Abstract Sunpower, Inc. and Gedeon Associates continue to develop linear-compressor driven pulse tube cryocooler technology under SBIR funding from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The first Phase II development effort between November 1999 and November 2001 established that a single-stage pulse tube driven by Sunpower’s manufactured linear compressor technology achieves efficient performance and promises to reach mass production costs similar to Sunpower’s commercial Stirling cryocoolers. In addition, efficient cooling with a two-stage cold head was demonstrated at 30K. Sunpower and Gedeon Associates recently completed another SBIR program from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop a three-stage, high frequency, linear-compressor driven pulse tube cryocooler for cooling below 10 K. This paper reviews the development history of pulse tube technology at Sunpower Inc., updates the status of the single-stage pulse tube cryocooler, and presents the results of the three-stage pulse tube cryocooler development program.


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    Title :

    Status of Pulse Tube Cryocooler Development at Sunpower


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2005-01-01


    Size :

    10 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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