and a two-stage Stirling as a pre-cooler. SHI also provided Dewars. In this paper, SHI’s cooler and Dewar technology are described.

著者人数: 14名, Accepted: 2012-01-04, 資料番号: SA1004214000

Superconducting Sub-millimeter-wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) is to be operated aboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009. SMILES uses two superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) mixers for sub-millimeter-wave atmospheric observation and they are cooled to 4 K levels by a cryogenic system with a two-stage Stirling cooler, a Joule–Thomson (JT) cycle cooler and a cryostat composed of three stages. Two-stage Stirling cooler precools the JT circuit and also cools radiation shields in the cryostat. JT circuit has three tube-in-tube type heat exchangers and an orifice for JT expansion in the cryostat. The cryogenic system is built, tested and delivered.

Accepted: 2010-02-22, 資料番号: SA1002677000

The AKARI satellite (formerly known as ASTRO-F) is Japan’s first infrared astronomical satellite. AKARI is equipped with the infrared camera (IRC) and the far-infrared surveyor (FIS), which are cooled below 7 K. The AKARI’s 68.5 cm telescope, which is made of SiC, is also cooled below 7 K. A unique feature of the AKARI cryostat is that it uses both cryogen and mechanical coolers. Using mechanical coolers, the helium lifetime can be greater than one year with 170 L of liquid helium. AKARI was launched on February 21, 2006 (UT), from the Uchinoura Space Center (USC). It has been performing successfully in orbit.

SPACE CRYOGENICS WORKSHOP 2003, 資料番号: SA1003440000

The Japanese lunar polar orbiter SELENE carries a gamma-ray spectrometer which uses a high-purity Ge detector cooled to 80-90 K by a Stirling mechanical cooler. The Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS) consists of a large volume n-type Ge detector (252 cc) as the main detector and bismuth-germanate (BGO) and plastic scintillators as an active shielding. The engineering model still maintains excellent energy resolution even after severe vibration testing. The Gamma-Ray Spectrometer will globally map of the Moon for the major elements of O, Mg, Al, Si, Ti, Fe, etc. and natural radioisotopes of K, Th and U with a high precision. The energy resolution of the GRS is such that it would identify prompt gamma-ray line from hydrogen and the location and the amount of ice, if it exists at the polar regions.

The Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) is a pre-project of JAXA in collaboration with ESA to be launched around 2025. The SPICA mission is to be launched into a halo orbit around the second Lagrangian point in the Sun-Earth system, which allows us to use effective radiant cooling in combination with a mechanical cooling system in order to cool a 3m large IR telescope below 6K. The use of 4K / 1K-class Joule-Thomson coolers is proposed in order to cool the telescope and provide a 4K / 1K temperature region for Focal Plane Instruments (FPIs). This paper introduces details of the thermal design study for the SPICA payload module in the Risk-Mitigation-Phase (RMP), in which the activity is focused on mitigating the mission’s highest risks. As the result of the RMP activity, most of all the goals have been fully satisfied and the thermal design of the payload module has been dramatically improved.

A superconducting magnetic shield of high-Tc superconductor Bi(Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-Ox has been constructed whose diameter is 65 cm and length is 160 cm. We have successfully observed magnetic fields from somatosensory-evoked human brains in the superconducting magnetic shield by stimulating the median nerves of patients by current pulses. We made a 64-channel whole-head SQUID magnetometer of superconductor/normal metal/superconductor (SNS) junctions which do not show low-frequency telegraph noise. The sensitivities of the dc SQUID mesoscopic SNS junctions are around 5 fT Hz-1/2 even in rather unfavourable surroundings. The magnetic shield can reduce a magnetic field by around -80 dB or a factor of 10-4 even at as low a frequency as 0.05 Hz. Therefore SQUIDs of SNS junctions and a superconducting magnetic shield are a good combination.

A superconducting magnetic shield of high-Tc superconductor Bi(Pb)SrCaCuOx has been constructed whose diameter is 65 cm and length is 160 cm respectively. We have successfully observed somatosensory evoked magnetic fields coming out from human brains in the superconducting magnetic shield stimulating the median nerves of patients by current pulses. We made a 64-channel whole-head SQUID magnetometer of SNS (Superconductor/Normal metal/Superconductor) junctions. The sensitivities of the dc-SQUID of mesoscopic SNS junctions are around 5 fT//spl radic/(Hz) even in rather unfavorable surroundings. The magnetic shield can reduce a magnetic field to around -80 dB or 10/sup -4/ even at as low a frequency as 0.05 Hz.

We review the current status of the development of Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS) for the Lunar mission SELENE. The GRS instrument will measure gamma-rays in the energy range from 100 keV to 9 MeV. The instrument is a high-purity Ge detector surrounded by BGO and plastic scintillators which are operated as an anticoincidence shield, and is cooled by a Stirling cycle cryocooler. The primary objective is to provide global maps of the lunar composition. Measurements are anticipated for Fe, Ti, U, Th, K, Si, Mg, Al, O, Ca and Na over the entire lunar surface. The abundance of water ice in the permanently shaded craters at both the lunar poles will be measured with this instrument.

