Turbo-Brayton coolers – 2-5 K – 200 K [ Return towards Flight equipment for refrigeration ]
Great thermodynamic efficiency, high power, high levels of reliability, very little exported vibration, flexibility of use for space cryogenics
These coolers use a high-speed turbine engine and can give a very wide range of cold power from 0.1 to 100 W at temperatures varying between 2-5 K and 200 K, or even more depending on the fluid used.
Their essential originality lies in the fact that all the active components are assembled on one and the same shaft, which gives very great compactness and high levels of efficiency.
The turbine engines comprise:
- a turbine wheel for reducing cycle gas pressure
- a compressor wheel for compressing this gas
- a high-speed electric motor (between 50,000 and 300,000 rpm) supplying the energy required for compression
- contact free rotating parts sustained by bearings and hydrodynamic throttle stops
- 3 exchangers: a hot exchanger to cool the gas as it leaves the compressor, a cycle exchanger and a cold exchanger to extract the cold power
- the fluids used are generally nitrogen or helium
This compressor technology can potentially be used for thermal regulation applications at high temperature (above 300 K).
Key benefits
- Great reliability: this equipment includes only friction free or contact free rotating devices, a design which gives operating lifetimes without maintenance of over 100,000 hours.
- Reduced vibrations: the remarkably low level of vibration (a few µg at 1500 Hz) makes these machines compatible with the very stringent specifications on space micro-gravity.
- Very great flexibility of use: these machines can easily be tailored to every need and their power can be fine tuned over a wide range of speeds with no adverse effect on efficiency.
- Offset cold production: cold production can be centralized even though the coolant is able to flow over great lengths, which means the turbo engine can be separated from the sensitive area to be cooled.
Main technical characteristics
- The floor space occupied by the exchanger can be tailored to user specifications
- Brayton cycle cooler efficiency depends on the power and temperature it is required to reach.
- Turbo-Brayton cooler for the International Space Station:
- Cold power: 100 W@190 K,
- Electrical power: 800 W
- Mass: 8.5 kg,
- MTBF > 100,000 hrs; operational since July 2006
Reference
Contacts
For further information, contact us:
Julien Bouzinac
Sales - Space market
Tel: +33 (0)4 76 43 60 74
Nathalie Ray
Sales department
Tel: +33 (0) 4 76 43 62 11
By e-mail :
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