Performance investigations on 10W/60 K high-capacity, light-weight single-stage pulse tube cryocoolers for space applications.

The paper presents performance investigations on high-capacity, light-weight 60 K single-stage SPTCs to provide appropriate low-vibration cooling for next-generation very-large-scale long wavelength infrared focus plane arrays. Both coaxial and in-line arrangements are tried to adapt to different payloads and interfaces. The application background and cooler designs are described in detail, and the performance characteristics of the two arrangements are presented and compared systematically. The relative Carnot efficiencies of 10.57% and 10.69% at 60 K have been achieved for coaxial and in-line arrangements, respectively, with the typical cooling capacity of 10 W achieved for each. Reject temperature adaptability from 290 K to 310 K, typically 10.5 W/10 K and 8.6 W/10 K, respectively, are satisfactory for both arrangements. Each arrangement has a light overall mass below 12 kg, and the largest temperature fluctuations at 60 K of both arrangements in 6 hours are below the required 0.1 K.