The X-ray spectrometer (XRS) onboard Suzaku is the first X-ray microcalorimeter array in orbit. The sensor array is operated at 60 mK, which is attained by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator and superfluid liquid helium. The neon dewar is a vacuum-insulated container for the XRS. The requirements for the XRS dewar are to maintain the detector and the cryogenic system under the mechanical environment at launch ( ∼ 15 G ), and to attain a lifetime of 3 years in a near-earth orbit. It is characterized with adoptions of solid neon as the second cryogen and a mechanical cooler, design optimization of the support straps for the neon tank to reduce the heat load as much as possible, and shock absorbers to mitigate the mechanical environment at launch. Microphonics from the mechanical cooler was one of the concerns for the detector performance, but the ground test results proved that they do not interfere with the detector. After about 1 month in orbit, its thermal performance showed that the dewar potentially achieves its design goals.

The conceptual design of the Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) has been studied as a pre-project of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with ESA to be launched in 2018. The SPICA is transferred into a halo orbit around the second Lagrangian point in the Sun-Earth system, where radiant cooling is available effectively. The SPICA has a large IR telescope 3 m in diameter, which is cooled without cryogen to below 6 K by the radiant and mechanical cooling system. Therefore, the SPICA mission will cover mid- and far-IR astronomy with high sensitivity and spatial resolution during a long period of over 5 years for goal. Most heat radiation from the sun and spacecraft is blocked by the Sun Shield and thermal radiation shields covered with Multi-Layer Insulator (MLI) to limit heat radiation to the Scientific Instrument Assembly (SIA). The SIA, which is composed of the primary mirrors and optical benches equipped with Focal Plane Instruments (FPIs), is refrigerated to below 6 K by two sets of 4K-class Joule-Thomson (JT) cooler with a cooling power of 40 mW at 4.5 K. The Far-IR detector is refrigerated to 1.7 K by two sets of 1K-class JT coolers with a cooling power of 10 mW at 1.7 K. Improvements for the higher reliability and sufficient cooling performance are required in the development of SPICA mechanical cryocoolers. Thermal analysis indicates that the SPICA cryogenic system works effectively to limit the total heat load on the SIA to 41.2 mW. This paper describes the conceptual design of the SPICA cryogenic system, which was established with thermal feasibility for nominal operation mode.

著者人数: 14名, Accepted: 2007-08-09, 資料番号: SA1000683000

The gamma ray spectrometer (GRS) will be onboard the Japanese lunar polar orbiter SELENE, to be launched in 2004, to obtain the information of element abundance on the entire lunar surface. GRS consists of a high-purity Ge detector as a main detector, which is an n-type Ge crystal with a high detection efficiency of 60% encapsulated in an aluminum canister. In addition, BGO and plastic scintillators are employed for an anti-coincidence shield and for suppression of Compton photons and energetic ion backgrounds. GRS will be the first gamma ray spectrometer employing a Ge detector for the lunar mission. GRS adopted a Stirling cycle refrigerator, whose cooling capacity is 2.0 W at 80 K. The mechanical vibration from the cryosystem to the Ge detector is effectively reduced by the dual opposed pistons in the compressor and the flexible thermo-coupling link between the two components. An excellent energy resolution of

This paper reports on a space-qualified cooling system for submillimeter SIS mixer receiver (SIS: superconductor- insulator-superconductor). Designed cooling capacity of the system is 20 mW at 4.5 K, 200 mW at 20 K, and 1000 mW at 100 K. The combination of two-stage Stirling cooler and Joule- Thomson one has demonstrated the capacity with a power consumption of less than 300 W, including losses of drive electronics. The cryostat has a thermal insulation structure of S2-GFRP straps to fasten its 100 K stage. 20 K stage of the cryostat is held with GFRP pipes on the 100 K stage, while 4 K stage is supported with CFRP pipes on the 20 K stage. The cooling system accommodates two SIS mixers at 4.5 K, two IF amplifiers at 20 K, and two more IF amplifiers at 100 K. The mass of the cooling system is 40 kg for the mechanical cooler itself, 26 kg for the cryostat, and 24 kg for the driver electronics. The system has been developed for a 640 GHz receiver for an atmospheric limb-emission sounder SMILES, which is to be aboard the International Space Station in 2005. The engineering model of the system has been built and tested successfully.

An engineering model has been built for a space-borne 640- GHz SIS receiver. It is the key component of Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder, which is to be operated aboard the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station in 2005. The receiver includes two Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) mixers cooled at 4.5 K, as well as four High-Electron-Mobility- Transistor (HEMT) amplifiers, two of which cooled at 20 K and the other two at 100 K. These components are integrated in a compact cryostat with two-stage Stirling and Joule- Thomson refrigerators. The receiver components has been successfully cooled and the cryostat has survived random vibration tests. The 640-GHz SIS mixer, which uses a pair of Nb/AlOx/Nb junctions connected in parallel, is built so that a broad RF matching be achieved without mechanical tuners. It is followed by cooled low noise HEMT amplifiers with a noise temperature of less than 17 K. The total receiver noise temperature has been measured around 180 - 220 K over the bandwidth of 5.5 GHz.

We have developed a proto-type superconducting magnetic shielding system using the thick film of high-Tc Bi(Pb)-2223 phase for neuromagnetic measurements. Conventional multi-channel SQUIDs and the liquid helium dewar can be easily set up in the system. The system can reduce a weak magnetic field to 1/5000 even at frequencies as low as 1 Hz. The shielding cylinder is 65 cm in diameter and 162 cm in length. The system can be cooled down by the He gas circulation equipment using a GM refrigerator and offer very high convenience for neuromagnetic measurements.