Process of Cryogenic Cooling

Introduction
Cryogenic refrigeration is a term that may be applied to the process of cooling equipment and
components to temperatures below 150 K. The net capacity of a cryogenic refrigeration
system at a particular temperature is the amount of heat that can be applied to a cold station
in the system without warming the station above that particular temperature. The cold station
may be a bath of cryogenic fluid, or the cold station may be a conductive surface cooled to
the bath temperature to which equipment may be fastened.

Cryogenic refrigeration systems are different from the refrigeration equipment we encounter
in our everyday environment. The refrigerants used in cryogenic systems are often helium
(He), hydrogen (H2), or nitrogen (N2). Insulation techniques used to minimize heat leaks into
the cooled parts of the system. There are a few type of cryogenic cooling which include opencycle refrigeration and closed-cycle refrigeration systems. This report will touch on a closecycle refrigeration using helium gas.

Process of Two-stage Refrigeration using Helium Gas

Referring to the figure in the appendix, the figure in the appendix show a two-stage
refrigeration with the supply gas stream from the compressor is split at the refrigerator,
with about 1.48 g/s at a pressure of 21 atmospheres (2.13 MPa) going to the CCR drive unit.
About 0.12 g/s goes to a pressure regulator and then to the JT loop inlet at a pressure of about
20 atmospheres (2.03 MPa). The GM cycle uses isentropic expansions of helium in
combination with displacers and regenerators to achieve low temperatures.

Helium at high pressure (about 21 atmospheres, 2.13 MPa) enters through the inlet valve
when the displacers are furthest away from the crosshead. The volume at the cold ends
(shown as the bottom ends in Fig. 4-8) of the cylinder containing the displacer and
regenerator assemblies are near minimum at this point in time. The volume above the

regenerators is near maximum at this point in time. Pressurization of this volume causes
heating, and the heat is later stored at the upper or warm ends of the regenerators. The
regenerators are made of materials having high specific heat in the temperature ranges
appropriate to each stage. The goals of the regenerator designs are to (1) store heat, (2)
transfer heat quickly between the helium and the regenerator material, (3) minimize the heat
transfer from one end to the other end of the regenerator, (4) minimize the dead volume (void
space) thus maximizing the filling factor of the regenerator material, and (5) minimize the
restriction through the regenerator material

Using Cryogenic Cooling For Industrial Interest

1. Simplicity of cryogenic cooling equipment removes involvement of number of trained
personnel and encourages small entrepreneurship.
2. Low capital investment which allow easy funding from bank
3. Reduced freezing time compared to conventional mechanical freezing