Advanced Multi-Stage Cryogenic Cooling Technology

"Stirling Technology Company (STC) proposes to conceptually design a multi-stage cryocooler, capable of lifting up to 2 watts at 35 K with additional heat loads at higher temperatures and rejecting to an 300 K environment, that meets Air Force criteria forrobustness and compact size. The compressor will be based on STC's existing high-production linear alternator/motor design. Bench testing of the linear alternator at the cooler drive frequency will also be conducted in Phase I. While cryocoolers withheat lifting capacities of over 2 watts at 35 K have already been developed, a low-maintenance, reliable and robust multistage cryocooler is required for use by the Air Force. STC has developed compact, light-weight cryocoolers based on existing linearcompressor technology. The RemoteGenT family of engines and the BeCoolT family of cryocoolers have accumulated over 300,000 hours of operation collectively. A single Stirling engine has been in operation at STC for over 66,000 hours without maintenanceor performance degradation. NASA has selected STC to provide Stirling engines for deep space and planetary missions. These missions require units with very high reliability and robustness. Testing has been conducted to determine the reliability androbustness of the space power generators, including operating the engine under launch load conditions. The proposed cryocooler will leverage as heavily as possible from the linear motor/alter