Thermally Driven Hot Piston Pulse Tube (Vuilleumier) Refrigerator

THE ABILITY TO LIFT HEAT FROM A SELECTED PORTION OF THE SPACECRAFT IS REQUIRED IN A NUMBER OF THERMAL MANAGEMENT TASKS FOR SPACED BASED SENSOR AND WEAPON SYSTEMS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL DEVELOP THE THEORETICAL AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK TO ASSESS THE UTILITY AND FEASIBILITY OF A HOT PISTON PULSE TUBE VUILLEUMIER REFRIGERATOR. THE EFFORT WILL IDENTIFY A BASELINE APPLICATION FOR THE PROPOSED CONCEPT, AND WILL ADAPT EXISTING ANALYTICAL TOOLS AND GENERALIZED THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE ANALYSIS TOOLS TO THE ANALYSIS OF HPPT-VUILLEUMIER REFRIGERATORS. THE EFFORT WILL ALSO IDENTIFY ACCEPTABLE CANDIDATE MATERIALS AND FABRICATION METHODS FOR CONSTRUCTING THE REQUIRED REFRIGERATORS, INCLUDING REGENERATORS AND HEAT EXCHANGERS. FINALLY, THE EFFORT WILL DEVELOP A PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND TEST PLAN FOR AN ENGINEERING MODEL TO BE FABRICATED AND TESTED IN PHASE II TO VALIDATE THE ANALYTICAL AND MODELING TOOLS DEVELOPED IN PHASE I.