Advanced Refrigerator for Cooling Cryo-Electronics

Superconducting electronics have the potential to revolutionize digital communications and to improve real-time situational awareness in the battlefield environment, but must operate at cryogenic temperatures. Commercial cryogenic refrigerators are large, inefficient and are unable to meet typical field requirements. Our approach is to utilize a reverse-Brayton cryocooler that is optimized for operation with cryogenic electronics. In particular, the expansion work of the refrigeration cycle, which occurs at cryogenic temperatures, will be utilized directly to power the cryogenic electronics. This new and innovative feature eliminates the losses associated with (1) transferring the expansion work to ambient temperature where it is typically dissipated and (2) the parasitic heat loads from the electrical leads that bring power to the cryogenic electronics from ambient temperature. The net result is an extremely compact and efficient system. During the Phase I project, we will finalize specifications for the refrigeration system through discussions with DoD representatives, perform trades to optimize the operating conditions, develop a preliminary design of the mechanical and electrical components, and perform analyses to support our design.