Low Capacity Cryogenic Refrigeration

In the early 1980s, Graham Walker wrote his classic two-volume monograph Cryocoolers. Records show that sections of this work have been referenced more often and by more authors than any other cryogenic paper published in the mid-1980s. Nevertheless, the significant time lapse in so dynamica field and Walker and Bingham's experience of teaching short courses has revealed the need for a more up-to-date book - one that is more compact, lower in cost, and embraces more topics. Low-capacity Cryogenic Refrigeration provides an elementary yet comprehensive introduction to the subject, with diverse applications in scientific, medical, educational, military, and civil systems. It is complementary to the earlier two-volume work, but covers a wider field and has a wealth ofinformation about the new developments in the last fifteen years. In addition to descriptions of all the principal methods to achieve low-capacity cryogenic refrigeration, this new volume contains a valuable guide to the literature sources and references more advanced works.

Refrigeration plays a prominent role in our everyday lives, and cryogenics plays a major role in medical science, space technology and the cooling of low-temperature electronics. This volume contains chapters on basic refrigeration systems, non-compression refrigeration and cooling, and topics related to global environmental issues, alternative refrigerants, optimum refrigerant selection, cost-quality optimization of refrigerants, advanced thermodynamics of reverse-cycle machines, applications in medicine, cryogenics, heat pipes, gas-solid absorption refrigeration, multisalt resorption heat pumps, cryocoolers, thermoacoustic refrigeration, cryogenic heat transfer and enhancement and other topics covering theory, design, and applications, such as pulse tube refrigeration, which is the most efficient of all cryocoolers and can be used in space missions.

Twenty five years have elapsed since the original publication of Helium Cryogenics. During this time, a considerable amount of research and development involving helium fluids has been carried out culminating in several large-scale projects. Furthermore, the field has matured through these efforts so that there is now a broad engineering base to assist the development of future projects. Helium Cryogenics, 2nd edition brings these advances in helium cryogenics together in an updated form. As in the original edition, the author's approach is to survey the field of cryogenics with emphasis on helium fluids. This approach is more specialized and fundamental than that contained in other cryogenics books, which treat the associated range of cryogenic fluids. As a result, the level of treatment is more advanced and assumes a certain knowledge of fundamental engineering and physics principles, including some quantum mechanics. The goal throughout the work is to bridge the gap between the physics and engineering aspects of helium fluids to provide a source for engineers and scientists to enhance their usefulness in low-temperature systems. Dr. Van Sciver is a Distinguished Research Professor and John H. Gorrie Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Florida State University. He is also a Program Director at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL). Dr. Van Sciver joined the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the NHMFL in 1991, initiating and teaching a graduate program in magnet and materials engineering and in cryogenic thermal sciences and heat transfer. He also led the NHMFL development efforts of the cryogenic systems for the NHMFL Hybrid and 900 MHz NMR superconducting magnets. Between 1997 and 2003, he served as Director of Magnet Science and Technology at the NHMFL. Dr. Van Sciver is a Fellow of the ASME and the Cryogenic Society of America and American Editor for the journal Cryogenics. He is the 2010 recipient of the Kurt Mendelssohn Award. Prior to joining Florida State University, Dr. Van Sciver was Research Scientist and then Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Engineering Physics and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1976 to 1991. During that time he also served as the Associate Director of the Applied Superconductivity Center. Dr. Van Sciver received his PhD in Low Temperature Physics from the University of Washington-Seattle in 1976. He received his BS degree in Engineering Physics from Lehigh University in 1970. Dr. Van Sciver is author of over 200 publications and patents in low temperature physics, liquid helium technology, cryogenic engineering and magnet technology. The first edition of Helium Cryogenics was published by Plenum Press (1986). The present work is an update and expansion of that original project.

Cryogenic Technology and Applications describes the need for smaller cryo-coolers as a result of the advances in the miniaturization of electrical and optical devices and the need for cooling and conducting efficiency. Cryogenic technology deals with materials at low temperatures and the physics of their behavior at these temps. The book demonstrates the ongoing new applications being discovered for cryo-cooled electrical and optical sensors and devices, with particular emphasis on high-end commercial applications in medical and scientific fields as well as in the aerospace and military industries. This book summarizes the important aspects of cryogenic technology critical to the design and development of refrigerators, cryo-coolers, and micro-coolers needed by various commercial, industrial, space and military systems. Cryogenic cooling plays an important role in unmanned aerial vehicle systems, infrared search and track sensors, missile warning receivers, satellite tracking systems, and a host of other commercial and military systems. * Provides an overview of the history of the development of cryogenic technology * Includes the latest information on micro-coolers for military and space applications * Offers detailed information on high-capacity cryogenic refrigerator systems used in applications such as food storage, high-power microwave and laser sensors, medical diagnostics, and infrared detectors

Cryogenics, a term commonly used to refer to very low temperatures, had its beginning in the latter half of the last century when man learned, for the first time, how to cool objects to a temperature lower than had ever existed na tu rally on the face of the earth. The air we breathe was first liquefied in 1883 by a Polish scientist named Olszewski. Ten years later he and a British scientist, Sir James Dewar, liquefied hydrogen. Helium, the last of the so-caBed permanent gases, was finally liquefied by the Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes in 1908. Thus, by the beginning of the twentieth century the door had been opened to astrange new world of experimentation in which aB substances, except liquid helium, are solids and where the absolute temperature is only a few microdegrees away. However, the point on the temperature scale at which refrigeration in the ordinary sense of the term ends and cryogenics begins has ne ver been weB defined. Most workers in the field have chosen to restrict cryogenics to a tem perature range below -150°C (123 K). This is a reasonable dividing line since the normal boiling points of the more permanent gases, such as helium, hydrogen, neon, nitrogen, oxygen, and air, lie below this temperature, while the more common refrigerants have boiling points that are above this temperature. Cryogenic engineering is concerned with the design and development of low-temperature systems and components.

Low temperature research has become fairly widespread in the country after the availability of closed cycle refrigerators. It is opportune to write a book for students and researchers in India on production of low temperatures and techniques for the measurement of physical properties of materials at such temperatures. This book is an effort in this direction. The first part of the book discusses methods for producing temperatures down to 1.8 K. There is a fairly extensive discussion on different types of closed cycle refrigerators. The behaviour of properties of materials relevant in Cryogenics is dealt with in some detail. Useful tips on construction of cryostats are given. Thermometry is discussed extensively. The second part of the book deals with digital measuring techniques. Details of experimental methods for measuring thermal and electrical properties, point contact tunneling, scanning probe microscopy, and noise at low temperatures are discussed. This part of the book is born out of the rich personal experience in such measurements of one of the authors (AKR). There is an appendix on vacuum techniques. The book can be used for teaching an elective course in Low Temperature Physics at the M.Sc. level. It will be useful for researchers in Low Temperature Physics.

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