Regenerator apparatus for use in a cryogenic refrigerator
AssigneeCryomech, Inc.
InventorsPeter E. Gifford, Stephen D. Swift
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A regenerator unit arranged for mounting in the flow circuit carrying a refrigerant (helium gas) between stages of a two-stage Gifford-McMahon cryorefrigerator. The unit is housed in a sleeve extending between the expansion chamber of the first stage and the low temperature heat exchanger. A locking mechanism both suspends and seals the regenerator within the sleeve so that the regenerator cannot move either axially or radially and refrigerant cannot bypass the unit. The locking mechanism makes assembling and disassembling the unit in the refrigerator readily simple.
Claims9
In a multi-stage Gifford-McMahon refrigerator having sealed displacers slidably mounted in the expansion chamber of each stage, a flow circuit for operatively connecting the expansion chamber of the first stage with the expansion chamber of the second stage that includes
- a low temperature heat exchanger that forms part of the cold head of the refrigerator,
- a hollow sleeve for connecting the low temperature heat exchanger to the expansion chamber of the said first stage,
- a regenerator unit loosely received within the said hollow sleeve,
- a locking means secured to the regenerator unit, said locking means being operable to forceably expand radially into locking engagement with the inner wall of the said sleeve to prevent the regenerator from moving inside the sleeve,
- said locking means and said sleeve means being formed of material having about the same thermal coefficient of expansion whereby the locking means exerts a substantially uniform holding force against the sleeve as the cojoined members are subjected to changes in temperature, and
- a sealing means positioned between the locking means and the regenerator unit that is deformable into sealing contact with the sleeve to prevent refrigerant from moving therebetween.
In a two-stage refrigerator of the type having a first expansion chamber and a second expansion chamber that are interconnected by a regenerator unit and a low temperature heat exchanger, the method of mounting the regenerator unit in the said refrigerator that includes the steps of
- connecting one end of a hollow sleeve to the entrance of the low temperature heat exchanger,
- loosely fitting a regenerator unit into the sleeve,
- bottoming the regenerator unit into contact against the heat exchanger,
- securing an expandable ring to the top of the regenerator unit,
- expanding the ring into locking engagement with the inside wall of the sleeve with sufficient force to prevent movement of the regenerator within the sleeve, and
- connecting the opposite end of the sleeve to one of the said expansion chambers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.