Comparative Study on Performance of Regenerator for Miniature Pulse Tube Cryocooler with Metal Matrix Materials at Ultra High Frequencies

A Miniature Pulse Tube Cryocooler (MPTC) is the first selection for the cooling of IR sensors, infrared detectors, etc. in space technology. The regenerator is one of the key components to operate an MPTC at high efficiency. The objective of this study is to explore the possibilities of the different matrices as regenerator filler materials for MPTC operating at ultra-high frequencies. REGEN 3.3 is one of the best software available for the design and optimization of cryocooler regenerators. We have used REGEN 3.3 for numerical simulations of the three different regenerator matrix materials viz. stainless steel wire mesh screen (SS 635#), brass wire mesh screen (500#) and copper wire mesh screen (500#) at the hot end and cold end temperatures of 300 K and 80 K for COP, cooling power, total power losses and pressure losses, at an ultra-high frequency of 100 Hz and 200 Hz. The simulation results depict that the regenerator using stainless steel mesh screen shows better results than that of the brass mesh screen and copper mesh screen at 100 Hz. However, the performance of brass mesh screen and copper mesh screen performs better than the stainless steel at 200 Hz. Therefore, the proposed matrix materials can be used as regenerator materials for the MPTC at ultra-high frequencies with better performances.