Description of capability
A high-efficiency and lightweight single-stage cryocooler. Initially proposed in the context of liquid hydrogen and oxygen storage for space applications. This uses a floating piston. Useful for small-medium scale cooling applications.
This relies on an 1999 patent from John Brisson’s’ group, and it is finally made possible by advances in computing power to put the control systems into practice.
The piston and the cylinder are both made of carbon fiber in order to avoid thermal expansion. You need to metallize the carbon fiber. Carl Bunge is working on this metallization process, which may be patentable.
Key people
John Brisson Arman Siahvashi Carl Bunge
Technology Readiness Level (1-9)
3
Needs that this could potentially address
- According to Arman Siahvashi, the technology can be used for propellant liquefaction, cooling electronics, etc. It also has applications in liquefaction and zero-boil-off storage of methane, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and helium for the energy industry.
- Useful for re-liquefying hydrogen that got boiled off (see More economical hydrogen storage)
- Useful for infrared detection, where you need your detector to be smaller than what you’re detecting.
Tech specs
- 100 W of cooling at 90 K
- A 10-15:1 cycle pressure ratio
- With multi-staging, cooling to 4 K is possible with this architecture.
- System lifetime should be ~30 years. Except maybe the compressor. The compressor consumes 2 kW.
Estimated time & cost to commercialize
Unclear whether there is a commercial opportunity here or not, given that Lakeshore Cryotonics and Triton (TSI) are having a separate conversation about commercializing this. See 2023-07-31 Carl Bunge