The effect of the regenerator and tube volume on the performance of high frequency miniature pulse tube refrigerators.

In this paper, the ratios of the volume of the pulse tube and the void volume of the regenerator to the compressor's swept volume are considered as the two most important parameters for a high frequency miniature PTR design. Firstly, knowing the compressor's swept volume, a 1-D numerical simulation is adapted to investigate the effect of the above two ratios on the performance of the miniature PTR. Under the condition of charge pressure of 2.1MPa, 2.5MPa and 2.9MPa, and the operating frequency of 50Hz, it is found that the optimum ratios of the volume of the pulse tube and the void volume of the regenerator to the compressor's swept volume are in the range of 0.8-1.0 and 1.1-1.3, respectively. To verify this conclusion, 25 PTRs using a 1.66cm³ compressor are composed of five different size of regenerators and pulse tubes, and all the PTRs are tested under different charge pressure with operating frequency of 50Hz. The experimental results indicate that the optimum ratios of the volume of the pulse tube and the void volume of the regenerator to the compressor's swept volume are in the range of 0.7-1.0 and 1.0-1.2, respectively. The experimental results agree with the simulated results qualitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]