This paper presents the development and validation of a computational
scheme for an analysis of activated charcoal-nitrogen adsorption cryoc
oolers. Using this procedure a comparative analysis of four samples of
charcoal is carried out. It is shown that the specific power (SP) of
the cryocooler is governed by the packing density achievable in additi
on to the charcoal adsorption characteristics, cycle operating pressur
es and temperatures. A 77 K cryocooler with an SP of the order of 400
W W-1 can be achieved with a charcoal packing density of about 1 g cm(
-3) for several available charcoals. The analysis shows that Fluka and
BCGI specimens can yield promising results under the present technolo
gically realizable conditions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.