Fc. Chou et al., PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL STUDY OF TRANSIENT CHARACTERISTICS FOR A JOULE-THOMSON CRYOCOOLER, Cryogenics, 35(5), 1995, pp. 311-316
To establish a tool for computer-aided design, a preliminary experimen
tal and numerical study of transient characteristics for a Joule-Thoms
on (J-T) cryocooler is developed in the present work. A simplified tra
nsient one-dimensional model of momentum and energy transport is used
to simulate the flow and heat transfer characteristics. The computatio
nal results for cool-down time agree with the experimental data. The t
ransient temperature variations of high pressure gas, tube wall, low p
ressure gas, glass Dewar and mandrel at the grid point near the valve
exit are shown. From the spatial temperature distributions of high and
low pressure gases along the finned tube at the moment of cool-down,
it is proposed that the J-T cooler currently used may be reduced in te
rms of both size and weight; factors which are very important in a min
iature J-T cryocooler.