Enhanced Cryocooler Component and Integration Technologies

Peregrine Falcon Corporation and Phase 2 partner Northrop Grumman will significantly improve the overall performance of pulse tube cryocoolers by enhancing the thermal conductivity of structures internal to the cryocooler. This enables much more efficient heat removal at the warm end. Peregrine’s proprietary process for incorporating high thermal conductivity material within a defined thermal path will be used to increase the heat flow in critical areas, and thereby improve the cryocooler performance, without increasing the overall mass. In the specific structure chosen for this Phase I SBIR effort, Peregrine will reduce the temperature differential from the warm end of the cold end to the thermal rejection surfaces by well over 50% from the current design while significantly reducing weight. The major benefit from this improvement will be the significant reduction of input power required by the cryocooler to meet the required cooling load. The improvement offered by this SBIR effort will result in 17 Kilograms of weight savings at the system level.